Part 45

The Cardo Maximus Nord leads to the main entrance to the Forum (see below) in the DECUMANUS MAXIMUS, the chief thoroughfare of the town. To the right, at the W. end of the latter, rises Trajan’s Arch (p. 295). We descend to the left. On the left, near the old E. gate of the inner town, are the _Grands Thermes de l’Est_ (Pl. F, 2), whose tepidarium contains remains of mosaic pavement. We turn back here, and in the third S. street off the Decumanus Maximus we come to the _Petits Thermes de l’Est_ (Pl. F, 2), where two of the rooms contain restored marble benches.

Next, on the same side of the Decumanus, comes the *=Marché de l’Est= or _East Macellum_ (Pl. E, F, 2), the smaller town-market, very curiously planned.

A flight of eight steps ascends to a semicircular vestibule occupying the middle of a platform 30 yds. wide and 2¼ yds. deep, on to the right and on to the left sides of which open six small shops, three of them facing the street and three the courtyard. The latter, really a double court, consists of two segments of a circle with a triangular fountain at their intersection. Adjacent, along the back-wall, right and left, are five stalls with the old stone counters. In the centre of each half-court is an open semicircular colonnade with water-runlets.

Almost immediately to the W. of the market-hall, a later addition, is the =Maison aux Jardinières= (Pl. 4; E, 2), a private house with a fine garden-court, once adorned with flower-beds. These were enclosed by high segment-shaped stone balustrades.

Near the _Fountain_ at the next street-corner, at the N.E. angle of the Forum, are the =Latrinæ= (Pl. 3; E, 2), the finest ancient building of the kind, with a washing-basin and excellent cleansing arrangements. The double seats (originally 25) have marble arms adorned with dolphins.

A propylæum, with a vestibule (16 ft. wide) and twelve steps forms the main entrance to the *=Forum= (Pl. E, 2, 3), the focus of municipal life, to which foot-passengers only were admitted. It was completed in the reign of Trajan, and conforms pretty closely in plan to the rules laid down by Vitruvius. It forms a large rectangle, 110 by 65 yds.; the area or central space, 55 by 47 yds., is enclosed by Corinthian colonnades. The vestibule and area were once adorned by a crowd of equestrian statues of emperors and figures of distinguished governors of Numidia and eminent citizens. The so-called Marsyas, the symbol of civic liberty, marked Thamugadi as one of the most favoured colonies, whose inhabitants enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizenship. Besides the pedestals of thirty-two statues, we note also several representations of figures of a game (comp. p. 318) on the stone slabs of the pavement; among the inscriptions annexed is the light-hearted ‘venari lavari ludere ridere occ (hoc) est vivere’ (to hunt, bathe, play, and laugh is to live).

The chambers on the N. side of the Forum were perhaps _Club Rooms_. The two-storied _Shops_ on the S. side opened, on the upper floor, into the Theatre Street (p. 293).

The only building on the E. side of the Forum is the very dilapidated =Basilica= (Pl. E, 3), once the exchange and court of justice. Unlike most other ancient edifices of the kind, it is a single hall (31 by 16 yds.), with three niches at the N. end and five small chambers on the E. side. The large square niche at the S. end, at the foot of the theatre hill, served as a law-court.

Of the buildings on the W. side of the Forum the two in the middle are the =Curia= (Pl. E, 3), where the town-council (ordo decurionum) met, a rectangle of 17 by 12 yds., with a colonnade in front and platform behind, and a small _Temple_ (Pl. 8; E, 3), preceded by a speaker’s platform (_rostra_), 6¾ ft. high. The purpose of the other buildings is unknown.

Near the _Fountain_ at the N.W. angle of the Forum we turn to the S., out of the Decumanus into the Voie de la Curie, and thence to the left into the Voie du Théâtre (38 ft. wide), on the S. side of the Forum.

The =Theatre= (Pl. E, 3), dating from 167, lies on the W. slope of an isolated hill. It held about 4000 spectators, but little of it is left, as the materials were used in building the Byzantine fortress (p. 296). The semicircular orchestra, with its three tiers for the places of honour (_bisellia_), allotted to the decuriones and other persons of distinction, is well preserved. The _Cavea_, or auditorium, 69½ yds. wide, rising on the hill-side, once had twenty-six tiers of seats, but of these the seven lowest only remain. The stage (_pulpitum_) has been destroyed with the exception of the front-wall, with its niches and steps, and the hyposcenium, consisting of brick pillars (29½ in. high), which supported the floor of the stage. The large colonnaded hall behind the former back-wall of the stage served as a promenade (‘foyer’).

