Zaraï


Zaraï was a Berber, Carthaginian, and Roman town at the site of present-day Aïn Oulmene, Algeria. Under the Romans, it formed part of the province of Numidia.

Name

The Punic name for the town was .
Zarai is mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and in the Tabula Peutingeriana. Ptolemy calls it Zaratha and wrongly places it in Mauretania Caesariensis. It is probably the Apuleius's Zaratha. These two forms and the term "Zaraitani" found in an inscription seem to indicate that the name Zaraï which appears on another inscription must have lost a final letter.

Geography

The ruins of Zaraï are called "Henshir Zraïa" and are found inside the municipality of Ain Oulmene. They lie to the south-east of Setif in Algeria, crowning an eminence which overlooks all the country on the left bank of the Oued Taourlatent, known to the medieval Arabs as Oued Zaraoua.

History

Zarai was protected after emperor Hadrian started the construction of a wall similar to the one with his name in Roman Britannia, by one of the sections of the Fossatum Africae: the Hodna or Bou Taleb section. This section begins near the north-east slopes of the Hodna Mountains, heads south following the foothills then east towards Zaraï, and doubles back westward to enclose the eastern end of the Hodna mountains, standing between them and the Roman settlements of Cellas and Macri. The length of this segment is about 100 km. It probably criss-crossed the ancient border between Numidia and Mauretania Sitifensis.
The Byzantines fortified the city as the western border town of their possessions in Africa. The small city of Zarai disappeared.

Ruins

Remains of a Byzantine citadel and of two Christian basilicas are still visible.

Religion

Zarai was the seat of a Christian bishopric. It was one of the key cities of the Donatist controversy. The remains of a Byzantine citadel and of two basilicas are still visible. Three bishops of Zaraï are known from antiquity. The see fell into abeyance after the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb but was later revived by the Roman Catholic Church as a titular see.

List of bishops