- Title: ALGERIA: ROMAN RUINS PROVIDE BACKDROP FOR TOURIST-BOOSTING 'MANIFESTATIONS'.
- Date: 29th March 1967
- Summary: SHEEP, GOATS, CAMELS, RUINS OF TIMGAD; TEMPLE; ROADWAY; TOURISTS; ABBE BERENGUER LECTURING; JEWELLERY SELLERS. Initials AB/VS/CR/BB Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 13th April 1967 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: TIMGAD, ALGERIA
- Country: Algeria
- Reuters ID: LVA39GYUI02LJ4LORDOR89QQHS8Z
- Story Text: HISTORY, AS MORE THAN ONE NATION HAS DISCOVERED, IS AN EXTREMELY MARKETABLE COMMODITY. THE LATEST COUNTRY TO JOIN THE RACE TO WIN NEW RICHES FROM A WEALTHY PAST IS ALGERIA. SHE IS DOING IT BY PROMOTING A SERIES OF "CULTURAL MANIFESTATIONS" AMID THE ANCIENT ROMAN RUINS OF TIMGAD.
THE ROMANS FIRST ARRIVED IN ALGERIA MORE THAN 2,000 YEARS AGO. UNDER THE REIGN OF CALIGULA THEY COMPLETED THE ANNEXATION OF THE COUNTRY AFTER A SLOW PROCESS OF COLONIZATION AND INTER-MARRIAGE AND THEN THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE NATIVES INTO ROMANS.
ROMAN POWER DECLINED OVER THE CENTURIES, BUT IT WAS NOT UNTIL 800 YEARS AGO THAT THE LAST TRACES OF ROMAN INFLUENCE WERE SHORN FROM ALGERIAN CULTURE BY ARAB INVADERS WHO ABSORBED THE COUNTRY INTO ISLAM.
TODAY TIMGAD, ONE OF THE BEST PRESERVED ROMAN CITIES IN THE WORLD, STANDS AS A MONUMENT TO ROMAN RULE. IT WAS BUILT ALMOST 1,900 YEARS AGO UNDER THE EMPEROR TRAJAN BY THE THIRD AUGUSTA LEGION -- A BODY OF SOME 12,000 HIGHLY DISCIPLINED SOLDIERS WHO, FOR ALMOST 300 YEARS, CONTROLLED MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION SQUARE MILES (ABOUT 4 MILLION SQUARE KILOMETRES), OF NORTH AFRICA.
THE RUINS EXCAVATED TO DATE COVER NEARLY 124 ACRES (50 HECTARES) OF LAND. SEVERAL OF THE CITY'S ORIGINAL MARKETS HAVE BEEN UNCOVERED ALONG WITH THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH TO THE EMPEROR TRAJAN AND THE FORUM WHERE CITIZENS DIVERTED THEMSELVES WITH TRADITIONAL ROMAN SPORTS.
THE CITY LIES IN A WIDE VALLEY, HIGH ABOVE SEA LEVEL SHEEP AND CAMEL HERDS GO ABOUT THEIR TIMELESS BUSINESS, AND AT THE GATES JEWELLERY SELLERS MAKE THEIR BID FOR A SHARE IN THE TOURIST ECONOMY.
INSIDE AN ALGERIAN HISTORIAN, ABBE BERENGUER, MAY BE LECTURING ON ALGERIA'S PAST. OUTSIDE LESS HISTORICALLY INCLINED PEOPLE ARE LOOKING TO ITS FUTURE.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None