page_title: Calama (Numidia)
section_title: Archeological remains
hierarchical_section_title: Calama (Numidia) / History / Archeological remains
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue des thermes de Guelma, Algérie. Photographie de Séraphin-Médéric Mieusement.
context_page_description: Calama was a colonia in the Roman province of Numidia situated where Guelma in Algeria now stands.
  G. Mokhtar places it just within the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, to the east of Numidia, but it is generally believed to have been in Numidia, a province created probably in 198–199.
context_section_description: Theatre. It is difficult to reconstruct the plan and general appearance of the Roman theatre. The only other important monument discovered are the public baths. The theatre was built in the first or second year of the 3rd century AD through the generosity of a certain Annia Aelia Restituta, who spent 400,000 sesterces on it. It was restored, indeed virtually rebuilt, from 1902 to 1918, after having served as a quarry. It is on a slope and measures 58.05 m in width. It was built with a rubble core revetted with ashlar. The tiers of seats had virtually all disappeared; they must have numbered 10 in the lower zone and 12 in the second. The orchestra was paved in marble. Behind the stage, which was flanked by two rectangular chambers, a portico with columns formed a facade.
  Baths. The public Roman baths were built of rubble and revetted with ashlar and brick. These "thermae" may date as early as the 2nd century AD. Only one large rectangular chamber (22 x 14 m), undoubtedly the tepidarium, can be described; it gave onto other rooms and onto the exterior by 11 passages. These baths were included within the Byzantine fortress, no doubt built on an earlier enclosure and defended by 13 towers. It measured 278 x 219 m.
  Forum. The existence of a forum is attested by a single inscription. There are also remains of arcades, a small shrine of Neptune, cisterns and, outside the town, a Christian church. In 1953 a hoard of 7,499 coins was discovered; virtually all of them came from the mint at Rome; the most recent dated to the beginning of AD 257. Presumably the hoard was buried because of local disturbances. Most of the ancient objects recovered at Calama and from the region are preserved in the Guelma Museum.
  Citadel and walls. Among its ruins are also a Byzantine citadel and walls built by the Byzantine patricius Solomon during the Byzantine reoccupation.
caption: Roman "Thermae" of Calama
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