Tebourba

Historically Thuburbo Minus ("Little Thuburbo") was a Roman settlement in Africa Proconsularis, located at present-day Tebourba, It was founded in the 1st century BC as a colony for veterans and was officially named Colonia VIII (Octavianorum) Thuburbi.[1] Despite the name it is believed to have been founded by Caesar for veterans of the Eighth and Thirteenth legions sometime after 46BC.[2] The second century Roman jurist Sextus Caecilius Africanus (d.c. 175) is believed to have come from Thuburbo Minus.[3] Thuburbo Minus is mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, 44, and the Tabula Peutingeriana.

Situated on a hill, modern Tebourba occupied only a part of the ancient site, when it was rebuilt in the 15th century by the Andalusian Moors. The Roman amphitheatre, dated to the second century,[4] was still standing at the end of the 17th century, when it was destroyed to build a bridge. The nearby Thuburbo Maius ("Greater Thuburbo") is in ruins.

Raising sheep and the manufacture of woolen goods (vestis afra) seems to have been a significant part of the local economy.[5]

The diocese of Thuburbo Minus was a suffragan of Carthage. Traditionally, it was at Thuburbo Minus that the Christian martyrs Perpetua and Felicity with their companions were arrested. The two known bishops of this city were: Victor, present at the Conference of Carthage (411), where he had as his competitor the Donatist Maximinus; and Germanus, who signed (646) the letter of the bishops of the proconsulate to the Patriarch Paul II of Constantinople against the Monothelites.[6]

The remains of a basilica, the amphitheatre and some mosaics can still be seen.[1] The amphitheatre, which was dug partly into a hill, must have orignally measured 36 x 48 m.[7]

Tebourba was the scene of The Battle of Tebourba Gap in the Tunisia Campaign of World War II, lasting from November 29 until December 4, 1942. The battle involved the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Hampshire Regiment of the British Army against the Axis Forces.

The Hampshires held the town for several days until it fell to the Germans on December 4.[9][10]

The battle is commemorated in the name of a road in Southampton, England called "Tebourba Way." There is a small war memorial on the roadside at the junction with Oakley Road. Tebourba Drive in Alverstoke, Gosport is also named after the battle, as is the Tebourba House apartment block in nearby Fareham. A row of 8 council houses on Outlands Lane in Curdridge, Hampshire are named Tebourba Way.

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Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Thuburbo Minus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

36°50′N 9°50′E