View source for Icosium

{{Short description|Ancient city near Algiers in Africa}}
{{for|the genus of beetles|Icosium (beetle)}}
{{Infobox ancient site
  |name = Icosium
  |native_name = 
  |alternate_name = 
  |image =Monnaie - Plomb, Icosium, Maurétanie - btv1b8551631m (2 of 2).jpg 
  |alt = 
  |caption =A coin with the Punic name of Icosium 
  |map_type = Algeria
  |map_alt = 
  |map_size = 250
  |location = [[Algeria]]
  |region = [[Algiers Province]]
  |coordinates = {{coord|36.7763|3.0585|display=inline,title}}
  |type = 
  |part_of = 
  |length = 
  |width = 
  |area = 
  |height = 
  |builder = 
  |material = 
  |built = 
  |abandoned = 
  |epochs = 
  |cultures = 
  |dependency_of = 
  |occupants = 
  |event = 
  |excavations = 
  |archaeologists = 
  |condition = 
  |ownership = 
  |management = 
  |public_access = 
  |website = 
  |notes = 
}}

'''Icosium''' ([[Punic language|Punic]]: {{sc|ʾy ksm}}, "Island of the Owls"; {{langx|grc|Ἰκόσιον}}, ''Ikósion'') was a [[Phoenicia]]n and [[Punic people|Punic]] settlement<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Huß |first=Werner (Bamberg) |title=Icosium |date=2006-10-01 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/icosium-e521990 |work=Brill’s New Pauly |access-date=2023-08-25 |publisher=Brill |language=en}}</ref> in modern-day [[Algeria]]. It was part of [[Kingdom of Numidia|Numidia]] and later became an important [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Colonia (Roman)|colony]]<ref>[http://jahiliyyah.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/afrique-du-nord-romanisation-de-la-numidie1.jpg Detailed map of Mauretania Caesariensis]</ref> and an early medieval bishopric (now a Latin [[titular see]]) in the [[casbah]] area of modern [[Algiers]].<ref>[http://alger-roi.fr/Alger/alger_son_histoire/textes/3_origines_alger_1941_feuillets.htm Roots of Algiers (in French)]</ref>

== History ==
{{further|Maghreb placename etymology}}

{{Blockquote|''A 'Roman veterans' colony was founded at Icosium during the reign of  Juba II (Plin. HN 3,19; 5,20). Under Vespasian, the city became a "Colonia Latina" (CIL VIII Suppl. 3, 20853).''Brills N.P.<ref>[http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/icosium-e521990 Icosium]</ref>}}
The history of Icosium goes back to around 400 BC when a small Berber village was created by some local fishermen. Only when 3000 Roman veterans settled there as colonists during the times of [[Augustus]], Icosium grew in importance.

===Legends===
Icosium's Greek name ''Ikósion'' was later explained as deriving from the Greek word for "twenty" ({{lang|grc|εἴκοσι}}, ''eíkosi''), [[folk etymology|supposedly because]] it had been founded by twenty companions of [[Heracles]] when he visited the [[Atlas Mountains]] during [[Labors of Hercules|his labors]].<ref name="Edward Lipiński 2004">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&dq=icosium&pg=PA403 |title=Itineraria Phoenicia |isbn=90-429-1344-4|year=2004|author= Edward Lipiński|publisher=Peeters Publishers |author-link= Edward Lipiński (orientalist)}}</ref>

However, the berber settlement was also occupied by some [[Punic]] settlers from at least as early as the 3rd century BC. They called it ''y-ksm'' or ''ʾy-ksm'',<ref name=":0"/> which is believed to have meant "seagull's island", and which was eventually transcribed as ''Icosium'' in Latin.<ref name="Edward Lipiński 2004"/> The original Punic name is reflected in the modern Arabic name for Algiers ({{langx|ar|الجزائر|links=no}}, pronounced ''Al Jaza'ir''), which means "the islands".<ref>{{Cite book |last=LLC |first=Forbidden Fruits |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JA7tcmEx5lsC&pg=PT8 |title=iAfrica: Ancient History Untold |publisher=Forbidden Fruit Books LLC |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bazina |first1=Abdullah Salem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EpvHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |title=The spread of Islam in Sub-Saharan in Africa |date=2010 |publisher=Al Manhal |isbn=978-9796500024 |language=ar |access-date=25 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216030953/https://books.google.ca/books?id=EpvHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 |archive-date=16 December 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="idrisi">al-Idrisi, Muhammad (12th century) ''Nuzhat al-Mushtaq''</ref><ref name="khaldun">{{cite book |last=Abderahman |first=Abderrahman |title=History of Ibn Khaldun&nbsp;– Volume 6 |year=1377}}</ref>

