Map of the Roman Empire - Utica
Utica
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Ancient Utica - A city of the Roman province of Africa located about 25 miles northwest of Carthage. The original colony was founded by the Tyrians on the north coast of Zeugitana in the Carthaginian Gulf. In ancient times Utica was the greatest city of Africa next to Carthage. Utica will be forever famous as the place where the followers of Pompey made their last stand against Octavian, including Cato the younger who died there.
Utica (Οὐτίκη and Ἰτυκή). Now Bon-Shater; the greatest city of ancient Africa next to Carthage. It was a Phœnician colony, much older, according to the ancient chronologists, than Carthage. Like others of the very ancient Phœnician colonies in the territory of Carthage, Utica maintained a comparative independence, even during the height of the Punic power, and was rather the ally of Carthage than her subject. It stood on the shore of the northern part of the Carthaginian Gulf, a little west of the mouth of the Bagradas, and twentyseven Roman miles northwest of Carthage; but its site is now inland, in consequence of the changes effected by the Bagradas in the coast-line. In the Third Punic War, Utica took part with the Romans against Carthage, and was rewarded with the greatest part of the Carthaginian territory. It afterwards became renowned to all future time as the scene of the last stand made by the Pompeian party against Caesar, and of the self-sacrifice of the younger Cato , who is, in consequence, usually styled Cato Uticensis. See Cato. - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the
Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the
first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa. Today, Utica no longer
exists, and its remains are located not on the coast where it once lay, but
further inland because deforestation and agriculture upriver led to massive
erosion and the Medjerda River silted over its original mouth. "Utica" is from
the Phoenician ˁattiq (identical to modern Arabic عُتَيقة and Hebrew עתיק)
meaning "old [town]", contrasting with the later colony "Carthage", meaning "new
town".
Roman History of Utica.
Third Punic War. Utica again defied Carthage in the Third Punic War, when
it surrendered to Rome shortly before the breakout of war in 150 BC. After its
victory, Rome rewarded Utica by granting it an expanse of territory stretching
from Carthage to Hippo. As a result of the war, Rome created a new province of
Africa, and Utica became its capital, which meant that the governor's residence
was there along with a small garrison. Over the following decades Utica also
attracted Roman citizens who settled there to do business.
Roman Civil War. During the Roman Civil War between the supporters of
Pompey and Caesar, the remaining Pompeians, including Cato the Younger, fled to
Utica after being defeated at the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC. Caesar pursued
them to Utica, meeting no resistance from the inhabitants. Cato, who was the
leader of the Pompeians, ensured the escape of his fellow senators and anyone
else who desired to leave, then committed suicide, unwilling to accept the
clemency of Caesar. Displaying their fondness for Cato, “the people of
Utica...called Cato their saviour and benefactor... And this they continued to
do even when word was brought that Caesar was approaching. They decked his body
in splendid fashion, gave it an illustrious escort, and buried it near the sea,
where a statue of him now stands, sword in hand”. After his death, Cato was
given the name of Uticensis, due to the place of his death as well as to his
public glorification and burial by the citizens of Utica.
Roman status. Utica obtained the formal status of a municipium in 36 BC
and its inhabitants became members of the tribe of Quirina. During the reign of
Augustus, however, the seat of provincial government was moved by the Emperor
Augustus to Carthage. "Although Utica did not lose its status as one of the
foremost cities in the province. When Hadrian was emperor, Utica requested to
become a full Roman colony, but this request was not granted until Septimius
Severus, a native, took the throne."
The fall of Utica. In AD 439, the Vandals captured Utica, in AD 534 the
Byzantines captured it once more, and the Arabs were responsible for its
ultimate destruction around AD 700. "Excavations at the site have yielded two
Punic cemeteries and Roman ruins, including baths and a villa with mosaics". - Wikipedia
Utica, "old" (Ityca), a maritime city of Zeugitana, within Apollonium prom., on Bagradas fl., close to its mouth. A Tyrian settlement, older than Carthage, and, after the destruction of that city, the capital of Africa Prop. The death-place of Cato. Biserta. - Classical Gazetteer
Utica
UTICA (ἡ Ἰτύκη, Plb. 1.75; Ptol. 4.3.6; Οὐτίκη, D. C. 41.41; Eth. Uticensis; Liv.
29.35; Caes. B.C. 2.36), a colony founded by the Tyrians on the N. coast of
Zeugitana in Africa. (Vell. 1.2; Mela, 1.7; Just. 18.4, &c.) The date of its
foundation is said to have been a few years after that of Gades, and 287 years
before that of Carthage. (Vell. Pat. l.c.; Aristot. Mirab. Ausc. 146; Gesenius,
Monum. Script. Linguaeque Phoenic. p. 291; Sil. Ital. Pun. 3.241, sqq. &c.) Its
name signified in Phoenician, “ancient,” or “noble” (HEBREW, Gesen. ib. p. 420,
and Thes. Ling. Heb. p. 1085). Utica was situated near the mouth of the river
Bagradas, or rather that of its western arm, in the Bay of Carthage, and not far
from the promontory of Apollo, which forms the western boundary of the bay. (Strab.
xvii. p.832; Liv. l.c.; Ptol. l.c.; Appian, App. BC 2.44, seq.; Procop. B. V.
