Zuccabar (also spelled Zucchabar) was an ancient town in the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis, located in present-day Miliana, Algeria.
History
Zuccabar was originally a settlement of Punic origin. Under the Emperor Augustus, it was constituted as a Roman colony and given the name Colonia Iulia Augusta Zucchabar. The Greek form of the name used by the geographer Ptolemy was Ζουχάββαρι (Zuchabbari). Pliny the Elder referred to it as "the colony of Augusta, also called Succabar," and Ammianus Marcellinus gave it the name Sugabarri (or, in adjectival form, Sugabarritanum).
The town belonged to the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis and was located approximately 70 km south of the provincial capital, Caesarea. It had a population of nearly 5,000 inhabitants, who were mostly Romanized Berbers.
Christian Bishopric
Zuccabar became a Christian episcopal see in the fourth century. The names of three of its bishops are recorded:
- Maximianus, who attended the Conference of Carthage in 411.
- Germanus, the Donatist bishop who attended the same conference.
- Stephanus, one of the Catholic bishops summoned by King Huneric to a meeting in Carthage in February 484 and subsequently exiled.
The bishopric is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees and has been revived as a titular see since 1967.
Later History
In the 10th century, Miliana was (re)founded by Buluggin ibn Ziri on the site of the ancient Roman city of Zuccabar.
Modern Location
Zuccabar is located in present-day Miliana, in the Aïn Defla Province of northern Algeria, at coordinates 36°15′57″N 2°17′50″E.
