| Thamusida | |
| Map Type: | Morocco |
| Coordinates: | 34.3356°N -6.4894°W |
| Location: | Sidi Ayache, Kénitra Province, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Morocco |
| Type: | ancient town |
Thamusida (Punic: ) was a Punic river port that was in the present-day towns of Kénitra and Mehdya in Morocco. Under the Roman Empire, it formed a part of the province of Mauretania Tingitana.
The Punic form of the name was (). Because the original name intended a hard, breathy /tʰ/ sound instead of the usual English /θ/, the same name is also sometimes written Tamusida or Tamusia. It is probably identical with the Thymiateria mentioned by Pseudo-Scylax.
It was used as a Carthaginian trading post and was about 30miles from Shalat (the Roman Sala and modern Chellah). It issued its own bronze coins. Some Punic inscriptions were found in the site.[1]
It was occupied by Romans in the first years of Augustus' rule. There were a military camp and a nearby little city, until Claudius enlarged Thamusida.[2] According to historian Stefano Camporeale, the auxiliary unit that built the Roman camp in Thamusida was probably the Cohors secunda Syrorum civium Romanorum in the second half of the first century (ceramic evidence confirms this chronology): this camp (with annexed "vicus") was one of the largest camps of the whole province of Mauretania Tingitana and measured about 2ha. Under the Antonines, a temple was built to worship Venus. Later the settlement grew progressively, and by the end of the second century or the early third century, it was surrounded by a wall that included a total area of about 15 hectares.
In the third century, Thamusida become a mostly Christian city with a population of nearly 7,000 inhabitants. The site was abandoned around AD285, when Diocletian moved the Roman limes of Mauretania Tingitana to the north, near Lixus. There were some inhabitantsaccording to recent archeological discoveriesin Thamusida for another century after the Roman abandonment. But with the Vandal invasion, the city disappeared around AD425.[3]
The site was excavated from 1913 by the French, then 1959 to 1962[4] and since 1998. Many items found in Thamusida are today on display at the Rabat Archaeological Museum. It occupies an area of 15acres. Excavations have unearthed the walls of the docks and baths.