TIGZIRT. — Modern village on the ruins of Roman Rusucurru in Mauretania Caesariensis, present-day Algeria. Rusucurru is mentioned by Pliny (Hist. nat., V, 2, 20), who attests that it obtained from Claudius the right of citizenship; an inscription declares it a municipium (CIL, VIII, 8995); another is dedicated to its municipality (ibid., 20710).
The Passio of s. Marciana, martyred at Caesarea, indicates Rusucurru as her homeland (Acta SS. Ianuarii, I, p. 569; Martyr. Hieronymianum, p. 369). In 411 the bishop Fortunatus is known; Nicellus or Nigellus was the bishop who represented the province at the Council of Carthage in 419; the Vandal king Hunneric sent the bishop Mettun into exile in 484. Explorations brought to light in 1888 a large basilica, whose excavation was completed in 1895. It was found between the Byzantine and Roman enclosures; it occupies a rectangle measuring 38 × 21 m.; it had three naves divided by a double row of paired columns, but the central nave was bounded at its centre by eight pillars. The apse was raised by approximately 1 m.; it was reached by means of two stairways, each of four steps, and was separated from the nave by a row of four paired columns. On either side there were openings leading into the diaconicon and the prothesis. At the centre of the apse, four columns arranged in a square supported the ciborium erected over the altar, which must have been made of wood, since no trace of it remains. The interior was entered through three doors opening onto a large atrium separated by a double row of paired columns. Inside, a series of carved pulvini were collected, representing architectural elements, monogrammatic crosses, including some with the α and ω, animals, dolphins and other fish, Daniel among the lions, and a series of decorative cornices. The entire floor was covered with mosaics, among them a fragment representing a naked, beardless man with one knee on the ground and his hands bound behind his back, before an altar from which flames rise—a scene interpreted as the sacrifice of Isaac. In the right-hand nave, amid geometric mosaic decorations in the form of stars, were two inscriptions, also in mosaic; one read « Laboribus ex ultimis nomen non superest unquam, in labor est coepis sed finis cuncta decorat », while the other inscription was much more mutilated; in addition, the remains of a fishing scene and of two large inscriptions of five lines each were identified, perhaps in verse, which apparently contained the name of the donor Severus, who, together with his wife, had fulfilled a vow. The left-hand nave likewise had a mosaic pavement containing metrical inscriptions and decorative motifs.
A characteristic feature of this building was the upper galleries, which were reached by stairways situated on either side. The date of this unusual basilica was placed by P. Gavault between 432 and 455, but it underwent later alterations. To the north of the basilica and communicating with it is the Baptistery, with a circular pool reached by three steps; two columns still in situ show that it had a canopy.
In the southern part of the city and against the Roman enclosure wall, P. Gavault recognized the now-vanished ruins of a third building measuring 25 × 13 m., divided into three naves by two rows of pillars: the central nave was 5 m. wide, the right-hand nave 3 m., and the left-hand nave 2.50 m.; the apse was preceded by an arch with two columns, one of which, still surviving, was 3.20 m. high. In the cemetery east of the city, P. Gavault identified a chapel measuring 20.10 × 11.50 m., with a raised apse reached by three steps and with three naves divided by pillars. S. Gsell published a Christian inscription from T. dating from the year 299 (Bulletin archéologique du Comité, 1896, p. 217). Another inscription is in the « memoria » of a Codvultdeus, who « acceptus est in pace » (E. Diehl, Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres, Berlin 1925–31, no. 2923); there is also the epitaph, preceded by ✕, of a « Domitio Rufino magistro liberarum artium homini bono » (S. Gsell, in Bulletin archéol. du Comité, 1896, p. 218, no. 184). In the foundation of a house, a stone was found bearing the following inscription: « H(ic) s(ervus) X(Christi) cruore Eusebi martyria » (E. Albertini, Inscription martyrologique de T. (Algérie), in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et belles lettres, 1931, pp. 6–9). Eusebius was perhaps an African maître.