Castellum Ripae (literally "Riverbank Forification") or Hadjar-Ouaghef is a locality and archeological site in Algeria, North Africa.[1][2]

Castellum Ripae is north-east of Hennaya and 6 km (3.7 mi) from the confluence of the Sık'k'ak and the Isurs Rivers.[3]

History

During the Roman Empire Hadjar-Ouaghef was known as Castellum Ripae. It appears to have been a civitas in of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. Castellum Ripae has been identified with a set of ruins near Hadjar-Ouaghef.

Ancient Castellum Ripae was also the seat of a Christian bishopric during late antiquity.[4][5] The only known bishop of this diocese is Cerealis, who took part in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by the Vandal King Huneric, after which Cerealis was exiled.[6]

Although the see ceased to effectively function with the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, today the bishopric (Latin: Dioecesis Castelloripensis) survives as a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church,[7] and the current bishop is Jose Pandarassery, of Kottayam.[8]

At the beginning of French colonialism a fort was established here and it became a de facto entry into the Tafna Valley.[9]

References

  1. ^ xxx.
  2. ^ Michael Greenhalgh, The Military and Colonial Destruction of the Roman Landscape of North Africa, 1830–1900, pp 75 2014.
  3. ^ Revue Africaine Volume 1 Année 1856 (Journal Des Travaux De La Société Historique Algérienne Par Les Membres De La Société) p1090.
  4. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, (Leipzig, 1931), p. 465
  5. ^ Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, (Brescia, 1816), p. 128.
  6. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1 ), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013
  7. ^ Castello di Ripae, at catholic-hierarchy.org.
  8. ^ Castello di Ripae at gcatholic.org.
  9. ^ Michael Greenhalgh, The Military and Colonial Destruction of the Roman Landscape of North Africa. (BRILL, 8 May 2014) p118.


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