TIPASA. - A small town in Mauretania Caesariensis (present-day Algeria) on the shores of the Mediterranean, 70 km west of Algiers.
Probably founded by the Carthaginians, its original Phoenician name means "place of passage"; but it became important after Claudius in 39 B.C. established there a colony of Latin right, which later received the full right of civitas. A fragment of an inscription found during the excavations in 1951 shows that under Antoninus Pius (138-61) the eastern gate was built within the circuit of the walls. It reached its splendor in the time of the Antonines, carrying on agricultural and commercial activity, and through its port it was in contact not only with Italy but also with Spain and Greece. It resisted in 37 the siege as well by the Moorish king Primus, who devastated Caesarea (Cherchel) and Icosium. It suffered under Julian the Apostate (Optatus, De schismate donatistarum, II, 18, 19), and under the Vandals, in the time of Genseric and Huneric; in 484 a group of Christians from T. emigrated to Spain, where they spread the cult of St. Salsa. Christianity in T. is documented from the first half of the 3rd century by some sepulchral inscriptions. A Christian cemetery was identified by S. Gsell to the southeast of T.; from it come the inscriptions of Rasinia Secunda, which bears the date of the year 238 (199 of the Mauretanian era; E. Diehl, Inscr. lat. christ., no. 3319), of Magna Crescentina with the dove with the olive branch and the anchor (S. Gsell, T., in Mél. d'arch. et d'hist., 14 [1894], p. 407, fig. 54), of I. Saturninus, of Samaita et Immi, of Modia Saturnina (id., loc. cit.).
The wealth of monuments discovered in T. — amphitheater, temples, forum, Capitolium, curia, judicial basilica, theater, baths — is surpassed by the importance of the Christian monuments, situated to the west and east of the city. Near the enclosing wall, at the expense of pre-existing buildings, a great basilica was erected, 32 m long and 40.50 wide, divided into seven naves; two rows of columns were later added, all now vanished; the apse too is much ruined; it was preceded by a portico; the floor was in mosaic; the baptistery was attached to it. To the north of the basilica a chapel was found with a mosaic floor representing sheep at pasture; to the south a series of buildings connected with one another. The square hall of the baptistery has a mosaic floor with lotus flowers and an inscription of which only the end remains: «sancta lava(cra)»; the round basin was reached by three steps; there was the opening for the emission of water. In the vestibule of the baptistery the mosaic floor contained the inscription: «si quis ut vivat quaerit addiscere semper, hic lavetur aqua et videat caelestia (dona)» (CIL, VIII, 20911). In one of the adjoining rooms, in the mosaic floor there was also a long inscription in which the «aula Dei» was mentioned (CIL, VIII, 20912). In the civil basilica a «signum Christi» with the apocalyptic letters A and Ω was incised in the 5th or 6th century, and between the first two columns, near the apse, irregular holes are found in the floor, which have led to the belief that, as elsewhere in Africa, this basilica too was adapted in the 5th or 6th century to Christian worship; in the same way as, in a house near the Capitolium of T., an apsidal chapel was built, the apse was added to the pre-existing hall, placing in the mosaic floor the metrical inscription: «He who has known how to overcome all the difficulties of the works and to decorate with various mosaics a vast dwelling, in order to add to the ample building the immensity of the kingdom of Christ, will soon receive with joy the crown and the glory that are due to him, so as to remain in possession of his name (Coronatus or Stephanos) and receive the reward» (J. Heurgon, Nouvelles recherches à T. ville de la Maurétanie Césarienne, in Mél. d'arch. et d'hist., 47 [1930], pp. 182-201). Its bishops too are revealed more by sepulchral epigraphy than by literary sources.
