35°10′N 8°50′E / 35.167°N 8.833°E / 35.167; 8.833

Kasserine
ڨصرين
Arcade of Kasserine.
Arcade of Kasserine.
Kasserine is located in Tunisia
Kasserine
Kasserine
Location in Tunisia
Coordinates: 35°10′N 8°50′E / 35.167°N 8.833°E / 35.167; 8.833
Country Tunisia
GovernorateKasserine Governorate
Delegation(s)Kasserine North, Kasserine South, Ezzouhour
Government
 • MayorMohamed Kamel Hamzaoui (Nidaa Tounes)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total114.463
Time zoneUTC1 (CET)
Postal code
1253[1]

Kasserine (Arabic: القصرين, romanized: al-Qasrīn, Tunisian Arabic: ڨصرين Gaṣrīnⓘ) is the capital city of the Kasserine Governorate, in west-central Tunisia. It is situated below Jebel ech Chambi ( جبل الشعانبي), Tunisia's highest mountain.[2] Its population is 114,463 (2020).

History

In classical antiquity Kasserine was a Roman colony, known as Cillium. Under Roman Emperor Vespasian (69–79) or Titus (79-81), it was elevated to the rank of municipium, and under the Severan dynasty (193-235) to that of colonia (Cillilana). It became Roman territory following the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC, belonging to the provinces of Africa, Africa Vetus, Africa Proconsularus, and finally Africa Byzacena following the reforms of Diocletian in 314 AD.

Archaeological evidence remains on site: mausoleums, triumphal arches, thermae, a theatre and a Christian basilica.[3]

Tomb of the Flavii

One noted monument is the Tomb of the Flavii, built for local landowner Titus Flavius Secundus in the late second century AD. The Tomb contains a 110-line poem memorializing Flavius, and is the "longest extant Latin funerary epitaph from antiquity.[4]"

The theater was built at the end of the first century AD, probably to celebrate elevation of the town to a municipium,[5] It was restored, and reopened for performances in 2018.[6]

In 544 the Byzantines were defeated by the Berbers in the Battle of Cillium.

The town was renamed Kasserine, meaning "The Two Palaces", which is a reference to the two Roman mausoleums.[7]

In 1906, an attack by local bedouin on isolated settler farms near Kasserine, and the French civil administration offices during the Thala-Kasserine Disturbances was the first violent resistance to French authority under the protectorate.

During World War II, from January to March 1943, the Germans operated a forced labour camp for Jews in the city.[8] In February 1943, it was the site of the Battle of Kasserine Pass.

Ecclesiastical history

Cillium was important enough in the Roman province of Byzacena to become a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Hadrumetum.

Cillium was represented at the Conference of Carthage (411) between Catholic and Donatist bishops by the Catholic Tertiolus and the Donatist Donatus. In 484, Fortunatianus of Cillium was one of the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal king Huneric summoned to Carthage and then exiled.[9][10][11]

Titular see of Cillium

No longer a residential bishopric, Cillium is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.[12]

Since its nominal restoration in 1925, the Latin titular bishopric has had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank:

Geography

Kasserine is located in western central Tunisia. By road it is 200 kilometres west of Sfax, 246 kilometres (180 mi) south-west of the capital Tunis, and 166 kilometres (141 mi) south-west of Sousse.

Kasserine is divided into 11 districts:

Climate

Climate data for Kasserine (1991–2020, extremes 1950–2017)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 25.2
(77.4) 		31.5
(88.7) 		33.0
(91.4) 		34.7
(94.5) 		41.7
(107.1) 		43.4
(110.1) 		43.6
(110.5) 		42.5
(108.5) 		40.3
(104.5) 		36.0
(96.8) 		31.6
(88.9) 		26.5
(79.7) 		43.6
(110.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 13.8
(56.8) 		14.9
(58.8) 		18.5
(65.3) 		22.0
(71.6) 		27.0
(80.6) 		32.2
(90.0) 		36.1
(97.0) 		35.2
(95.4) 		29.9
(85.8) 		25.1
(77.2) 		18.8
(65.8) 		14.8
(58.6) 		24.0
(75.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 8.4
(47.1) 		9.2
(48.6) 		12.2
(54.0) 		15.4
(59.7) 		19.8
(67.6) 		24.4
(75.9) 		27.7
(81.9) 		27.3
(81.1) 		23.3
(73.9) 		18.8
(65.8) 		13.1
(55.6) 		9.5
(49.1) 		17.4
(63.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 2.9
(37.2) 		3.5
(38.3) 		6.0
(42.8) 		8.8
(47.8) 		12.7
(54.9) 		16.7
(62.1) 		19.4
(66.9) 		19.3
(66.7) 		16.7
(62.1) 		12.5
(54.5) 		7.5
(45.5) 		4.3
(39.7) 		10.9
(51.6)
Record low °C (°F) −7.0
(19.4) 		−6.0
(21.2) 		−3.0
(26.6) 		0.0
(32.0) 		3.2
(37.8) 		8.0
(46.4) 		10.5
(50.9) 		12.0
(53.6) 		5.8
(42.4) 		0.5
(32.9) 		−3.1
(26.4) 		−6.5
(20.3) 		−7.0
(19.4)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 19.0
(0.75) 		15.8
(0.62) 		21.1
(0.83) 		25.8
(1.02) 		29.2
(1.15) 		19.4
(0.76) 		14.8
(0.58) 		28.0
(1.10) 		38.2
(1.50) 		23.3
(0.92) 		23.7
(0.93) 		13.5
(0.53) 		271.9
(10.70)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 2.7 2.4 3.7 4.0 4.4 3.2 2.6 3.9 5.3 3.7 2.9 2.5 41.5
Source 1: Institut National de la Météorologie (extremes 1950-2017) [14][15][16][note 1]
Source 2: NOAA[18]

Sports

Haggui in action for Bayer Leverkusen in 2007.

Kasserine's most popular sport club is the AS Kasserine (football, soccer).

Notable people

References

  1. ^ Postal code of Kasserine, GeoPostcodes
  2. ^ "Jebel Chambi" on Peakbagger.com Retrieved 1 October 2011
  3. ^ Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino: "Cillium"
  4. ^ Sawyer, Jesse Jake. "A COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF THE FLAVII AT CILLIUM" (PDF). uga.edu. Retrieved Feb 2, 2021.
  5. ^ Stillwell, Richard; et al. (1976). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press. Retrieved Feb 2, 2021.
  6. ^ Ben Ali, Fawz (Aug 6, 2018). "Réhabilitation du théâtre de Cillium" (in French). Kapitalis. Retrieved Feb 2, 2021.
  7. ^ John Everett-Heath (2018). The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-256243-2.
  8. ^ Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 585. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
  9. ^ Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 139–140
  10. ^ Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, p. 465
  11. ^ J. Ferron, v. Cillium, in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. XII, Paris 1953, coll. 831-832
  12. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 869
  13. ^ "Most Reverend Louis Anthony Desimone, 96, dies | News | timesherald.com". www.timesherald.com. Archived from the original on 2018-10-06.
  14. ^ "Les normales climatiques en Tunisie entre 1981 2010" (in French). Ministère du Transport. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  15. ^ "Données normales climatiques 1961-1990" (in French). Ministère du Transport. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  16. ^ "Les extrêmes climatiques en Tunisie" (in French). Ministère du Transport. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  17. ^ "Réseau des stations météorologiques synoptiques de la Tunisie" (in French). Ministère du Transport. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  18. ^ "Climate Normals 1991-2020". NOAA.gov. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
  19. ^ Faouzia Aloui Profile in africultures
  20. ^ (in Arabic) Faouzia Aloui at Diwanalarab

Notes

  1. ^ The Station ID for Kasserine is 64646111.[17]

Sources and external links

See also

Categories