THELEPTE. - Ancient small town of Byzacena, southeast of Tebessa in North Africa, also called Feriana and Medinet-el-Kedima.
The Hieronymian Martyrology at the VII, VI and V Kal. Feb. mentions a group of martyrs who could be the comites of that Ianuarius mentioned in a mosaic inscription discovered in one of the basilicas indicated below. At T. St. Fulgentius (v.) of Ruspe was born. The bishop Julian (at T.) is remembered in the sententiae episcoporum no. 57 of the Council of Carthage of 156; at the Conference of Carthage of 411 the bishop Donatian was present, who also took part in the Council of Carthage of 416; in 484 a Frumentius was bishop; in 641 the bishop Stephen is known; the bishopric still existed at the beginning of the 8th century (cf. H. Gelzer, Ungedruckte... Bistumnerzeichnisse der orient. Kirche, in Byzant. Zeitschr., 2 [1893], p. 26); from the list of Leo the Wise it is gathered that the see still existed at the beginning of the 9th century. In the year 418 a council was held "in ecclesia Apostolorum," certainly dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, which S. Gsell identified with probability as this basilica. It is known that Carthage had a basilica dedicated to the two apostles (St. Augustine, Sermo., 15), as did Sicca Veneria, today el Kef (P. Gauckler, in Bulletin archéologique des travaux historiques, 18 [1897], pp. 413, nos. 147-48).
At the II International Congress of Christian Archaeology S. Gsell presented a study on seven Christian basilicas of ancient Feriana. The first, situated at the eastern end of the city, was 51.80 m long by 25 wide; it was divided into five naves; the central one had rectangular supports consisting of three square pillars with an engaged column on Attic bases and with Corinthian capitals, while the minor naves were separated by columns with pulvini. The apse opened onto the central nave with two half-columns and two columns whose shafts were decorated like the twisted columns of St. Peter's, as documented by a fragment; all of them must have supported an architrave and a wooden pergula. The facade had three doors that opened onto a large atrium.
The second basilica, southwest of the preceding one, had a rectangular plan of 28 × 12.80 m with walls of cut stone or with the apse included within the rectangle, which communicated by means of two doors with the two side rooms.
The third basilica was in the center of the city, with a grand quadrangular atrium 20 m on a side. The interior was about 40 m long with twin supports of two columns that divided it into three naves; the bases of the columns and fragments of the Corinthian capitals that supported the arches were still in place. The presbytery was raised with an internal apse, whose triumphal arch was supported by two large columns with Corinthian bases and pulvini. By means of a door the apse communicated on the right with the diaconicon, and not with the chapel at the end of the left minor nave. Toward the atrium a semicircular counter-apse was found with a mosaic floor and slots for the cancelli; east of it were found some tombs and a fragment of a Byzantine inscription on brick in which was read: "iscripsi ind(ic)ione sept(ima)" [CIL, VIII, 11268]. The building was destroyed by a fire that left many traces.
The fourth basilica was in the northern region of the city; it had a length of 45 m by 18.65 wide. It was preceded by a portico in which sarcophagi were found. The interior was divided into five naves by two colonnades for the minor naves and by pillars for the central one. The apse was within the rectangle and supported at the opening by columns; it communicated by means of two openings immediately after the triumphal arch with two rectangular side rooms. West of the Byzantine citadel a fifth basilica was found, 21 × 11.60 m, preceded by a vestibule with two entrances, at the back of which three doors separated by columns opened. The place of the presbytery separated by cancelli was recognized, onto which the apse included within the rectangle opened; it had a mosaic floor: on the right the communication with the apsidal diaconicon opened, while the left minor nave led into a rectangular chapel. Northeast of the city the ruins of the sixth basilica were found; it measured 29 × 10.90 m with the apse inscribed within the rectangle; it was divided into three naves by columns; the apse did not communicate with the two side rooms; fragments of sarcophagi attested its funerary use.
Southwest of the city and in the middle of a Christian cemetery the seventh basilica was identified, 26 × 11 m, with a central nave divided by two rows of six columns with Attic bases and Corinthian capitals with a floor of slabs; the apse was built with terracotta tubes in the vault and with a mosaic floor with interlace and the two following inscriptions: "(I)anuari et comitum / (S)anctis devotus. / (F)la(vius) An(nius) Pusinus / (c)um suis votum / (c)onplevit. (P)el(iciter?)". Moreover was read: "Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam auribus percipe verba (per verba) oria mei santorumque". Except for the last word, the rest is taken from Psalm 53:4. G. B. De Rossi, commenting on this inscription, held that it followed that of Ianuarius (La capsella argentea africana, Rome 1888, pp. 17-18, no. 8).
Around the building many tombs were dug into the rock. S. Gsell also identified four chapels, of which the first, built of cut stone, had a portico from which, by means of three doors, one entered a rectangular room divided into three naves by pillars, with capitals of the composite order, an enclosure for the presbytery and an apse inscribed within the rectangle: S. Gsell also recognized the remains of a ciborium placed above the altar and a stone disk with the letters EIVS, perhaps "(de donis Dei et Christi) eius". All these buildings, however, suffered great damage during the construction of the railway line from Gafsa to Sousse and are therefore today unrecognizable.