The hill behind the cavea of the theatre, where the remains of a _Temple Court_ have been unearthed, affords a splendid *Survey of the ruins. The view extends to the W. to the distant hills near Batna; to the S.E., beyond the great débris-strewn slopes of the lower hills, rise the Aurès Mts.

From the centre of the theatre colonnade we may walk to the W. to the _Petits Thermes du Centre_ (Pl. E, 3), with admirably preserved heating apparatus in the caldarium and laconicum (p. 291) on the W. side.

On the W. side of these baths runs the CARDO MAXIMUS SUD, the finely paved main street of the S. quarter of the town, leading past the entirely ruined S. Gate (Pl. E, 4) and the house of the Sertii (on the right; p. 294), and ending at a _Fountain_ in the Voie des Thermes.

The *=Thermes du Sud= (Pl. E, 4), of the 2nd cent., extended in 198 and restored about the end of the 3rd cent., are the finest in the town next to the N. Thermæ.

A peculiarity of this building consists in the three great Exedræ, semicircular projections on the N.E. and S. sides. The semicircle near the S. entrance contained the Latrinæ, now almost entirely destroyed. The great colonnaded hall near the N. entrance served as a promenade. From the Palæstra, 26 by 10 yds., the largest hall in the baths, bathers could enter the Apodyterium as well as the Frigidarium, flanked by its two piscinæ. The small ante-rooms behind the Frigidarium opened into the heated rooms: on the right the Tepidarium, on the left the large Caldarium with its three hot-water basins, and, straight in front, a smaller Caldarium with two basins. The quadrangular space between the caldaria was the Laconicum.

The cellars on the S. side were partly occupied by the _Praefurnium_ (furnace room). Huge stoves (_furnaces_) heated the water in cylindrical boilers (_testudines_, no longer existing) and also the air, both for the _Hypocaustum_, or hollow floor resting on low brick pillars, and for the hollow tiles (_tubuli_) or nipple tiles (_tegulae mammatae_) with which the hollow walls of the hot rooms were lined.

To the S.W. of the thermæ is an _Artisan Quarter_ with a pottery and a bronze-foundry.

We may now visit the Byzantine Fortress (p. 296) or else go direct to the =House of the Sertii= (Pl. D, E, 4), one of the richest families in the town (comp. p. 295). This building, a great rectangle of 68 by 35½ yds., comprising no fewer than three insulæ or blocks, was built on the site of the ancient town-wall, and extends as far as the Voie du Capitole.

The colonnade in the Cardo Maximus Sud opens on a square _Vestibulum_. Adjacent, on the right, were a shop of the owner’s, the lodge of the porter (_ostiarius_), and the stairs ascending to the bath-rooms (_balineum_). Next to the vestibule came the _Peristyle_, a colonnaded court in the Doric style, off which opened the owner’s reception-room (_tablinum_), the dining-room (_triclinium_), and several bedrooms (_cubicula_). On the left there was a staircase to the upper story. A second peristyle, with a fountain-basin and a fish-pond (_vivarium_) was flanked by the offices. The large room at the back was the banqueting-room (_oecus_). On the W. side of the building were several shops for letting.

On the W. side of the inner town, outside the town-wall, which has here been built over, runs the broad VOIE DU CAPITOLE, at the upper end of which rises the—

*=Capitol= (Pl. C, D, 4; comp. p. 288), originally one of the grandest temples in the whole country. A flight of four steps ascends to the propylæum, a portico of twelve columns lately re-erected. The vast temple-court is an irregular quadrangle of about 98 by 68–73 yds.; the peribolos or enclosing wall was restored, according to an inscription, under Valentinian I. in 365. Still later the S. colonnade was converted into a closed corridor with shops. In the middle of the court is the basement of the ancient altar.

A lofty flight of steps, originally 38, broken halfway up by a platform, formed the approach to the temple (58 by 25 yds.). The cella, now destroyed, had three niches, a portico of six columns, and lateral colonnades, while the back-wall was closed. Two of the gigantic columns of the portico, 44 ft. high, have been re-erected, while the huge drums and capitals of others lie around, notably on the S. side of the temple.

We now walk down the Voie du Capitole to the =Marché de l’Ouest= (Pl. D, 3), or _West Macellum_, the largest covered market in the town, probably built by one of the Sertii (p. 294) early in the 3rd century.

