Mascula
In the course of occupying the region N of the mountains, the Third Augustan Legion marched from Ammaedara (Haïdra) and Theveste (Tébessa) and then encamped in Mascula before reaching Lambaesis. The chronology is uncertain. Situated N of the gap between the Nementcha and Aurès mountains, by Badiae, the site had considerable strategic importance. Another route toward the N reached Cirta by way of Bagae. Mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary, the city doubtless had been a municipium since Trajan's reign, or at any rate under the Seven. Inscriptions suggest that Cohors II Gemella Thracum and VII Lusitanorum were garrisoned there, as was a detachment of the legion under Septimius Severus. Several bishops of Mascula are named in the conciliar records of Carthage. And, according to Diehl, the city was fortified by a wall, like Theveste, in the Byzantine period.
The ancient city has disappeared. Today it is covered over by a sizable, densely populated settlement built some 3 m above the original surface; as soon as the old walls were uncovered, they were destroyed and reused. Only an occasional chunk of wall can be seen.
The subprefecture has a collection of stelae dedicated to Saturn, some sarcophagi, fragments of sculpture and bas-reliefs, some capitals, carved pillars, and columns. Numerous inscriptions are being assembled.
Thanks to a chance discovery in 1960, a number of rooms belonging to a luxurious villa were found beneath some houses under construction toward the E edge of the town. The house was built around a peristyle, with a cistern in the middle bordered by carved limestone dados with a design of dolphins; they were connected by stone slabs ornamented with plant motifs, some stylized. Opening out of the peristyle was a spacious triclinium with a mosaic showing the Triumph of the Marine Venus, a favorite theme in Africa. In the same villa 14 other mosaic floors have been found, only one of which, of later date, is decorated with figures. This shows a charioteer riding in triumph in a shower of roses. The other floors have geometric designs that are expertly worked and astonishingly varied. For the most part they do not belong to the repertoire of Timgad or Theveste. The over-all impression is one of luxury, suggesting the wealth of the villa and the high quality of the artists employed there. The mosaics are signed by an inscription inside that of the peristyle: Ex oficina Junioris, B(onis) B(ene). Altogether, these works apparently date from the second half of the 4th c.
Five km W of Khenchela, at Henchir el Hammam, an antique bath building, Aquae Flavianae, is still in operation. Under Vespasian and Titus, the hot spring (70°) was channeled in A.D. 76, and the monument restored and enlarged in 208 under Septimius Severus, Caracalla, and Geta. It then became known as Aquae Septimianae. A statue of Aesculapius has been found there as well as the base of a statue of Hygeia and some dedications to Frugifer and the nymphs. Then, as today, the establishment consisted of two juxtaposed bathing-pools, one rectangular (13.80 x 10.05 m) with porticos along two sides, the other circular (7.15 m in diameter) and vaulted. Round the pools were several rooms, restored somewhat arbitrarily. The water was carried by pipe from the hot spring; it was cooled by water from the wadi. The restoration work carried out under Severus was entrusted to a detachment of the Third Legion garrisoned at Mascula. Despite a number of differences—in particular, the absence of a sanctuary—the history of these baths is reminiscent of those of the Aqua Septimiana Felix, discovered beneath the Byzantine fort of Timgad.
BIBLIOGRAPHYS. Gsell and Graillot, “Ruines romaines au Nord de l'Aurès,” MélRome 13 (1893) 516; S. Gsell, Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie 28, nos. 137, 138; J. Birebent, Aquae Romanae (1962) 219; J. Lassus, in La Mosaïque gréco-romaine (1965) 175 and in Recueil de Constantine 71 (1971); M. Leglay, Saturne Africain (1966) II 163.
J. LASSUS