2.15, &c.) It lay 27 miles NW. of Carthage. (Itin. Ant. p. 22.) The distance is
given as 60 stadia in Appian (App. Pun. 75), which is probably an error for 160;
and as a day's sail by sea. (Scylax, Geogr. Min. i. p. 50, ed. Huds.) Both Utica
and Tunes might be descried from Carthage. (Strab. l.c.; Plb. 1.73; Liv. 30.9.)
Utica possessed a good harbour, or rather harbours, made by art,with excellent
anchorage and numerous landing places. (Appian, l.c.; cf. Barth, Wanderungen
durch die Küstenländer des Mittelmeers, pp. 111, 125.) On the land side it was
protected by steep hills, which, together with the sea and its artificial
defences, which were carefully kept up, rendered it a very strong place. (Liv.
29.35; App. Pun. 16, 30, 75; Diod. 20.54; Plut. Cat. Mi. 58.) The surrounding
country was exceedingly fertile and well cultivated, and produced abundance of
corn, of which there was a great export trade to Rome. (Liv. 25.31.) The hills
behind the town, as well as the district near the present Porto Farina,
contained rich veins of various metals; and the coast was celebrated for
producing vast quantities of, salt of a very peculiar quality. (Plin. Nat. 31.7.
s. 39; Caes. B.C. 2.37; Plb. 12.3, seq.; Diod. 20.8, &c.) Among the buildings of
the town, we hear of a temple of Jupiter (Plut. Cat. Mi. 5) and of one of
Apollo, with its planks of Numidian cedar near twelve centuries old (Plin. Nat.
16.40. s. 79); of a forum of Trajan, and a theatre outside the city. (Tiro
Prosper, ap. Morcelli, Afr. Christ. iii. p. 40; Caes. B.C. 2.25.) The tomb and
statue of Cato on the sea-shore were extant in the time of Plutarch (Ib. 79).
Shaw (Travels, vol. i. p. 160, seq.) has the merit of having first pointed out
the true situation of this celebrated city, the most important in N. Africa
after Carthage. Before the time of Shaw, it was sought sometimes at Biserta,
sometimes at Porto Farina; but that learned traveller fixed it near the little
miserable Duar, which has a holy tomb called Boo-shatter; and with this view
many writers have agreed (Falbe, Recherches sur l'Emplacement de Carthage, p.
66; Barth, Wanderungen, &c. p. 109; Semilasso, pp. 39, 46; Ritter, Afrika, p.
913, &c.) Since the Roman times the muddy stream of the Bagradas has deposited
at its mouth a delta of from 3 to 4 miles in extent, so that the innermost
recess of the Bay of Carthage, on which ancient Utica was situated, as well as
the eastern arm of the river itself, have been converted into a broad morass, in
which traces are still visible of the quays which formerly lined the shore, and
of the northern mole which enclosed the harbour. More towards the E., at the
margin of the chain of hills which at an earlier period descended to the sea,
may be discerned blocks of masonry belonging to the ancient town wall. On the
declivity of the hills towards the SE. are the remains of six cisterns, or
reservoirs, 136 feet long, 15 to 19 feet broad, and 20 to 30 feet deep, covered
with a remarkably thin arched roof. These are connected with an aqueduct, which
may be traced several miles from Boo-shatter, in the direction of the hills; but
its most remarkable remains are a treble row of arches by which it was carried
over a ravine. These reservoirs may probably have served to furnish water for a
naumachia in the neighbouring amphitheatre, which is hollowed out of the hills,
and is capable of containing about 20,000 persons. The ancient site of the city
is covered with ruins. Near its centre rises the highest summit of the chain of
hills on which stood the citadel and, probably, also the ancient temple of
Apollo. The ruins of other temples and castles have been discovered, as well as
the site of the senate house (Plut. Cat. Mi. 67), which has been thought to be
determined by the excavation of a number of statues. These are now preserved in
the museum at Leyden.
In the course of time, as is usual with such connections, Utica became severed
from the mother-city, and first appears in history as independent of it. In the
first commercial treaty between Rome and Carthage, in the year 509 B.C. Utica
was probably included in it among the allies of the Carthaginians (Plb. 3.22);
in the second, in B.C. 348, it is expressly named (ib. 24; Diod. 16.69, who
however confounds the two treaties), as well as in the alliance concluded by
Hannibal with Philip of Macedon in the Second Punic War, B.C. 215 (Plb. 8.9).