The entrance is in the small Place du Marché, on the S. side of the Decumanus Maximus. The entrance colonnade (_chalcidicum_) leads into the quadrangle, 37 by 27 yds., paved with large slabs of limestone and surrounded by colonnades. In the centre originally stood a square fountain (_tholos_). At the N. end, near the entrance, were two shops on each side and the stairs to the upper floor. The most curious feature of the building is the raised *_Exedra_, once roofed, on the S. side of the court, with seven deep recesses, closed, like those of the E. Market (p. 292), by the stone counters of the sellers. Remains of the entablature are exhibited on the outer wall.

The rectangular ‘_Marché aux Vêtements_’ (Pl. C, D, 3), on the W. side of the Place du Marché, was probably a minor market.

Close by, on the N. side of the Decumanus Maximus, rises the small _Temple du Génie de Timgad_ (Pl. C, D, 3, 4), ‘a miniature capitol’, dedicated in 151 to the genius of the colony. Three flights of steps ascend to the temple-court with relics of the altar. The temple, with its four Corinthian columns in front, is a mere ruin.

We next visit *=Trajan’s Arch= (Pl. D, 3), the best-known triumphal arch in Algeria, an extremely massive structure, 40 ft. high, much restored in 1900. This was once the W. gate of the inner town (comp. p. 296). Instead of the usual corner-columns of the earlier triumphal arches, it has on each side four projecting Corinthian columns, whose entablature is relieved with rounded pediments in front of the attica. The two middle columns on the E. side terminate in eagles holding thunderbolts in their talons, instead of in volutes as in the usual capital. Of its three passages, which could be closed by means of portcullises, the central one was for vehicles, the two side-arches for foot-passengers. The square niches over the side-gateways, each crowned with an ædicula, were originally adorned with statues.

We now return to the inner part of the town. Between the first and the second S. side-street of the Decumanus Maximus is the _Maison de la Piscina_ (Pl. D, 3), a large dwelling-house occupying two insulæ, so named from the granite basin in the peristyle, adorned with nine little columns of red marble. The œcus, or festal hall, at the S. end, has a tasteful mosaic pavement.

Between the second and third S. side-streets of the Decumanus Maximus lies the open quadrangle of a _Granary_ (horreum), containing numerous grindstones (pilons à blé; Pl. 7, D 3). The house beyond the third side-street contains a _Cellar_ (hypogæum) resting on pillars and lighted by small windows.

The fourth N. side-street of the Decumanus Maximus, in a line with the Voie de la Curie, leads to the ruins of a =Monastery= of the Byzantine age, containing a balineum or bathroom. The _Basilica_ (Pl. 2, D, 2) is a complete ruin. To the N.W. of it is the _Baptistery_ (Pl. 1; D, 2), with relics of the font and its colonnade.

The _House of Januarius_ (Pl. 5; D, E 2), to the N.E. of the church, still has its balineum.

* * * * *

Time permitting, we may visit the ruins outside the town.

From the great N. Thermæ (p. 290) we may walk past the _Dépôt des Tapis Indigènes_, where the carpets made by the Berbers of the Aurès are sold (adm. free), to other remains of _Thermes_ (Pl. C, 1).

To the S. of this point lies the early-Christian =Cathedral= (Pl. C, 2), separated by a low hill from the outer Decumanus Maximus. This was a basilica with nave and two aisles, 42 by 18½ yds., with clustered columns and traces of the choirscreen and altar-basement. The sacristies (prothesis and diaconicon), adjoining the raised apse, seem to have been entered from the aisles only.

We next cross the hill and descend to the S.W. to the outer Decumanus Maximus. Here, on the left, quite near the bed of a recently formed torrent, is the _Château d’Eau_ (Pl. B, 3), the remains of an octagonal nymphæum or fountain.

Crossing the bed of the stream, and passing, on the left, the _Thermes du Nord-Ouest_ (Pl. B, 2), we reach the outer _Porte de l’Ouest_ (Pl. B, 2), a single gateway of the age of Marcus Aurelius, well preserved in its lower parts.

From the Nymphæum we ascend on the right bank of the brook towards the Capitol (p. 294), past an early-Christian _Chapel_ (Pl. C, 4), almost destroyed by the stream. Another early-Christian _Basilica_ lies to the S.W. of the Capitol. In the vicinity a large _Monastery_, including a church and a baptistery containing a font with fine mosaics, has recently been discovered.

