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Rusadir

Coordinates:35°17′38″N2°55′59″W/ 35.294°N 2.933°W/35.294; -2.933
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Rusadir
Melilla la Vieja is built over Roman Rusadir
Rusadir is located in Spain
Rusadir
Shown within Spain
LocationSpain
RegionMelilla
Coordinates35°17′38″N2°55′59″W/ 35.294°N 2.933°W/35.294; -2.933

Rusadirwas anancientPunicandRomantown at what is nowMelilla,Spain,innorthwest Africa.Under theRoman Empire,it was acolonyin theprovinceofMauretania Tingitana.

Name[edit]

ršʾdr(Punic:𐤓‬𐤔𐤀𐤃𐤓‬)[1]was aPunicname meaning "Powerful"[2]or "HighCape",[3]after its nearby headland.[4]It can also be understood as "Cape of the Powerful One", in reference toBaal,Tanit,or some other importantPunic god.[5]The format is similar to other Punic names along the North African coast, includingRusguniae,Rusubbicari,Rusuccuru,Rusippisir,Rusigan(Rachgoun),Rusicade,Ruspina,Ruspe,andRsmlqr.[6]The settlement's name was hellenized asRhyssádeiron(Greek:Ῥυσσάδειρον).[7][4]It appears inLatinasRusadir,[8]Rusicada,[9]andRusadder.[10][4]As a Roman colony, it was also known asFlavia.[citation needed]

Geography[edit]

LikeAbyla(present-dayCeuta), Rusadir was located on a small, easily defendedpeninsulaconnected to mainlandAfricaby a narrowisthmus.[11]Its namesake cape is small but includes a large rocky hill, which was fortified.[11]It lies at the northern end of a smallbightwhich formed its harbor, itself part of the eastern shore of a much larger bight that stretches across the southernMediterraneancoast fromCape Three Forks[12](the classicalMetagonites Promontorium)[4]toCape Figalowest ofOran.[13]Rusadir's own small bight lies beside a kind of naturalamphitheateron the eastern slope of a steep rock 500 meters (1,640 ft) high, where modern Melilla has grown up.[3]

History[edit]

Punic town[edit]

Rusadir was established as aPhoenician colony[3]along the trading route betweenPhoeniciaand theStrait of Gibraltar,itself guarded by the colonies ofTinga(Tangier),Abyla(Ceuta),Kart(San Roque), and Gadir (Cadiz). Like other outposts in the West, Rusadir eventually fell underCarthaginian dominion.

Mauretanian town[edit]

AfterCarthage's defeat in thePunic Wars,Rusadir passed into the control of theRomanclient stateMauretania.It minted its ownbronzecoins, withPunic textand a bearded head (possiblyBaal Hammon)obverseand abeebetween ears ofwheatreverse.[1]

Roman town[edit]

Ptolemy's 1st African map, showing RomanMauretania Tingitana

Caligulaassassinated theMauretanian kingin AD40 and proclaimed the annexation of his kingdom. His successorClaudiusorganized the new territories, placing Rusadir within theprovinceofMauretania Tingitana.Plinydescribes 1st-century Rusadir as anative hillfort(oppidum) and port (portus).[14][3]It was made acolonyin AD46.

By the 3rd century, Rusadir was fullyChristianizedand quite prosperous. In the 4th century, Rusadir was the principal port for theMauro-Roman kingdom.[citation needed]

Later history[edit]

Main article:Melilla

TheVandalkingGaiseric,probably invited byCount Boniface,crossed fromSpaintoTingis(Tangier) in 429. Some of his tens of thousands of followers besieged and conquered Rusadir around 430, while others overran the rest of northwest Africa. Focusing his attention on the Roman province ofAfrica,Gaiseric allowedBerberrebellions to remove most of his western territories from his control. Rusadir became part of the Berber kingdom ofAltava.

TheByzantinegeneralBelisariusrestored Roman control over Northern Africa (including Rusadir) around the year 533,[15]as part ofJustinian'sVandalic War.TheExarchate of Africaestablished by the Byzantines also focused most of its attention on the area of present-dayTunisiaand did not expand into the Mauretanian hinterland. Instead, it oversaw its fortified ports from the easily protected stronghold ofSeptem(Ceuta). Rusadir was conquered by theVisigothgeneralSuintila(probably on behalf of kingSisebuto) in 614.[16]By the early 7th century a Christian bishop with seat in the city was mentioned in theThronus Alexandrinus.[15]By 700, Rusadir was conquered byMusa ibn Nusayron behalf of theUmayyad Caliphate.[17]With an uncertain existence as populated settlement by the mid 9th century, the city was repopulated by Berbers by the late 9th century (c. 890), when it was already known by its new name,[17]Malila/Melilla/Amlil. It was seized by an Andalusian army on behalf ofAbd al-Rahman III,emir (soon-to-be Caliph) of Córdoba in 926–927.[18]

It was conquered by the Castilian noblemanJuan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmánin 1497 and—under the nameMelilla(q.v.)—was formally annexed byCastilein 1506.[3]

Religion[edit]

Rusadir remains atitular seeof theRoman Catholic Church.[citation needed]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^abHead & al. (1911),p. 889.
  2. ^Mora Serrano (2011),p. 25.
  3. ^abcdeCath. Enc.(1913),s.v. "Rusaddir".
  4. ^abcdDict. Gr. & Rom. Bio. & Myth.(1870),s.v. "Rusadir".
  5. ^Juárez, Roberto (3 September 2016),"Significado de Rusaddir",Melilla: Ciudad Desconocida.(in Spanish)
  6. ^López Pardo (2005),pp. 137–138.
  7. ^Ptol.,Geogr.,Bk.IV, Ch.i, §7.
  8. ^Pliny,Nat. Hist.,Bk.I.
  9. ^Mela,Geogr.,Bk.I, §33.
  10. ^Ant. Itin.
  11. ^abEnc. Brit.(1911).
  12. ^"Melilla",North Africa,P502, NI 30-3,Washington:U.S. Army Map Service, 1953.
  13. ^"Oran",North Africa,P502, NI 30-4,Washington:U.S. Army Map Service, 1953.
  14. ^Pliny,Nat. Hist.,Bk.V, Ch.18.
  15. ^abLara Peinado 1998,p. 24.
  16. ^Lara Peinado, Fernando (1998)."Melilla: entre Oriente y Occidente"(PDF).Aldaba(30). Melilla:UNED:24.ISSN0213-7925.
  17. ^abLara Peinado 1998,p. 25.
  18. ^Gurriarán Daza, Pedro (2018)."La fortificación de la frontera sur de al-andalus en tiempos del califato de Córdoba"(PDF).Almoraima. Revista de Estudios Campogibraltareños(48). Algeciras: Instituto de Estudios Campogibraltareños: 62.

Bibliography[edit]

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