Sites & cities that bear the name of Icosium

Icosium

Today in : Algeria
First trace of activity : ca. 4th century B.C.E
Last trace of activity : ca. 8th century C.E
Recorded names : Ἰκόσιον, Ikósion

Description : Icosium (Ancient Greek: Ἰκόσιον, romanized: Ikósion) was a Berber city that was part of Numedia which became an important Roman colony and an early medieval bishopric (now a Latin titular see) in the casbah area of actual Algiers. In 146 BC, Icosium became part of the Roman Empire. Tacfarinas's revolt damaged the city, but Icosium was revived by the introduction of a colony of veteran Roman soldiers during the reign of Juba II. The city was given Latin rights (colonia Latina) by the emperor Vespasian. Roman Icosium existed on what was the "marine quarter" of the city of Algiers until 1940. The Rue de la Marine followed the lines of what used to be a Roman street, and a ruined aqueduct was visible by Algiers's "Gate of Victory" as late as 1845. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued and Bab Azoun. Under the Romans, there were also other settlements nearby on the banks of the Haratob (the classical Savus). By the 2nd century, an influx of Berbers from the countryside changed the settlement's demographics, so that Latin-speakers became a minority elite.

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