- Thapsus (titular see)
Thapsus is a Catholic
titular see inByzacena inRoman Africa . The ruins of Thapsus are located atRas Dimas , nearBekalta inTunisia . They consist of the remains of a mole, a fortress, and amphitheater, and large cisterns; in the neighbourhood there is a Punic necropolis.History
Thapsus was aPhoenician market on the coast ofByzacium inAfrica Propria , established near asalt lake , on a point of land eightystadia from the island ofLopadussa , confronting it, betweenLeptis Minor andSullectum , and had both military and trading ports.In
46 BC it was the scene of the defeat byJulius Caesar of the generals ofPompey andJuba I at thebattle of Thapsus . He exacted of the vanquished a payment of 50,000sesterces . Thapsus then became a Roman colony.Vigilius , the only known bishop, assisted at the assembly convoked atCarthage in 484 byKing Huneric and was exiled by the latter with his colleagues. He is the author of several controversial works against theArians and theEutychians .References
*Smith, "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography" (London, 1878)
*Muller, "Notes to Geographi graeci minores", ed. Didot, I (Paris, 1882), 88, 469
*Toulette, "Geographie de l'Afrique chretienne, Byzacene et Tripolitaine" (Montreuil, 1894), 201External links
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14556a.htm Source]
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