Thubunae
About
Thubunae sat astride the road linking the Aurès forts to Nicivibus, a river crossing important enough that Rome garrisoned it through much of the province's history. A single surviving milestone on that road carries the abbreviated name '[a Thu]bonis,' one of the few inscriptions to confirm the site by its Roman name. Archaeologists trace the earliest Roman-period occupation to the first century CE, though the settlement did not gain municipium status until Septimius Severus's reign nearly a century later. The fortress walls still visible at the site today were rebuilt in the Byzantine period, centuries after Trajan's death, over the remains of the earlier Roman post.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
.jpg?width=800)
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →