Cherchell (Arabic: شرشال) is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, west of Algiers. It is the seat of Cherchell District in Tipaza Province. Under the names Iol and Caesarea, it was formerly a Roman colony and the capital of the kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania.
Names
The town was originally known by the Phoenician and Punic name , meaning "island of sand". The Punic name was hellenized as Iṑl () and Latinized as Iol.
Cherchel and Cherchell are French transcriptions of the Arabic name Shershel (), derived from the town's old Latin name Caesarea (, hē Kaisáreia), which was given to it in 25BC by to honor his benefactor Augustus, who had legally borne the name "Gaius Julius Caesar" after his posthumous adoption by Julius Caesar in 44BC. It was later distinguished from the many other Roman towns named Caesarea by calling it , ("Mauretania's Caesarea"), (, Iṑl Kaisáreia), or . After its notional refounding as a Roman colony, it was formally named after its imperial patron Claudius.
History
Antiquity
Phoenicians established their first major wave of colonies on the coasts between their homeland and the Strait of Gibraltar in the 8th centuryBC, but Iol was probably established around 600BC and the oldest remains so far discovered at Cherchell date from the 5th centuryBC. By that time, Carthage had already taken control of the Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. Punic Iol was one of the more important trading posts in what is now Algeria. In the 3rd centuryBC, it was fortified and began issuing Numidia's first coins in bronze and silver, bearing Punic text, Carthaginian gods, and images of local produce, particularly fish.
After the Punic Wars, Carthage's holdings in northwest Africa were mostly given to Rome's local allies. Iol was given to Micipsa, the king of Numidia, who first established it as a royal court. It became an important city for the kingdom and was the primary capital for and II. The town minted its own coins and received new defensive works in the 1st centuryBC. Its Punic culture continued, but worship of Baal Hammon was notionally substituted with worship of his Roman equivalent Saturn.
Iol was annexed directly to Rome in 33BC. Augustus established as king of Mauretania in 25BC, giving him the city as his capital, which Juba then renamed in his honor. Juba and his wife Cleopatra (the daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt) rebuilt the city on a lavish scale, combining Roman and Hellenized Egyptian styles. The roads were relaid on a grid and amenities included a theater, an art gallery, and a lighthouse modeled after the Pharos in Alexandria. He probably began the Roman wall that ran for about around a space of about ; about 150 of that total was used for the settlement in antiquity. The royal couple were buried in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania. The seaport capital and its kingdom flourished during this period, with most of the population being of Greek and Phoenician origin with a minority of Berbers.
Their son Ptolemy was assassinated by Caligula during a trip to Rome in AD40. Rome proclaimed the annexation of Mauretania, which was resisted by Ptolemy's former slave Aedemon and by Berber leaders such as Sabalus. Caligula himself was murdered before Rome's response could be made, but his successor Claudius sent legions under Gn. Hosidius Geta and G. Suetonius Paulinus to complete the conquest. By 44, most resistance had been ended and the former kingdom was divided into two Roman provinces, one governed from Tingis (present-day Tangiers) and another governed from Caesarea. Mauretania Caesariensis extended along what is now the Algerian coast and included most of the hinterland as far as the Atlas Mountains.