MAX. GERM. MAX. PONT. MAX. TRIB. POT. XVII. IMP. II.
COS. IIII. PROCOS. P.P.[94]
The southern inscription is illegible; it is believed to have been in honour of Caracalla; and the northern one is wanting and, if ever executed at all, was probably in honour of Geta to complete the series. The two other medallions are obliterated.
The partial destruction of this arch may date from the fifth century, when the city was deserted by its inhabitants and sacked by the Numidians; but its preservation at all was undoubtedly due to Solomon having so traced the walls of the citadel as to adopt it as the principal entrance gate.
One of the most interesting ruins in Algeria is that of the great basilica of Theveste; this was so much buried in its own débris during Bruce’s visit, that he was unaware of its existence, and alludes to it as the area of a temple. It is situated about 600 yards N.E. of the modern town, and consists of a vast edifice, 213 feet long by 72 broad, enclosed within a wall 588 feet long by 127 broad, strengthened at intervals by square towers, only two of which remain.
The principal entrance to the enclosure is to the S.W. The arch is quite entire, but the numerous subsidiary buildings in the court are razed to the ground, except where they seem to form actually part of the main structure.
The masonry throughout is of immense blocks of stone, carefully cut and adjusted almost without the use of mortar; nevertheless it bears unmistakable evidence of having been constructed at various epochs. The original building, however, was evidently the Roman basilica, pretty exactly as Vitruvius describes it with a nave and two aisles, the further end being furnished with a semicircular apse.
The reader need hardly be reminded that the ancient Basilica was a court of justice; the prætor or principal judge was seated in the apse, with assessors on either side. A railing separated this from the nave, and according to Vitruvius, the lateral aisles were surmounted by galleries looking into the nave. This peculiar form was so perfectly adapted for Christian worship that it was at once adopted by the Western Church. The bishop took the place of the præetor in cathedrâ, and his subordinates in the hierarchy those of the assessors. The altar, like the pedestal and statue of the god among the ancients, was situated before him, separating him from the congregation collected in the nave and aisles; the gallery above the latter became the clerestory, and the open court in front the narthex, in which the unbaptised remained during the performance of religious ceremonies.
The access to this building is by a flight of thirteen steps of unequal width, the greater number of which are destroyed, leading into the peristyle by three doors, a large one in the middle and a smaller one on each side. This court must have been most imposing. It was surrounded by an arcade, each side supported by four columns, between which were pedestals, probably destined for statues; the central portion was open to the sky, and in it was an elevated basin or fountain, the whole resembling very much in design the court of a Moorish house of the present day.
From the right or east wall of this were doors leading into two small chambers, one of which was the baptistery, the font being still tolerably perfect in the centre of the floor. The other chamber is of irregular shape, having been added to at a subsequent period.