Ancient City Of Timgad: Largest Roman Settlement Ever Built In North Africa

A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – The great ancient city of Timgad is the largest Roman settlement ever built in North Africa.

Arch of Trajan in Timgad. Image credit:  alioueche mokhtar  – CC BY-SA 4.0

In AD 100, Emperor Trajan created the city on the northern slopes of the Aures Massif, approximately 170 km south of the Mediterranean coast. The city’s ancient name was Thamugadi. Its still impressive ruins are located at the intersection of six roads, it served as a Roman military garrison town, and its plan, laid out with great precision, illustrates the skills of Roman urban planners.

The outpost, established on a perfectly square grid, had to control one of the passes through the Aures Mountains to the Sahara. The town soon outgrew its original plan, and additional structures were added outside the grid. Timgad – inhabited mainly by Roman veterans – was a peaceful town for several hundred years.

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