Vicus Maracitanus Explained

Vicus Maracitanus was a civitas of the Roman Province of Roman North Africa ^{[1] [2]} that has been identified with ruins at 36° 01′ 04″ N, 9° 13′ 47″ E the modern village of Ksar-Toual-Zouameul (just south of El Ksour) in Siliana province Tunisia.^[3]

^[4] The remains are scattered over an area of abpout 800m with a temple and Basilica still evident.^[5] The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites describes the town as:

The modest country town is unquestionably pre-Roman in origin. The chief monument, the Capitolium, which is in the form of a temple with a pronaos that was probably hexastyle, stood on the square of a forum opposite a larger building of unknown purpose. A section of a street, some cisterns, and what may have been a Christian chapel have been excavated.^[6]

The name has been confirmed from inscription in situ,^{[7] [8] [9]} prior to that it had been attributed by some to Zama Regia.^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

Notes and References

1. https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/315195 Thacia
2. Barrington Atlas, 2000, pl. 33 D1
3. http://www.trismegistos.org/place/17320 Maracitana (Ksar Toual Zammel)
4. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, [Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=vicus-maracitanus&highlight=maktar The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites ].
5. Noel Lenski, Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D. (University of California Press, 2003).
6. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, [Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=vicus-maracitanus&highlight=maktar The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites].
7. Louis Déroche, Les fouilles de Ksar Toual Zammel et la question de Zama (Vicus Maracitanus) Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire (1948) Vol60 n°1 pp. 55-104.
8. Alain Cadotte, The romanization of the gods(BRILL, 2007) p482.
9. Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, [Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=vicus-maracitanus&highlight=maktar The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites ].
10. Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (UNC Press Books, 2000) p337.
11. Essai de classification des peintures et de chronologie related "Tetes rondes" du Tassili et de l'Acacus,(ERMA of BRETSCHNEIDER, 1992) p45.
12. Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth, Esther Eidinow,The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford University Press, 2012) p1586.
13. Leaves Louis. The excavations of Ksar Toual Zammel and the question of Zama (Vicus Maracitanus). Mixtures of Archeology and History, Vol.60, (1948). pp.55-104.