In 1892, in the western part of T., the remains of a sepulchral church of trapezoidal shape were identified, with a mosaic floor containing two large of purely mosaic inscriptions (L. Duchesne, Une basilique funéraire à T., in Bulletin arch. du Comité, 1892, pp. 466-84); by means of the inscriptions the author recognized there the church founded by the bishop of T. Alexander, who gathered beneath the suggestus of an altar placed opposite the apse seven sarcophagi with the remains of his predecessors called "iusti priores"; he was then buried in front of the apse (Les découvertes de M. l'abbé S. Gérard à T., in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr., 1892, pp. 111-14). Alexander is "legibus ipsis et altaribus natus"; having become bishop, through his teaching "floret innumera plebs Tipasensis"; noteworthy are the final expressions: "huius anima refrigerat, corpus hic pace quiescit, resurrectionem expectans futuram, de mortuis primam, consors ut fiat sanctis in possessione regni" (CIL, VIII, 20905). This inscription is like that of bishop Cresconius of Djamila; it is probable that both derive from a common formulary. The second inscription in 13 verses attests that the whole work is due to bishop Alexander, who wished "iustos in pulchram sedem... locasse priores", placing them beneath the altar around which the community "laeta omnis sacra canens sacramento manus porrigere gaudens" (CIL, VIII, 20903). The two inscriptions are from the end of the 4th century and present Virgilian and Damasan reminiscences. Beyond the bema was another mosaic inscription of which only this was read: sanctu(s Al)exand(er) (CIL, VIII, 20904). A fourth inscription, also in mosaic, contains the twofold precept of the Gospel: the love of God unto martyrdom and the love of neighbor which imposes the duty of giving alms according to one's means: "clausula iustitiae est martyrium votis optare; habes et alium similem aelemosinam (pro) viribus facere" (CIL, VIII, 20906). Also in mosaic were the inscriptions on the tombs of Astania "nobilis et atavis clarissima femina" (CIL, VIII, 20908) and of Basilius "iustitia probitate, fide praeclarus" (CIL, VIII, 20907). Over the tomb of a child a mensa was built and its mosaic inscription reads "Ostarinus fidelis in pace vixit annos 11 m(enses) v".
Part of the mosaic inscriptions that covered the floor of the Basilica were transferred to the Museum of Algiers. In 1914, on the lid of the sixth sarcophagus, the mosaic inscription was identified: "Memo X ria Re/nati episcopi/ musivo lacu/ (nari nitescit)" (J. Carcopino, Sopra un frammento di iscrizione musiva proveniente da una chiesa di T. nella Maurétania, in Bull. com. arch. com., 55 [1927], p. 253 ff.). The excavations resumed in 1939 brought to light four other mosaic inscriptions; one in the left nave commemorates a Donata, mother of a deacon of bishop Alexander; the other three are metrical and one says: "resurrectionem carnis/ futuram esse qui credit/ angelis in coelis/ resurgens similis erit". In the northeast corner of the chapel the access to a crypt was found, measuring 6.50 × 3 m, cut into the rock below the level of the chapel itself, with a window in the vault. Its floor is occupied by two rows of 5 tombs, while the eleventh is located in the apse. Without doubt these are the tombs of the iusti priores, predecessors of bishop Alexander.
North of the chapel a stairway leads into a vaulted room and to a rectangular area enclosed with 80 sarcophagi. There too, in a space of 30 × 14 m enclosed by walls and, on the right side, a kind of portico with pillars; there six tombs with a mensa were found, one of which with the fragmentary mosaic inscription: "Me(moria) marturom Rogati, Vitalis...". Another tomb had walls plastered with painted decoration in red, foliage in a large vase, and the inscription: "Massima in pace". A Maxima is commemorated in Mauretania Caesariensis on the fourth day before the nones of Dec. (12 Dec.). I find six other tombs; in one of them, in mosaic, one reads "Me(moria) Amanti() presbyteri v(e)rus Dei cultor qui etiam cum marturibus in sinu Abr(aham) requiescu(nt) cum Ilar(a) consoci(ata)". And above it "Memori(a) Amanti presbi(teri) Ilara et Aurelia". Nearby, on a marble block, one reads: "Memoria Victorini in pace marture professum octav(o) idus Mai(as) die Solis ora octava(anno) pr(ovinciae) CC...". Perhaps it is from 239, that is, from the year 200 of the era of the province of Mauretania Caesariensis, or a date not later than the beginning of the 4th century (J. Carcopino, Note sur une épitaphe de Martyr récemment découverte à T. de Maurétanie, in Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine, 66 [1948], pp. 87-101). Moreover, leaning against the wall, the inscription of ancient flavor, between two anchors: "Sabina hic dormit". Near this area and perhaps in part over it, bishop Alexander erected his burial chapel. At T. a bronze serpent with a gilded head was worshiped; Salsa, a young Christian girl of fourteen, broke the idol and suffered martyrdom. She is indicated in the Hieronymian Martyrology on 20 May and 10 Oct.; the Passio, preserved in two manuscripts (BHL, 7467, edited by L. Duchesne, in Bull. critique, 1890, p. 125 ff. and translated by P. Monceaux, in La vraie légende dorée, Paris 1928, pp. 299-326) assigns her martyrdom either to 2 May or to 26 Aug.; in the Mozarabic calendars, besides 2 May, 29 Apr. also appears (M. Ferotin, Le « liber ordinum » en usage dans l'Eglise visigothique et mozarabe de l'Espagne du Ve au XIe siècle, Paris 1904, pp. 462-463, 497). The year of her martyrdom is uncertain, which some assign to around the end of the empire of Constantine. The Passio indicates that the remains of the martyr were placed "brevi admodum tabernaculo". Subsequently a great basilica with three naves was erected, with a mosaic floor, with squares alternating with lozenges and crosses inscribed in disks. In front of the apse there was in the floor a mosaic inscription in which it is affirmed that where the sacred altar shines "hic est Salsa"
ever sweeter than honey; she has merited to dwell forever in heaven in perfect blessedness; the works were carried out under the care of a certain Potentius (CIL, VIII, 20914) whom G. B. De Rossi supposed could be identified with the namesake sent in 446 to Mauretania Caesariensis by Pope Leo I (Bull. arch. crist., 5th series, 2 [1891], pp. 24-26 with facsimile of the inscription). Another fragmentary inscription also commemorates the martyr Salsa (P. Monceaux, Enquête sur l'épigraphie chrétienne d'Afrique, Paris 1907, n. 323). At the eastern entrance of the Basilica the inscription in three lines was found: De Dei promissa (hi) c q uies) - cit in nomine Crisi- (n), Salsa (CIL, VIII, 20915). Toward the center of the nave is a stone sarcophagus with the epitaph of a relative of the martyr "Fabiae Salsa matri sanctissimae et rarissimae" (CIL, VIII, 20913). The epitaph may also not be Christian, but H. Grégoire exaggerated in writing "Ste Salsa roman épigraphique, in Byzantium, 12 [1937], pp. 213-224 (see on this matter Riv. arch. crist., 14 [1937], pp. 405-406).
