From World Afropedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Souk Ahras

بلدية سوق أهراس
Commune of Souk Ahras
Former city hall of Souk Ahras, now used as a municipal theatre
Former city hall of Souk Ahras, now used as a municipal theatre
Country Algeria
ProvinceSouk Ahras (seat)
DistrictSouk Ahras (coextensive)
Government
 • PMA Seats23
Elevation
699 m (2,293 ft)
Population
 (1998)
 • Total116,745
Time zoneUTC+01 (CET)
Postal code
41000
ONS code4101

Souk Ahras (Arabic: سوق أهراس‎; Chaoui: Souk Ahras in Tifinagh.svg) is a municipality in Algeria. It is the capital of Souk Ahras Province. The Numidian city of Thagaste (or Tagaste), on whose ruins Souk Ahras was built, was the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo and a center of Berber culture.[1][2]

Etymology

The name derives from the Arabic word "souk" which means market, and the Chaoui word ahra (plural ahras) which means lion, in reference to the Barbary lions which existed in the neighboring forests until their extinction in 1930; hence Souk Ahras means market of lions.

History

The Numidian city of Thagaste (or Tagaste), on whose ruins Souk Ahras was built, was situated in the north-eastern highlands of Numidia, shortly afterwards, it became a Roman municipium[3]. It was about sixty miles from Hippo Regius, now called Annaba, and about 150 miles from Carthage (on the coast of present day Tunisia). It was the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo.[4] The city was mentioned by Pliny the Elder. As a municipium, Thagaste was not settled by Italian immigrants and was inhabited by Romanized Berbers.[5]

In the nineteenth century it was a French colonial settlement. In the twentieth century mining and the railway brought some signicance and prosperity to the town. Today, Tagaste is in the province of Souk Ahras in Eastern Algeria. Thagaste is known as the birth place of highly influential early Christian philosopher, Saint Augustine.

References

  1. "A Berber, born in 354 at Thagaste (now Souk-Ahras) in Africa...", Fernand Braudel, A history of civilizations (1963), Penguin Books, 1995, p.335
  2. "...he grew up in an area which was a center of Berber culture.", Augustinian studies, Volumes 7-8, Villanova University Press, 1976, p.134
  3. A municipium was an existing city on which the citizenship had been conferred while a colony was a new foundation or a community to which Roman settlers had been added
  4.  "Thagaste" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
  5. Nacéra Benseddik, Thagaste. Souk Ahras, ville natale de saint Augustin, Ed. Inas, Alger, 2005, p.25

Bibliography

  • Nacéra Benseddik, Thagaste. Souk Ahras, ville natale de saint Augustin, Ed. Inas, Alger, 2005.
  • Serge Lancel, Saint Augustine, Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2002, Chapter I, pp.3-7

External links

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


ar:سوق أهراس cy:Souk-Ahras de:Souq Ahras fr:Souk-Ahras it:Souk Ahras lt:Suk Ahrasas hu:Souk Ahras nl:Souk Ahras nds:Souq Ahras pl:Suk Ahras ro:Souk Ahras war:Souk Ahras zh:苏格艾赫拉斯