Sétif, Tébessa, Guelma: the French Army and the Destruction of Roman Monuments in Algeria

Abstract

The antique landscape of Algeria – remains of towns, fortresses, villas – was radically altered by the French army, which invaded in 1830, and sought through its building activities to cater for a large number of troops and auxiliary services, and then colonists, recycling materials from Roman ruins for many of their buildings. The French officer-corps was often educated in the classics, as was the bureaucracy, so accounts of discoveries and destruction are often comprehensive. Alas, the requirements of technology, war and colonial settlement – roads, railways, hospitals, barracks – ensured the destruction of much of Roman Algeria. Without the guerilla war which plagued the country for decades, and the continuing need for forts, many of the remains would probably have remained intact. Show more