===Roman town===
[[File:Icosium, Mosaïque Abstraite, Alger.jpg|thumb|Abstract Mosaic from the Roman Period.]]
[[Image:Casbahalgerie.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The actual "[[Casbah of Algiers]]" is built on Roman Icosium. This 1950 postcard shows what looks like a Roman column next to a building door (behind a kid)]]
In 146{{nbsp}}BC, Icosium became part of the [[Roman Empire]].<ref name=jrm>John Reynell Morell{{who|date=November 2018}}</ref> [[Tacfarinas]]'s revolt damaged the city, but Icosium was revived by the introduction of a colony of veteran Roman soldiers during the reign of {{nowrap|[[Juba II]]}}.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Pliny's Natural History|Natural History]]'', 3.19 and 5.20.</ref> The city was given Latin rights (''{{lang|la|colonia Latina}}'') by the emperor [[Vespasian]].<ref>CIL VIII Suppl. 3, 20853</ref><ref>Brills N.P. [http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/icosium-e521990 Icosium]</ref> Roman Icosium existed on what was the "marine quarter" of the city of Algiers until 1940.<ref>[http://alger-roi.fr/Alger/alger_son_histoire/pages_liees/7_plan_vestiges_quartier_marine_1941_feuillets.htm Map of ancient remains in the marine quarter of Algiers]</ref> The Rue de la Marine followed the lines of what used to be a Roman street,<ref>Mr Berbrugger{{who|date=November 2018}}</ref> and a ruined aqueduct was visible by Algiers's "Gate of Victory" as late as 1845.<ref>Mr S Marie.{{who|date=November 2018}}</ref> Roman cemeteries existed near [[Bab-el-Oued]] and [[Bab Azoun]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hMIuAQAAIAAJ&q=icosium El Djazaı̈r: histoire d'une cité d'Icosium à Alger]</ref> Under the Romans, there were also other settlements nearby on the banks of the Haratob (the classical Savus).<ref>Mr Blofeld.{{who|date=November 2018}}</ref>

Many Roman colonists settled in Icosium under [[Augustus]] and -after was promoted to ''Roman colonia'' by [[Vespasian]]- the [[latin language|latin]] was the language spoken in the city in the first century AD. The city -of nearly 15000 inhabitants, according to historian [[Theodore Mommsen]]- was given full Latin rights by [[Roman emperor]] Vespasian.

By the 2nd century, an influx of Berbers from the countryside changed the settlement's demographics, so that Latin-speakers became a minority elite.

{{Blockquote|Algiers presents but few Roman remains; and it is still uncertain what name it bore under Latin sway, some thinking it "Icosium", and others Jomnium. Mr. Blofeld says that there are Roman ruins on the banks of the Savus (Haratob), south-east of Algiers; and he thinks this more probably the site of Icosium than Algiers. Mr. Berbrugger mentions the remains of a Roman via, Rue de la Marine, near the port of the capital, which he thinks must have corresponded in most respects with the old Moorish harbour before 1830. Mr. S. Marie informs us that at the quarter of the Gate of Victory, in the old town, there stood on one side of the gate, in 1845, a fountain of white marble, constructed among the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. — John Reynell Morell}}

[[Early Christianity|Christianity]] started to be practiced in the late 2nd century, and in the early 4th century was the main religion of the local [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanised]] Berbers in the city. The bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century.<ref>[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2i50.html Diocese of Icosium]</ref> At the Christian council of Carthage in AD{{nbsp}}419 (promoted  by [[Aurelius of Carthage|Saint Aurelius]]) went the bishop Laurentius "Icositanus", as representative of Mauretania Caesariensis: [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] wrote about him in a letter to [[Pope Celestine I|Pope Celestine{{nbsp}}I]].<ref>[http://www.augustinus.it/italiano/lettere/lettera_215_testo.htm Lettera 209, 8 (in Italian)]</ref>

===Later history===
{{main|Algiers}}
Icosium remained part of the Roman Empire until it was conquered by [[Vandals]] in 430. In 442, an agreement between the Roman Empire and the Vandals allowed Icosium to be occupied by the Romans during the Vandal control of northern [[Mauretania Caesariensis]]. Some [[Romano-Berber states|berber tribes]] took control of the city at the beginning of the 6th century, but the town was later reconquered by the [[Byzantine Empire]]. This happened just before the Arab conquest in the late 7th century. 
 
Icosium was then destroyed by the Arabs and reduced to a very small village in the 8th century. Most of the romanized inhabitants were killed or sent as slaves to [[Damascus]]. However this claim is not supported by strong historical evidence. Until 950, only ruins remained of the Roman Icosium. 
 
