Aelia Uluzibbira

In the necropolis outside the Porta Laurentina a marble funerary altar with the following inscription was found:

	L(ucius) CAECILIVS AEMILIANVS VETERANVS EX COH(orte) PR(ima) PRAETORIA DECV RIO DVOVIR AELIAE VLVZIBBIRAE AFRICAE CORPORATVS IN TEM PLO FORI VINARI INPOR TATORVM NEGOTIAN TIVM FECIT SIBI
	Lucius Caecilius Aemilianus, veteran from the first praetorian cohort, city councillor, mayor of Aelia Uluzibbira in Africa, member of the guild in the temple of the Wine Forum of those importing and trading, made it for himself.
Bloch 1939, 37-39. The inscription is now on Via dei Molini, near the museum. Photo: EDH.

We learn that Lucius Caecilianus Aemilianus was a veteran of the first cohort of the Praetorian Guard in Rome. He had been duovir ("mayor") of Aelia Uluzibbira in Africa. At the time of his death he was decurio (member of the city council) in the same city, but in Ostia he was involved with the guild of the wine merchants and importers. Presumably he spent part of the year in Ostia, and part in Aelia Uluzibbira, surely his place of origin. Aelia is a reference to Emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus, who must have given the status of municipium or colonia to the city.

Aelia Uluzibbira was a place not far from the east coast of Tunisia (as the crow flies 85 kilometers), to the west of Sidi Bou Ali, which in turn is to the north-west of Sousse, ancient Hadrumetum. It is mentioned by Pliny the Elder as oppidum Ulusubburitanorum (Naturalis Historia V,4,29) and in the Geographia of Ptolemaeus (IV,3,10). On the Tabula Peutingeriana it is called Ulisippira. Up to the present day it is the catholic bishopric Unizibira, with its own bishop.

Tabula Peutingeriana: from Ulisippira (without vignette, bottom left), via Gurra, to Hadrumetum (Hadrito, bottom right).
In between, on the coast, is the harbour Ad Horrea, which is Horrea Caelia, modern Hergla.

Map of the area. From Pierre Salama, Les Voies Romaines de l'Afrique du Nord, Algiers 1951.

The remains of an amphitheatre are reported in the 19th century. It had been dug out in a hill and would have measured 60 x 50 metres. It has been assigned to the second century. Today there is a large depression in the terrain. A short description of the visible remains of the city was published by the Archaeological Society of Sousse in 1903. Apart from the amphitheatre, the company visiting the site noted several buildings (one with an apse, some with mosaic floors), cisterns, what seemed to be the remains of a theatre, parts of marble architectural decoration, a bronze openwork slab with the name of Commodus, part of a statue with cuirass, and fragments of a ceiling, found on top of a mosaic and decorated with stucco reliefs with Dionysiac figures. Several finds were taken to the museum in Sousse.

Plan of the amphitheatre by J.-C. Golvin.

The amphitheatre as seen by Susan Keefe, Duke University, in July 2000.

The amphitheatre. Photo: amphi-theatrum.de.

The stucco reliefs and sculpture from the site were described by Nathalie de Chaisemartin in 1987. The stucco decoration was made around 200 AD. The cuirassed statue seems to be a copy of a Trajanic model. Six funerary portraits had also emerged in the city, dated to the second and third century.

Fragments of stucco reliefs. From Chevy 1903.

Funerary portraits of a girl, deceased at the age of 14, and a man.
From Chaisemartin 1987, cat. nrs. 157 and 161.

The epigraphic harvest is very meagre: three inscriptions.[1]

M(arcus) CAECILIVS	FORTVNA TVS [---]A[---] F(ilio) V(ixit) A(nnos) IX[---] H(ic) S(itus) [e(st)]	[---]ON NVS VIX(it) AN(nis) XIV
CIL VIII Suppl. 4, 23023; EDCS-24300335	Funerary inscription. CIL VIII Suppl. 4, 23024; EDCS-24300336	Funerary inscription. De Chaisemartin 1987, 101-102 cat. nr. 157.

In antiquity three bishops are documented: Maximinus, Cyprianus and Donatus, present at Councils of Carthage in 411, 484 and 641 AD. In 1964 the site of a church was found, with two funerary inscriptions of polychrome mosaic, and a baptismal font with an inscription on the rim, also of polychrome mosaic. The latter text contains three biblical quotes: Ephesians 4,5 ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism"), Psalm 31,1 ("Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered"), and Isaiah 1,16 ("Wash and make yourselves clean"). It belongs to the sixth or seventh century. Until 1980 the area was overseen by a guard. After his withdrawal these remains were destroyed completely.

c]VM [---] [---] DOMINI [---] [--- sal]VATORIS NOS[tri ---] [---]SIR IN PA CE	VNVS D(omi)N(u)S, VNA FIDES, VNVM BAPTISMA IN REMISSA P(e)C(c)ATORVM F[e]LICES QVORVM DEMISSA SVNT P(e)CCATA LABIMINI, MVNDI ESTOTE
Funerary inscriptions. EDCS-49800016	Mosaic inscription on the rim of the baptismal font. AE 1998, 1522; EDCS-12500348.

Left. The baptismal font. Top. The funerary inscriptions. Photos: Duval 1998, figs. 5-6 and 9.

It has been said that in antiquity grain was grown in the area, today especially olive oil. It is tempting however to imagine that our Aemilianus owned a vineyard near Uluzibbira (inherited from his father, one would think) and exported his wine and that of some of his neighbours to Rome. He would then have stayed in his home town in August and September, to oversee the grape harvest and talk to the other producers. In the winter he would have been in Ostia and Rome, present at wine auctions and talking to (potential) customers.

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Literature:
- P. Chévy, "Excursions et promenades. Henchir Zembra (Ulizippira?)", Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Sousse I,1 (1903), 23-25.
- P. Chévy, "Les stucs à reliefs d'Henchir-Zembra (Ulizippira?)", Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Sousse I,2 (1903), 147-151.
- N. de Chaisemartin, Les sculptures romaines de Sousse et des sites environnants, Rome 1987, 101-109 with plates.
- N. Duval - A. Beschaouch, "À propos du baptistère d'Ulisippira (Henchir el Zembra, près de Sidi Bou Ali, au nord de Sousse) et des ateliers du Sahel à l'époque byzantine", Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques. Afrique du nord 25 (1996-1998), 81-94.
- R. Lequément, "Le vin africain à l'époque impériale", Antiquités africaines 16 (1980), 185-193.
- Ghislaine Van der Ploeg, "African and Ostian Connections. The Case-Study of Lucius Caecilius Aemilianus", Ancient Society 47 (2017), 221-236.

Notes:
[1] Uluzibbira is also referred to as Henchir-Zembra, not to be confused with the island Zembra near Cape Bon. This has led however to the wrong assignment by Trismegistos of CIL VIII Suppl. 4, 24105; AE 1899, 223. Another wrong assignment is CIL VIII Suppl. 4, 23022; AE 1893, 66.

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