Thignica
Thignica was a town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis. It served as a Latin Catholic titular see.
The town
Thignica's stone ruins are called Aïn Tounga, located southwest of Testour, Tunisia. They are very extensive and cover the summit and slopes of a series of hills. One inscription calls the town "Civitas Thignicensis" (the city of Thignica) and states that it was divided into three parts, another that it became a municipium at the beginning of the 3rd century under the name of "municipium Septimium Aurelium Antoninianum Herculeum Frugiferum Thignica". Towards the centre of the ruins is a Byzantine fortress, trapezoidal in shape, flanked by five square towers. Here an inscription makes mention of the proconsul Domitius Zenophilus (326-32), famous in the annals of Christian Africa. Among the other ruins are a small triumphal arch, a temple, a Christian church, the remains of the enclosure, etc.,[1] as well as an amphitheatre.
The bishopric
Despite the splendour and importance of this town, we know of only one bishop, Aufidius, who assisted at the Conference of Carthage (411), where he had a Donatist rival.[1]
Canonical status and jurisdiction
Thignica is a titular see of the Catholic Church.[2]
From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia
A titular see in Numidia. The Roman Curia's official list of titular sees places Thignica in Numidia. It belonged to Proconsular Africa. Its ruins are called Ain Tounga, south-west of Testour, Tunisia. They are very extensive and cover the summit and slopes of a series of hills. One inscription calls it "Civitas Thignicensis" and states that it was divided into three parts, another that it became a municipium at the beginning of the third century under the name of "municipium Septimium Aurelium Antoninianum Herculeum Frugiferum Thignica". Towards the centre of the ruins is a Byzantine fortress, trapezoidal in shape, flanked by five square towers. Here an inscription makes mention of the proconsul Domitius Zenophilus (326-32), famous in the annals of Christian Africa. Among the other ruins are a small triumphal arch, a temple, a Christian church, the remains of the enclosure, etc. Despite the splendour and importance of this town we know only one bishop, Aufidius, who assisted in 411 at the Conference of Carthage where he had a Donatist rival.
TOULOTTE, Geographie de l'Afrique chretienne. Proconsulaire (Paris, 1892), 269-271; DIEHL, L'Afrique byzantine (Paris, 1896), passim.
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Thignica". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Back to citation Wikidata item Q587581
Further reading
- Ben Hassen, Habib (2006). Thignica (Aïn Tounga), son histoire et ses monuments. Ortacesus, ISBN 88-89061-24-3.
- Scheding, Paul (2019). Urbaner Ballungsraum im römischen Nordafrika. Zum Einfluss von mikroregionalen Wirtschafts- und Sozialstrukturen auf den Städtebau in der Africa Proconsularis [Urban agglomeration in Roman North Africa. On the influence of micro-regional economic and social structures on urban development in Africa Proconsularis]. Wiesbaden: Reichert, ISBN 978-3-95490-313-9 (with Thignica as one of five case studies).