Mauretania Tingitana
In the first century A.D., the Emperor Claudius divided the Roman province of Mauretania into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana along the line of the Mulucha (Muluya) River, about 60 km west of modern Oran. Tingitana was the western of these provinces,in present Morocco, with its capital at Tingis, modern Tangier, after which it was named.
The principal exports from Tingitana were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the native Mauri were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. Clementius Valerius Marcellinus is recorded as governor (praeses) between 24 October 277 and 13 April 280.
According to tradition, the martyrdom of St Marcellus took place on 28 July 298 at Tingis. Since the Tetrarchy (Emperor Diocletian's reform of governmental structures in 296AD), Mauretania Tingitana became part of the Diocese of Hispaniae (mind the plural) and hence in the Praetorian Prefecture of the Gauls (Mauretania Caesariensis was in the diocese of Africa, in the other pretorian prefecture within the western empire), and remained so until its conquest by the Vandals. Lucilius Constantius is recorded as governor (praeses) in the mid to late fourth century. The Notitia Dignitatum shows also, in the military organisation, a Comes Tingitaniae with a field army of 2 legions, 3 vexillations and 2 auxilia palatina; Flavius Memorius held this office at some point in the mid-fourth century. However, it is implicit in the sources that there was a single military frontier command for both of the Mauretanian provinces, with a Dux Mauretaniae controlling 7 cohorts and 1 ala.
The Germanic Vandals, established themselves in the province of Baetica in 422 under their king Gunderic, and from there seem to have carried out raids on Mauretania Tingitana. In 427 the then Comes Africae Bonifacius rejected an order of recall from the Court of the Emperor Valentinian III, and defeated an army sent against him. He was less fortunate when a second force was sent in 428, in which year Gunderic was succeeded by Gaiseric; and Boniface invited Gaiseric into Africa, providing a fleet to enable the passage of the Vandals to Tingis in 429. Boniface's intention was to confine the Vandals to Mauretania, but once across the straits they rejected any control and marched on Carthage, inflicting grievous sufferings on the Mauretanian provincials.
In 533, the great Byzantine general Belisarius reconquered the former Diocese of Africa from the Vandals on behalf of the Emperor Justinian I. All the territory west of Caesarea had already been lost by the Vandals to the Mauri, but a re-established Dux Mauretaniae kept a military unit at Septem (modern Ceuta); this was the last outpost in Mauretania Tingitana, now an enclave for the coast east of it was abandoned quite far; the rest was united with the now Byzantine part of (V)Andalusia, under the name (a role reversal!) of prefecture Africa. Most of the North African coast was later organised as the civilian Exarchate of Carthage, a special status in view of the outpost defense needs.
When the Ommayad caliphs conquered all Northern Africa, replacing Christianity with Islam for good, both Mauretanias were reunited in the province of al-Maghrib (Arabic for the West, and still the official name of the Sherifian kingdom of Morocco; but also including over half of modern Algeria)
Roman archaeological sites include Volubilis, an administrative center and the site of a palace of Gordius, and Augusta Zilil.
Sources and References for Further reading
- J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire
- A.H.M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire, Blackwell, Oxford 1964 ISBN0631150765
- Pauly-Wissowa (in German)
- Westermann, Großer Atlass zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
External links
- Lacus Curtius site: Mauretania Tingitana: Roman Morocco
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Mauretania"
- Passion of St Marcellus [1]