The tombs around the basilica of St. Salsa consist of stone sarcophagi, masonry chests and funerary tables or mensae. Some are decorated with mosaics with the epitaph of the deceased or with representations, such as Noah in the ark, Daniel among the lions, the three youths in the furnace. The inscriptions commemorate an Aviarius and a Bavaria, a Venustus merchant of Mesarfelta (near present-day Biskra), the epitaph in Greek of a Maxima originally from Tripoli of Syria, engraved on the side of a sarcophagus. Outside a masonry chest was a channel, into which libations were poured. The numerous funerary mensae were built of bricks in a semicircle to place food on them and with an inclined space for the participants. One of them is in a small room with seven windows and on the door is written: "Ixove."
Near the basilica of St. Salsa is a rectangular hall with a corridor in which an apse opens; it had originally been occupied by 19 sarcophagi and by a table for agape feasts. In the apse were found fragments of a stone panel with the inscription: «in Christo semper»; the building preceding the Basilica has a funerary character; it was later used as an annex to the Basilica, retaining its funerary character. The sarcophagi found were all violated except one; only one had an X incised, the others all without inscriptions; each contained several skeletons, from two to seven, perhaps because of some epidemic. In the cemetery, among the epitaphs, mention is made of that of a Berus of Icosium (Algiers); of an Italian woman indicated only as «una Italorum» (E. Albertini, L'archéologie chrétienne en Algérie, in Atti del III Congr. inter. di Arch. crist., Rome 1934, pp. 418-24). To the west of the city, against the hill, a large circular mausoleum was found (18.75 m in diameter) with 16 half-columns inside in limestone and, against the wall, 14 large arcosolia for sarcophagi. Against the outer wall were found sarcophagi and simple graves formed of tiles or even in amphorae. Against the rock opened small cubicula with arcosolia and formae. About thirty funerary cells were identified by S. Gsell (T., in Mél., cit., p. 401); in one, located in the western cemetery, was fou-
a mutilated marble sarcophagus with the Redeemer and the personifications of the seasons (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, III, pl. 290, 2, pp. 41-42); there are many sarcophagi in local stone and in terracotta. A short distance from the gate from which the road to Caesarea (Cherchell) departed, a small mausoleum was found with the sarcophagus of the Good Shepherd (ibid., I, pl. 67, 5, p. 83-92g.; III, p. 40) and another sarcophagus with a marriage scene (S. Gsell, T., in Mél., cit., pp. 341-434). Milestones bear the "signum Christi," one from the time of Constantius and the other from the time of Valentinian and Valens, with the indication of the second mile on the coastal road from T. to Icosium (Algiers; S. Gsell, T., in Mél., cit., p. 411). In T. a terracotta dish was found, 0.39 m. in diameter, with two figures in the center carrying a long cross (S. Gsell, T., in Mél., cit., pp. 448-49, fig. 61). In 1952, on the coastal road to Icosium, a Christian cemetery area was discovered with many sarcophagi in local stone arranged to the south of a three-aisled basilica with an apse raised by three steps; the fragments of an inscription found there prove that relics (brandea) of the "beati" were venerated there martiri Pietro e Paolo ». Attualmente T. è sede titolare; da non confondersi con l'altra sede titolare di Tipasa di Numidia, l'attuale Tifech pure in Algeria. - Vedi tav. XIV.
