Borj Gourbata Explained

Borj Gourbata was an ancient Roman-Berber town in Qafşah, Tunisia. It is located at latitude 34°16'22.01", longitude 8°32'56" and 135 meters above sea level.^{[1] [2]} The town is in the Sahel region of Tunisia, but at the junction of the Oued ech Cheria and the Oued el Jemel Wadis,^[3] making it an important oasis in the Sahara. It is situated between Gafsa and Chott el Jerid.

History

In Roman times the town^{[4] [5]} was on the Roman Limes in the Roman Province of Africa proconsularis and latter Byzacena.^[6] The town was known as Castellum Thigensium or just Thiges.^[7] As the name suggest it was a fortification,^[8] and was probably the first fort on the limes being built in 75AD.^[9]

The town appears on the Tabula Peutinger and was also the seat of a Christian bishopric, which survives today as a titular see of the Roman Catholic church.^[10] The current Bishop is Stanislaw Gębicki of Poland.^{[11] [12]}

In the Middle Ages the town was known as Tgiws^[13]

The French excavated ruins s in the 19th century^[14]

The town was taken in the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb in 647AD,^[15] though Roman and Berber populations remains the majority till the 9th century when there were revolts in the area.

Notes and References

1. http://tn.geoview.info/borj_gourbata,2471986 Borj Gourbata
2. https://mapcarta.com/17289650 Borj Gourbata
3. http://www.maplandia.com/tunisia/region-6/gafsa/borj-gourbata/ Borj Gourbata Map — Satellite Images of Borj Gourbata
4. Pol Trousset, Thiges and civitas Tigensium (Publications of the French School of Rome, 1990) vol 134 num1.p143-167.
5. J. S. Wacher, The Roman World, Volume 1 (Taylor & Francis, 2002)p237.
6. Trousset, (P.), Thiges and the Civitas Tigensium, Part of: Africa in the Roman West (1st century BC-4th century AD). Proceedings of the Rome Symposium (3-5 December 1987) (Collection of the French School of Rome 134) p143-167
7. R.B. Hitchner, DARMC, R. Talbert, Sean Gillies, Johan Åhlfeldt, R. Warner, Jeffrey Becker, and Tom Elliott, Thiges/Castellum Thigensium: a Pleiades place resource', Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places, 2014 [accessed: 24 December 2016].
8. http://imperium.ahlfeldt.se/places/21843.html About: *Thiges/Castellum Thigensium, Henchir-Ragoubet
9. http://byzantinemilitary.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/the-roman-fort-of-qasr-banat-in-libya.html The Roman Fort of Qasr Banat in Libya - The Limes Tripolitanus
10. Web site: Apostolische Nachfolge – Titularsitze . 2016-12-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150204072655/http://apostolische-nachfolge.de/titulare_t.htm . 2015-02-04 . dead .
11. http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1785.htm Bishops capital titular Thiges
12. Le Petit Episcopologe, Issue 157, Number 13.671
13. Web site: تاريخ مدينة توزر - . 2016-12-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160806121144/http://tozeurasm.org/pages.php . 2016-08-06 . dead .
14. Djerid. 10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2189. 1995. Trousset. P.. Encyclopédie Berbère. 16. 2461–2465. free.
15. Djerid. 10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2189. 1995. Trousset. P.. Encyclopédie Berbère. 16. 2461–2465. free.