**HIPPO REGIUS** – A city on the Mediterranean coast in Numidia (northern Africa), now located 2 km southwest of modern-day Bône in Algeria.
It was originally a Phoenician colony; its name Hippo Regius was in use from the time of Julius Caesar, who established the Kingdom of Numidia. Augustus made it a Roman municipium, and Trajan a colony. Yet even at the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th, some of its inhabitants still spoke Punic, and St Augustine was obliged to seek priests who could speak II.
Christianity flourished there from the mid-3rd century, as attested by its bishops and two groups of martyrs. It was a hotbed of Manichaeans and Donatists, against whom St Augustine fought strenuously. It was sacked by the Vandals, who entered it in 430, and Gaiseric remained there until 439, when he conquered Carthage. Justinian retook it in 533, following Belisarius’ conquest of Carthage. The Arabs abandoned Hippo and settled on the coast where Bône now stands.
Known bishops of Hippo include: Theogenes in 256, present at the Council of Carthage; Leontius around 303, who built the so-called Leontian Basilica (St Augustine, *Sermons*, 260 and 262; P. Monceaux, *Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique*, III, Paris 1910, p. 152); Florenzio or Fidentius, one of the twenty martyrs during the Diocletianic persecution (St Augustine, *Sermons*, 148, 325–26; *De civitate Dei*, XXII, 8, 4); Valerius in 388; and St Augustine himself (393–430). The bishops of Hippo after the Vandal invasion and during the Byzantine period are unknown.
From St Augustine’s works, St Gsell derived the following information about churches in Hippo (*Monuments antiques de l’Algérie*, II, Paris 1901, pp. 212–14):
The *Basilica maior* (St Augustine, *Sermons*, 325), also called the Basilica of Peace (*id.*, *Ep.* 213). It had an elevated apse (*De civitate Dei*, XXII, 8, 22); nearby stood the Chapel of the Protomartyr Stephen, containing his relics beneath the altar (*Sermons*, 318).
The Leontian Basilica, founded by Bishop and Martyr Leontius himself (*Sermons*, 260 and 262).
The Basilica ad octo Martyres (*Serm.*, 356, 10).
In the vicinity of Hippo, St Augustine also mentions: a *Memoria martyrum* (*De civitate Dei*, XXII, 8, 19); a chapel dedicated to Sts Gervasius and Protasius at the locality Victoriana Villa (*ibid.*, 8, 7); an oratory containing earth from the Holy Sepulchre at Fussula (*ibid.*, 8, 6); a basilica at Hasna whose altar was demolished by the Circumcellions (*Ep.*, 29, 12); and a church at Andurus containing relics of St Stephen (*De civitate Dei*, XXII, 8, 15).
Finally, from St Augustine we learn of a monastery he founded (*Serm.*, 355, 2); the *domus episcopi* (*ibid.*); two other male monasteries (*ibid.*, 356, 10 and 15); and one or more female monasteries (*Ep.*, 211). On 28 August 392 he held a public disputation with the Manichaean priest Fortunatus “in the baths of Sossius, in the presence of the people” (*PL* 42, 111–12).
Little is yet known of Hippo’s ancient Christian monuments. Until 1949 discoveries were limited to Christian sepulchral inscriptions transmitted through manuscripts, such as the acrostic epitaph of the deacon Nabor, killed by the Donatists (G. B. De Rossi, in *Bull. arch. crist.*, 4th ser., 4 [1886], pp. 8–10; P. Monceaux, *Enquête sur l’épigraphie chrétienne d’Ariège*, in *Revue archéol.*, 4th ser., 7–8 [1906], p. 473, no. 191), or of a contemporary poet of St Augustine (P. Monceaux, *ibid.*, p. 473, no. 192); or to sporadic finds (St Gsell, *Les inscriptions latines de l’Algérie*, I, Paris 1922, pp. 1–9 and 393).
Also noteworthy are ampullae bearing the image of the martyr Mennas (G. B. De Rossi, in *Bull. arch. crist.*, 5th ser., 5 [1894], p. 56); a fragment of a comb showing Daniel among the lions (J. Strzygowski, *Der Algerische Danielkame*, in *Oriens Christianus*, new series, 1 [1911], pp. 83–87); and a group of Vandalic jewels (J. de Baye, *Bijoux vandalés des environs de Bône*, in *Mém. de la Soc. nat. des antiquaires de France*, 4 [1887], pp. 179–82).
Only in 1949 did a report by R. Leschi, Director of Monuments in Algeria, announce the discovery of a three-aisled Christian building dating from the Vandalic period or earlier, later reused by Arians. Its mosaic pavement contains numerous Christian sepulchral inscriptions; among them a marble slab bears the epitaph of a Suevian woman named Ermengon, wife of an Ingomar.