TIGZIRT. - A modern village built on the ruins of the Roman city of Rusucurru in Mauretania Caesariensis, now Algeria. Rusucurru is mentioned by Pliny (Hist. nat., V, 2, 20), who attests that it obtained the right of a city from Claudius; an inscription declares it a municipium (CIL, VIII, 8995); another is dedicated to its municipality (ibid., 20710).
The *Passio* of St. Marciana, martyred at Caesarea, identifies Rusucurru as her native place (Acta SS. Ianuarii, I, p. 569; *Martyr. Hieronymianum*, p. 369). In 411, Bishop Fortunatus is known; Nicellus or Nigellus was the bishop who represented the province at the Council of Carthage in 419; the Vandal king Huneric exiled Bishop Mettun in 484. Excavations in 1888 uncovered a large basilica, which was fully excavated in 1895. It was found between the Byzantine and Roman enclosures; it occupies a rectangle of 38 x 21 meters; it had three naves divided by a double row of paired columns, but the central nave was limited at the center by eight piers. The apse was raised about 1 meter, accessible by two staircases of four steps each, and separated from the nave by a row of four paired columns. On either side were entrances leading to the diaconicon and the prothesis. At the center of the apse, four columns arranged in a square supported the ciborium erected above the altar, which must have been wooden since no trace of it remains. Access to the interior was through three doors opening onto a large atrium separated by a double row of paired columns. Inside, a series of carved pulvini were found, depicting architectural elements, monogrammatic crosses (including those with the letters a and o), animals, dolphins and other fish, Daniel among the lions, and a series of decorative frames. The entire floor was covered with mosaics, including a fragment depicting a beardless nude man kneeling on one knee, his hands bound behind his back, before an altar from which flames rise—a scene interpreted as the sacrifice of Isaac. In the right nave, amidst geometric mosaic decorations in the shape of stars, were two inscriptions also in mosaic; one read: *«Laboribus ex ultimis nomen non superest unquam, in labor est coeptis sed finis cuncta decorat»*, while the other inscription was more faded. Remains of a fishing scene and two large inscriptions on five lines, each perhaps in verse, were also identified; they seem to contain the name of the donor Severus, who, with his wife, had fulfilled a vow. The left nave also had a mosaic floor containing metrical inscriptions and decorations.
A distinctive feature of this building was the upper galleries, accessible by staircases located on either side. The date of this remarkable basilica was fixed by P. Gavault between 432–55, though it underwent later modifications. To the north of the basilica and connected to it is the baptistery with a circular pool, accessed by three steps; two columns still in situ indicate the presence of a canopy.
In the southern part of the city and against the Roman wall, P. Gavault identified the now-vanished ruins of a third building measuring 25 x 13 meters, divided into three naves by two rows of piers, with the central nave 5 meters wide, the right nave 3 meters, and the left nave 2.50 meters. The apse was preceded by an arch with two columns, one of which, still standing, was 3.20 meters high. In the cemetery to the east of the city, P. Gavault identified a chapel measuring 20.10 x 11.50 meters with a raised apse, accessible by three steps and divided into three naves by piers.
S. Gsell published a Christian inscription from T. dating to the year 299 (*Bulletin archéologique du Comité*, 1896, p. 217). Another inscription commemorates a Codvultdeus who *«acceptus est in pace»* (E. Diehl, *Inscriptions latinae christianae veteres*, Berlin 1925–31, no. 2923); there is also an epitaph preceded by the cross to *«Domitio Rufino magistro liberarum artium homini bono»* (S. Gsell, in *Bulletin archéologique*, 1896, p. 218, no. 184). In the foundation of a house, a stone was found with the following inscription: *«H(ic) s(ervus) X(Chris)ti cruore Eusebi martyris»* (E. Albertini, *Inscription martyrologique de T.* (Algérie), in *Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et belles lettres*, 1931, pp. 6–9). Eusebius is perhaps an African martyr.