Climbing over the hill to the S. of the Capitol, we have another survey of the extensive ruins, and then walk to the S. to the Byzantine fortress, 5 min. beyond the S. Thermæ (p. 293).

The *=Byzantine Fortress= (beyond Pl. E, 4), erected under Justinian with stones from the theatre, the Capitol, and other Roman buildings for defence against the Aurès Berbers, forms a vast rectangle, 122 by 80 yds., with walls 8 ft. thick, still rising to a height of 23 ft. on the W. side. Four central and four corner towers, and on the S. side a sallying gate, have been preserved.

The so-called _Gregory’s Basilica_, on a hill 3 min. to the S.W. of the fortress, the latest building in the town, dates only from the time of the governor Gregory (7th cent.; p. 371).

About 2 hrs. to the S.W. of Timgad lie the ruins of the ancient Berber town of =Ichoukkàn=, on a lofty plateau inaccessible on three sides, above the rock-gateway of _Foum Ksantina_ (‘Constantine-Gate’), so called from the resemblance of its situation to that of Constantine. Near it are extensive burial-grounds with thousands of graves.

[Illustration: CONSTANTINE]

46. Constantine.

The STATION (Pl. D, 4; _Rail. Restaurant_) for Algiers (R. 43), Biskra (R. 44), Philippeville (R. 47), Bona (R. 48), and Souk-Ahras (Tebessa, Tunis; RR. 49–51) is in the Faubourg d’el-Kantara, on the right bank of the Rhumel, 15–18 min. from the hotels.

HOTELS (comp. p. 174). _Grand-Hôtel_ (Pl. a; B, 4, 5), Rue Nationale 2, corner of Place de Nemours, with good restaurant, R. 3½–5, B. 1–1½, déj. 3½, D 4–5, pens. 10–12½ fr., omn. 1 fr.; _Hôt. St. Georges & d’Orient_ (Pl. b; B, 4), Rue Caraman 9, R. 3, pens. 10, omn. ¾ fr., good cuisine; _Hôt. de Paris & Royal_ (Pl. c; B, 4), Rue Nationale and Place de Nemours, R. 4, B. 1½, D. 4, pens. 9–11, omn. 1½ fr.—_Hôt. Terminus_, near the station, for a short stay, R. 3, déj. or D. 3 fr., plain but quite good; _Hôt. Rouvière_ (Pl. e; B, 4), unpretending but well spoken of.

CAFÉS. _Café Germain_, Place de Nemours; _Café Glacier_, Place du Palais 8; _Café Honorat_, in the Hôt. de Paris, Place de Nemours (music in the evening).—RESTAURANTS (beer). _Taverne Gambrinus_, Rue Caraman 6; _Brasserie de l’Etoile_, Place de Nemours.

POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE (Pl. 10; B, 5), Place de Nemours.

CABS (stand, Place de Nemours), first ½ hr. 1¼ (after 10 p.m. 1½) fr.; for 1 hr. 2½, each addit. ½ hr. 1 fr.; half-day (6 hrs.) 10, whole day (12 hrs.) 20 fr.—OMNIBUS from the Place de Nemours to the Station 10, trunk 25 c.; also to the Faubourg St. Jean.

BATHS. _Bains Lyonnais_, Rue Damrémont; _Bains Rémès_, in the ravine of the Rhumel (p. 302).

BOOKSELLERS. _Braham_, Rue du Palais 4; _Roubille_, Rue Damrémont 37.—NEWSPAPER. _Dépêche de Constantine._

THEATRE. _Théâtre Municipal_ (Pl. B, 5; Nov.–Feb. only), Place de Nemours.

ONE DAY. Forenoon, _Place de Nemours_ and _Squares_, _Museum_, _Palais de Hadj Ahmed_, _Jewish Quarter_, *_Quartier Perrégaux_ (pp. 299–301). Afternoon, *_Gorges du Rhumel_ (p. 301). Guide quite unnecessary.

_Constantine_ (1752–2113 ft.; pop. 55,000, incl. 28,300 Mohammedans and 8300 Jews), Arabic _Ksantina_ or _Blad el-Hawa_ (‘cité aérienne’, ‘town of air’), the capital of the province of that name and the seat of a bishop and of a medersa (Mohammedan college), is the third-largest town in Algeria. The old town, typically Berber in its difficulty of access, lies on a chalky limestone plateau, descending to the S.E. and N.E. almost perpendicularly to the _Ravine of the Rhumel_, and to the N.W. to the bed of a brook, while on the S.W. it is connected by a narrow saddle with the spurs of the long _Jebel Chettaba_ (4313 ft.). The town has three suburbs, the small _Faubourg d’el-Kantara_ near the station, and the faubourgs _St. Jean_ and _St. Antoine_ on the margin of the _Coudiat-Aty_ (Pl. A, 5, 6), a hill recently almost levelled to form a building-site.