{{Blockquote|The Roman town stretched out along the coast with the hill behind it. It was protected by a rampart with towers. Parts survive today in several places...the fortifications enclosed part of the modern kasbah to the SW and the Bab-el-Oued district (of Algiers) to the NE. They extended as far as the former Bresson square to the SE. Outside, villas surrounded by gardens were located on the coastal plain and, more often, on the sides of the hills. The villas have produced sculptures: two female heads, a statue of Pomona, another statue of a female deity, a head of the emperor Hadrian; all are in the Algiers Museum. Inside the lower town, which was densely populated, a network of streets at right angles to each other formed insulae. Their plan can often be traced in the modern urban grid. The decumanus maximus followed the modern Bab-Azoun street...Of the monuments discovered or noted inside the town, the public baths are of particular importance. Four cisterns placed side by side and two ornamental mosaics indicate that a first bath building was under the old cathedral. A second was located under the former church of Notre Dame des Victoires. A third has been discovered in the suburbs to the SE, near the Jardin d'Essai. According to the inscription (CIL VIII, 9256), a mithraeum no doubt existed. No church is known, but t capitals and a fenestella confessionis (at the Algiers Museum) indicate the presence of an edifice for Christian worship.|author=M. Leglay}}
 
Only in the 10th century started to be again developed by [[Buluggin ibn Ziri]], a [[Berbers|Berber]] who founded Algiers under the [[Zirid]] dynasty, to what is now the capital of modern Algeria. Indeed, the [[Casbah of Algiers]] (a [[UNESCO]] world heritage site) is founded mainly on the ruins of old Icosium. It is a mid-sized city which, built on a hill, goes down towards the sea and is divided in two: the High city and the Low city, that now are dangerously crumbling <ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/making-a-difference/save-the-casbah-157542999/ Smithsonian: Save the Casbah]</ref>

==Religion==
Around 400, a [[diocese]] of Icosium was established under [[Roman Empire|Roman rule]], which was suppressed around 500, presumably by the [[Arian]] [[Vandals]]. In 1700, the diocese was nominally restored as [[titular bishop]]ric of Icosium ({{langx|it|Icosio}}). On 10 August 1838 the titular see ceased to exist as the residential diocese was restored under the city's modern name as [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Algiers]], which was promoted on 25 July 1866 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Algiers.

===List of bishops===
{{incomplete list|date=December 2018}}
[[Image:Plan Casbah.png|thumb|right|500px|Map of the Algiers Casbah showing what remains of Roman Icosium (in French)]]

Three [[bishop]]s are known from [[Ancient history|antiquity]]:
* Crescens ([[Donatist]] bishop attendee at the [[Council of Carthage (411)]])
* Lavrentius (Catholic bishop attendee at [[Council of Carthage (419)]])
* Victor (Catholic bishop [[floruit|fl.]]484)
 
The titular bishops, all of the episcopal (lowest) rank, were:
* Manuel Tercero Rozas, [[Augustinians|OESA]] (26 November 1727 – 4 July 1752)
* Aloisio Gandolfi, [[Lazarist|CM]] (8 November 1815 – 25 August 1825)
* Saint Bishop [[Eugène-Charles-Joseph de Mazenod]], [[Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate|OMI]] (1 October 1832 – 2 October 1837)

== References ==

===Citations===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* {{citation |last=Ghaki |first=Mansour |contribution=Toponymie et Onomastique Libyques: L'Apport de l'Écriture Punique/Néopunique |contribution-url=https://www.academia.edu/29670337/Toponymie_et_onomastique_Lapport_de_lecriture_punique_neopunique |pages=65–71 |date=2015 |location=Naples |publisher=Unior |editor=Anna Maria di Tolla |display-editors=0 |title=La Lingua nella Vita e la Vita della Lingua: Itinerari e Percorsi degli Studi Berberi |series=Studi Africanistici: Quaderni di Studi Berberi e Libico-Berberi |volume= 4 |isbn=978-88-6719-125-3 |issn=2283-5636 }}. {{in lang|fr}}
* John Reynell Morell (1854) "Algeria : the topography and history, political, social, and natural, of French Africa".https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=REVCAAAAIAAJ&pg=GBS.PP1&hl=fr

==External links==
* [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/diocese/algi0.htm GCatholic Algiers Archdiocese]
* [http://www.persee.fr/doc/antaf_0066-4871_1968_num_2_1_888 Detailed article -with maps- on hIcosium (in French)]

{{Phoenician colonies}}
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa}}

[[Category:History of Algiers]]
[[Category:Phoenician colonies in Algeria]]
[[Category:Roman towns and cities in Algeria]]
[[Category:Catholic titular sees in Africa]]