Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-05-04
1T Have Measured Many Of the
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Copyright, 1907. by Frank C. Carpenter)


TIMGAD.
Have you ever. heard of Timgad. the won
derful ruined city of Roman Africa, which
the French are now digging out of the
sand? 1t lies about one hundred and fifty
miles south of the Mediterranean, and per-
haps three hundred miles southwest of
Tunis. 1t is just over the mountains from
the desert of Sahara, on one Of the lower
slopes of the Atlas. overlooking a valley
which In the days of Rome, must have been
enormously rich. Pompeii was in existence
about three hundred years before Christ.
and 1t was destroyed by the eruption OF
vesuvius, 10 AID. 1t contained only twenty
or thirty thousand people, and it was not
half the size OF this African city now being
unearthed.
Ancient Thaumgadi.
Timgad was founded just twenty-one
years after the destruction of Pompeii. 1t
was built by the Emperor Trajan, whose
soldiers aided In its construction. 1t was
then known as Thaumgas or Thaumgadi.
1t was situated at the intersection of six
Roman roads. and was fortified camp as
we'll as a great commercial city. The exca-
vations show that 1t must have been
social capital as well, inhabited by many
rich people and surrounded by all the lux
Later Timgad became religious city. st.
Augustine was born near 1t, and, in the
seventh century, when the Arab invasion oc-
CURED, 1t had Christian church, the ruins
OF which still exist. The city was destroyed
by the Arabs, and since then, for more than
q thousand years the rain and soil Of the
Atlas mountains and the dust and sands
from the great Sahara have drifted over 1t,
covering its remains layer by layer, until
the greater part of it has been lost from
view.
For centuries only a few Of the more
prominent of the ruins rose above the sur
face. There were columns here and there
apparently growing out OF soil. Great
mounds covered the half destroyed build
ings. and II was not until the French began
their excavations. along about twenty-five
years ago. that any one imagined that a
great city lay buried beneath. At present
only a comparatively small part of the
territory has been uncovered. but the work
Is going on day by day, and within q few
years the whole city will be exposed to
the fierce rays Of this African sun. I saw
gangs Of men working at the ruins as
wandered about through them this after
noon, and / photographed them as they
raised buried columns out Of the soil. The
part Of the city still untouched Is covered
excavated streets run right to the edge Of
the streets and buildings still buried.
The Road to Timgad.
i came mere lTOfn AISleIS Oh TdllTOdQ
q distance Of about 80 miles. The nearest
station was Batna, a French town at the
entrance Of the valley in which Timgad lies
There 1 hired a carriage and drove for
twenty-five miles up this valley to the site
of the excavations. The only town we
passed on the way was Lambese This was
also prominent In the days of the Romans
and 1t has ruins that would be considered
wonderful were they not overshadowed by
the greater ones here. The road to Timgad
was built by the French, and 1t Is as good
as was the Appian Way when Timgad and
Rome were still In their prime. The grades
are so gentle that our horses went on the
trot, and We covered the distance in less
at Lambese, but outside Of them nothing
but Arabs.
Now we crowded a caravan of camels 60
ing sullenly along, and now passed villages
OF low brown tents, the homes of Bedouin
shepherds who were feeding their f1ocks
on the foothills Of the Atlas. At places in
the valley, We saw Arabs blowing; but the
soil is now semi-arid and 1t shows but little
signs of the fertility it must have had when
this region was the granary of Rome.
maglne that the rainfall was then much
greater than now, and it may be that the
cutting away Of the forests has changed
the weather of Algeria, as has been the
case with Spain. Palestine and other lands.
/ have already been here for the better
part or two days. i am nVnS at the
little hotel which has been put up for the
excavators and strangers and have been
going over the ruins with an old French
soldier. who has long been connected with
the, work OF unearthing the city.
/ almost despair of giving you concep-
ton OF the character and extent Of the
parts already uncovered. The old Roman
houses, like the Jerusalem of the Psalms.
were compactly built together, and al
though Timgad included only 100 acres II
was a beehive of humanity, and Its people