SBEITLA. - Sufetula in Byzacena, today S. in Tunisia, was a notable Roman city that appears from the time of Vespasian (CIL, VIII, no. 23216); later becoming a municipium and colony (ibid., no. 11340), it began to decline under Vandal rule.
It was conquered for the Byzantines by Belisario in 533; governed by Giovanni Troglita in 546; chosen in the following century by the patrician Gregorio as his capital: but it was besieged, taken, and sacked by the Arabs in 647 (Ch. Diehl, L'Afrique byzantine, Paris 1896, pp. 370-357 ff.). As many as seven Roman roads led to or ended at S.; of these, two connected with Carthage, two with Tebessa, one with Thysdrus (today el-Djem), one with Thenac (today Thina), and one with Tacape (today Gabes). Among the bishops of S. known are Privaziano in 256, also mentioned in the Hieronymian Martyrology on May 7; Giocondo, who was present at the Conference of Carthage in 411 and at the Council of 419; Presidio, who is mentioned in 484 by Victor of Vita (Persecut. Vandal., II, 16).
Impressive are the ruins of the Capitolium of S. with its three temples (A. Merlin, Forum et églises de Sufetula, Paris 1912), the triumphal arch, and the insulae of the city. As early as 1883 remains of Christian buildings appeared; on a fragment of architecture discovered at that time is read: « Hic domus + oratio(nis) » (CIL, VIII, no. 11414): this must have been at the entrance of the basilica called that of the presbyter « Serbus », with three naves divided by columns, whose ruins were identified by A. Merlin between 1907-1909; in the presbytery tombs and four sarcophagi in local stone with epigraphic fragments were found (CIL, VIII, no. 23230, b); another fragment refers to a presbyter « [qui fuit in presb]teriu anis X » (ibid., no. 23230, c). A third inscription belongs to a « Natalika fidelis ».
Notable is the inscription of the presbyter Serbus preceded by the monogrammatic cross enclosed in a garland (A. Merlin, op. cit., p. 30, fig. 4). Remains were also found of the altar and the marble cancelli that surrounded II. Attached to the building was the quadrilateral baptistery with a hexagonal interior; two staircases with two steps led below to a platform from which, by means of four steps arranged in a cross, one descended into the circular basin; to the northwest was another structure, perhaps the consignatorium.
To the northeast of the three Capitoline temples A. Merlin discovered in 1907 a church divided by double columns into three naves (m. 35 X 15.60), columns were also arranged against the perimeter walls; the many remains found showed that it was covered by a tiled roof, while the floor in the presbytery was of mosaic; the entrances were one on the right side, with doors opening onto a small portico, and the other on the left. A. Merlin called it that of Bishop Bellator, because of the inscription of « Bellator ep(iscopu)s » found there (op. cit., p. 39, fig. 8). The apse opposite the presbytery was added later, to contain tombs. In the portico was found the mutilated inscription of an Adeodato (A. Merlin, op. cit., p. 40). To the north of the church a fragment of metrical inscription was found (A. Merlin, in Bull. archéol. du Comité, 1909, p. 168). To the northwest was discovered in 1908 a sacellum, cleared in 1911, which was called that of Bishop Giocondo because of the following inscription engraved on a slab closing a sarcophagus in limestone: "7 hic inventa est D(e)p(ositio) s(an)c(t)i Iucundi ep(i)sc(opi) per inquisitione(m) Amaci ep(i)sc(o)pi ». In 1911 A. Merlin found to the northeast of this sacellum another basilica (id., L'église du prêtre Vitalis à Sufetula, Tunis 1917). It had five naves with paired columns, with mosaic flooring; the central nave was partly separated from the others by marble cancelli. The apse had a bench around it and its vault was lightened by terracotta conduits. The baptistery, in the shape of a boat, with two staircases of three steps, was lined with mosaic. In black tesserae is the inscription "Vitalis et Cardela votum s(olveru)nt". But the building has been named that of Vitale because of the singular mosaic inscription of that presbyter who died in the 28th year of the reign of Genserico, on Sept. 12, 455 or 466. The inscription is now in Tunis in the Bardo Museum. It is preceded by the ☧ and continues with the formula "in nomine Patris et Fili et Sp(iritu)s s(an)c(t)i Amen"; then is read: "spes mihi multa manet nam venturum spero D(omi)$n(u) m$ qui cuncta creasti tibi ut cineres istos suscites ipse potens (reminscences of I Cor. 4, 13; 13, 13, and Hebr. 10, 37; 11, 19), h(a)ec est speciosior sole et super omnem stellarum dispositionem luci comparata inbenitur prior (Sap. 7, 29), dum sit una omnium potens et in se permanens omnia innodans (Sap. 7, 27 with innodans instead of innovat of the Vulgate) natus anno XXVIII regis Ge(n)sirici pridie idus septembres Vitalis pr(e)sb(yter) vidi annis XXXVIII requi(esco) ho(die) hic positus placida in pace reserbor pulberi pulbis" (reminscence of Gen. 3, 19).
Behind the baptistery an inscription was found with: "Urbanus sacerdos donum fecit". Ten fragments of white marble of a frieze depict Adam and Eve, the scene of Noah in the ark, Elijah taken to heaven, David and Goliath, the resurrection of Lazarus. Near the amphitheater remains were found of a small church with three naves and of another larger one, also with three naves and mosaic floor with scenes of the seasons (A. Merlin, in Bull. archéol. du Comité, 1910, pp. 196-98). L. Poinssot found near the railway line to Henchir-Souatir the remains of a chapel with three naves with paired columns; there remained the four bases of an altar forming a rectangle of m. 1 × 1.30, with a mosaic representing the ☧ between two garlands of flowers. Also in mosaic was the floor of the naves; in the choir was the mosaic inscription "Sanctus Honorius episcop(us) vixit in pace an. LXXX, m. V. deposi(t)us die i(dus) o(ct)obr" (L. Poinssot, La chapelle de l'évêque Honorius [environs de S.], in Bull. arch. du Comité, 1932-33, pp. 783-800). The excavations have yielded the names of other bishops of S.: Amacus, Bellator, Urbano, Onorio. S. still had a bishop at the beginning of the 8th century (A. Gelzer, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 2 [1893], p. 26); moreover the names of the presbyters Serbus, Vitale, Cresconio (A. Merlin, Inscriptions latines, etc., no. 377) and Rustico (ibid., no. 378) have been ascertained; of a "Pompeianus magister militum fidelis in Christo" (CIL, VIII, no. 23230), of two soldiers and of many faithful.
In the southern part of the city near two Byzantine castles, perhaps partly used as monasteries, a limestone block belonging to the door of one of these buildings was found, on which is read the following dedication, partly in verse, attributed to the 6th century: "☧ qui celat secreta regis quam mundus adorat / hic requies (h)abet et hic pax a(cterna) moretur / ☧☧ Domus D(e)o miserante villatici biri togati pr(a)efactorii Eidor(i) ". Moreover remains appeared of a church in which a marble inscription of the same age as the previous one records the deposition of relics (brandea) of Sts. Protasio, Gervasio, and Trifone (G.-C. Picard, Rapport sur l'archéologie romaine en Tunisie dans le second semestre 1948, in Bull. archéol. du Comité, 1949, pp. xv-xVI; id., S. Fouilles et découvertes, in Fasti archaeol., 3 [1948, published in 1950], p. 461 ff.).