Constantine is the centre of the Algerian grain-trade and has an important wool-exchange. Several manufactures too are very active (tanning, shoemaking, saddlery, and weaving). The chief centres of trade and manufacture are still the native quarters, resembling the Kasba of Algiers, the picturesque charm of which has so far been marred by the construction of but few new streets. The gay costumes of the Mohammedans and the mediæval attire of the Jewesses are specially interesting.

Constantine has but a poor climate. Spring is the best season for visiting it. In winter the cold (p. 170) is very severe and the winds are often bitter, while in summer and autumn the hot sirocco is more prevalent than anywhere on the coast. The low ground flanking the Rhumel is malarious from June to October.

Constantine, originally the Phœnician _Kartha_ (‘town’), afterwards called _Cirta_ by the Romans, was the greatest inland centre of culture in the territory of the Numidian kings, and under Syphax became their residence. The first recorded conquest of the town was by Jugurtha (p. 321), in B.C. 112, who wrested it from his cousin Adherbal. Under the Roman empire Cirta, the chief of the four allied _Coloniæ Cirtenses_ (Constantine, Milo, Philippeville, and Collo), belonged to the _Diocesis Numidia_, the domain of the legate of the Third Legion (p. 286). Having been destroyed by the troops of Emp. Maxentius in 311, the town sprang up anew from its ruins the following year; it then superseded Lambæsis as the capital of Numidia, and was named _Constantina_, in honour of its patron Constantine the Great. In 435 it was the only town in Barbary that repelled the attacks of the Vandal Genseric (p. 322), but it remained politically unimportant till the Moorish period, when it was occupied by the Hammadites (p. 263), and afterwards belonged in turn to the Almohades (p. 95), the Merinides (p. 95), and the Hafsides (p. 323). In the middle ages it rivalled Bougie as a seat of learning.

In the Turkish period Constantine was the capital of the E. Algerian beylic, and for centuries groaned under the despotism of the beys. In French military annals it was noted for its heroic defence by _Ahmed Bey_, who after the fall of Algiers had become the independent ruler of E. Algeria. In 1836 the first French attack upon the El-Kantara gate from the hill of Mansoura proved a disastrous failure, over five hundred of the besiegers being hurled into the ravine of the Rhumel. The capture of the town in 1837, effected from the Coudiat-Aty, was purchased with the death of generals Damrémont and Perrégaux.

During the first decades of the French domination all the Roman buildings were destroyed except the aqueduct (p. 302), the Rhumel bridge (p. 301), and the cisterns (p. 300). The buildings of the Turkish period afford an instructive example of the sad decline of late-Moorish art.

The railway-station (Pl. D, 4) is at present connected with the old town by the iron bridge of *=El-Kántara= (Pl. D, 3; 1863), of one arch, 139 yds. long and 407 ft. above the Rhumel. Far below we see the Roman bridge (p. 301), and upstream we have a fine view of the S. part of the gorge. Much higher up is the _New Bridge_ (comp. Pl. C, 6), a marvellous feat of engineering. It spans the Rhumel ravine, at a height of 330 ft. above the river, with a single arch of masonry, 230 ft. in width.

From the former Porte d’el-Kantara runs the new RUE NATIONALE (Pl. C, B, 4), the chief thoroughfare of Constantine, leading through the whole town to (½ M.) the Place de Nemours. Halfway, where the street bends and is crossed by the Rue Perrégaux (p. 301), rises the new _Medersa_ (Pl. 7, C 4; see p. 297) in the Turkish-Moorish style; from its staircase we enjoy an even finer view of the Rhumel ravine than from the crossroads.

Halfway along the upper part of the street, on the left, rises the =Grande Mosquée= (Pl. B, 4, 5; Arabic _Jâma el-Kebîr_), which received a new façade and minaret when the street was made. The very dissimilar columns which support the timber ceiling in the interior are partly from ancient buildings. Two antique Doric capitals recall the columns of the mausoleum of Le Khroub (p. 273).