Subsequently, however, Utica appears to have thrown off her dependence upon, or
perhaps we should rather [p. 2.1329]call it her alliance with, Carthage, and,
with other cities of N. Africa, to have joined the Sicilian Agathocles, the
opponent of Carthage; to have afterwards revolted from that conqueror, butto
have been again reduced to obedience (Diod. 20.17, 54: cf. Plb. 1.82). In the
First Punic War, Utica remained faithful to Carthage; afterwards it joined the
Libyans, but was compelled to submit by the victorious Carthaginians (Polyb. ib.
88: Diod. Fr. xxv.). In the Second Punic War also we find it in firm alliance
with Carthage, to whose fleets the excellent harbour of Utica was very
serviceable. But this exposed it to many attacks from the Romans, whose
freebooting excursions were frequently directed against it from Lilybaeum, as
well as to a more regular, but fruitless siege by Scipio himself (Liv. 25.31,
27.5, 18.4, 29.35, 30.3, &c.; Plb. 14.2; Appian, Punic. 16, 25, 30). In the
third war, however, the situation of Carthage being now hopeless, the Uticenses
indulged their ancient grudge against that city, and made their submission to
Rome by a separate embassy (Plb. 36.1; Appian, App. Pun. 75, 110, 113). This
step greatly increased the material prosperity of Utica. After the destruction
of Carthage, the Romans presented Utica with the fertile district lying between
that city and Hippo Diarrhytus. It became the chief town of the province, the
residence of the Roman governor, the principal emporium for the Roman commerce,
and the port of debarcation for the Roman armaments destined to act in the
interior of Africa. Owing to this intimate connection with Rome, the name of
Utica appears very frequently in the later history of the republic, as in the
accounts of the Jugurthine War, of the war carried on by Pompey at the head of
Sulla's faction, against the Marian party under Domitius and his ally the
Numidian king Iarbas, and in the struggle between Caesar and the Pompeians, with
their ally Juba. It is unnecessary to quote the numerous passages in which the
name of Utica occurs in relation to these events. In the last of these wars,
Utica was the scene of the celebrated death of the younger Cato, so often
related or adverted to by the ancients (Plut. Cat. Mi. 58, seq.: D. C. 43.10,
sqq.; V. Max. 3.2.14; Cic. pro Ligar. 1, &c.; cf. Dict. of Biogr. Vol. I. p.
649). Augustus presented the Uticenses with the Roman civitas, partly as a
reward for the inclination which they had manifested for the party of his uncle,
and partly also to indemnify them for the rebuilding of Carthage (D. C. 49.16;
cf. Sext. Rufus, Brev. 4). We know nothing more of Utica till the time of
Hadrian, who visited N. Africa in his extensive travels, and at whose desire the
city changed its ancient constitution for that of a Roman colony (Spartian. Hadr.
13; Gell. N. Att. 16.13). Thus it appears in the Tab. Peut. with the appellation
of Colonia, as well as in an inscription preserved in the museum of Leyden (Cot.
Jul. Ael. Hadr. Utic., ap. Janssen, Mus. Lugd. Batav. Inscr. Gr. et Lat.).
Septimius Severus, an African by birth, endowed it, as well as Carthage and his
birthplace Leptis Magna, with the Jus Italicum. We find the bishops of Utica
frequently mentioned in the Christian period from the time of the great Synod
under Cyprian of Carthage in 256, down to 684, when a bishop of Utica appeared
in the Council of Toledo. The city is said to have witnessed the martyrdom of
300 persons at one time (cf. Morcelli, Afr. Christ. i. p. 362, ii. p. 150;
Munter, Primod. Eccl. Afr. p. 32; Augustin, c. Donat. 7.8). Utica probably fell
with Carthage, into the hands of the Vandals under Genseric in 439. Subsequently
it was recovered by the Byzantine emperors, but in the reign of the Chalif
Abdelmalek was conquered by the Arabians under Hassan; and though it appears to
have been again recovered by John the prefect or patrician, it finally sank
under the power of the Saracens during the reign of the same Chalif, and on its
second capture was destroyed (cf. Papencordt, die Vandal Herrschaft in Afr. p.
72, sq., 151, sq.; Weil, Gesch. der Chalifer, i. p. 473, sqq.; Gibbon, Decl. and
Fall, 6.350, sqq. ed. Smith). The remains of its marbles and columns were
carried away in the preceding century, to serve as materials for the great
mosque of Tunis (Semilasso, p. 43.)
Several coins of Utica are extant bearing the heads of Tiberius or Livia; a
testimony perhaps of the gratitude of the city for the rights bestowed upon it
by Augustus (cf. Mionnet, Med. Ant. vi. p. 589; Supp. viii. p. 208).
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman
Geography (1854) William Smith, LLD, Ed.