Constantine, originally the Phœnician Kartha (‘town’), afterwards called Cirta by the Romans, was the greatest inland centre of culture in the territory of the Numidian kings, and under Syphax became their residence. The first recorded conquest of the town was by Jugurtha (p. [321]), in B.C. 112, who wrested it from his cousin Adherbal. Under the Roman empire Cirta, the chief of the four allied Coloniæ Cirtenses (Constantine, Milo, Philippeville, and Collo), belonged to the Diocesis Numidia, the domain of the legate of the Third Legion (p. [286]). Having been destroyed by the troops of Emp. Maxentius in 311, the town sprang up anew from its ruins the following year; it then superseded Lambæsis as the capital of Numidia, and was named Constantina, in honour of its patron Constantine the Great. In 435 it was the only town in Barbary that repelled the attacks of the Vandal Genseric (p. [322]), but it remained politically unimportant till the Moorish period, when it was occupied by the Hammadites (p. [263]), and afterwards belonged in turn to the Almohades (p. [95]), the Merinides (p. [95]), and the Hafsides (p. [323]). In the middle ages it rivalled Bougie as a seat of learning.
In the Turkish period Constantine was the capital of the E. Algerian beylic, and for centuries groaned under the despotism of the beys. In French military annals it was noted for its heroic defence by Ahmed Bey, who after the fall of Algiers had become the independent ruler of E. Algeria. In 1836 the first French attack upon the El-Kantara gate from the hill of Mansoura proved a disastrous failure, over five hundred of the besiegers being hurled into the ravine of the Rhumel. The capture of the town in 1837, effected from the Coudiat-Aty, was purchased with the death of generals Damrémont and Perrégaux.
During the first decades of the French domination all the Roman buildings were destroyed except the aqueduct (p. [302]), the Rhumel bridge (p. [301]), and the cisterns (p. [300]). The buildings of the Turkish period afford an instructive example of the sad decline of late-Moorish art.
The railway-station (Pl. D, 4) is at present connected with the old town by the iron bridge of *El-Kántara (Pl. D, 3; 1863), of one arch, 139 yds. long and 407 ft. above the Rhumel. Far below we see the Roman bridge (p. [301]), and upstream we have a fine view of the S. part of the gorge. Much higher up is the New Bridge (comp. Pl. C, 6), a marvellous feat of engineering. It spans the Rhumel ravine, at a height of 330 ft. above the river, with a single arch of masonry, 230 ft. in width.
From the former Porte d’el-Kantara runs the new Rue Nationale (Pl. C, B, 4), the chief thoroughfare of Constantine, leading through the whole town to (½ M.) the Place de Nemours. Halfway, where the street bends and is crossed by the Rue Perrégaux (p. [301]), rises the new Medersa (Pl. 7, C 4; see p. [297]) in the Turkish-Moorish style; from its staircase we enjoy an even finer view of the Rhumel ravine than from the crossroads.
Halfway along the upper part of the street, on the left, rises the Grande Mosquée (Pl. B, 4, 5; Arabic Jâma el-Kebîr), which received a new façade and minaret when the street was made. The very dissimilar columns which support the timber ceiling in the interior are partly from ancient buildings. Two antique Doric capitals recall the columns of the mausoleum of Le Khroub (p. [273]).
The noisy and dusty Place de Nemours or Place de la Brèche (Pl. B, 4, 5; 2054 ft. above sea-level), on the site of the Bâb el-Djadia or Porte de la Brèche, is the chief scene of the town’s traffic. A few paces to the S.W., between the old town and the Coudiat-Aty (p. [297]), are two public gardens. On the left, next the street leading to the new bridge, is the pretty Square No. 1 (Pl. A, B, 5), with a bronze statue of Valée; and on the right Square No. 2 (Pl. A, 5), with numerous Roman antiquities. The latter affords a splendid view of Jebel Chettaba (p. [297]), of the lower valley of the Rhumel visible a long way down, and of the distant heights of El-Kantour (p. [303]). The road between the two squares proceeds to the S.W. to the Monument of Gen. Lamoricière (Pl. A, 5) by Belloc (1909), in front of the Halle aux Grains.—From the latter the new Viaduct (comp. Pl. A-C, 5, 6; 490 yds.), now under construction, will eventually lead to the New Bridge (p. [298]).
Beneath the Hôtel de Paris et Royal (p. [297]), at the E. corner of the Place de Nemours, a flight of 90 steps descends to some interesting Grottoes (adm. 1 fr.), whose sparkling, rose-shaped crystals of gypsum produce a very unique effect.—From the N. angle of the square the Boul. de l’Ouest leads along the town-wall to the Hôtel de Ville (Pl. 6; A, B, 4), of 1903, whose staircase and vestibule are enriched with onyx and six kinds of marble from Aïn-Smara (p. [272]). The first floor contains the Town Library and behind it the—
Musée de Constantine, comprising antiquities and natural history collections. Adm. (except Sun. and Tues.) 9–11 and 3–5, 50 c. Conservator, M. Ulysse Hinglais. Catalogue (1905) 1 or 5 fr.
On the Staircase are Roman mosaics.