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Gigthi was a town in the late Roman province of Tripolitania, which became a residential episcopal see. It corresponded to present-day Djorf-Bou-Ghara.[1]
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Gigthi is today identified as extensive ruins near Rass el Bacha, Boughrara and Oulad Mehabeul.[2](Latitude: 33°31'59.98" Longitude:10°40'0.01") Gigthi was close to Wādī Bertema and Port de Boughrara. The town was 10 meters above sea level
Gigthi identified with Bou Ghara, was connected by a causeway to Djerba island and the home of the pre Roman Lotus-eaters. The town has remains of a forum with temples a monumental arch, treasury and porticoed street leading to the harbor north of the city, which was probably a market. It also boasted two bath houses.[3] The town was a prosperous source of grain from the rule of Nerva to Caracalla, and Antoninus Pius made the town a municipium.
Inscriptions from the ruins[4] show the survival of the Punic language well into Roman times, and [5] strong sense of civic pride in the citizens.
Temple of Mercure
Temple of Asclepius
The Grand Temple
Port boughrara.
Githis in 1975.
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Bishopric
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Gighthi was also the seat of an ancient bishopric, which ceased to function effectively in the 7th century with the arrival of Islamic armies. Gighthi is now a titular see of the Catholic Church, being restored as a titular in 1933. The Latin adjective referring to it is Gigthensis.[1]
We know of Bishop Catulinus, a Catholic bishop who attended the Council of Carthage (411). The first titular bishop of the see was appointed on 23 March 1966.[6] The current bishop is Mark O'Connell.
References
- ^ a b Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 902
- ^ Gigthi at Geoview.info.
- ^ Paul Lachlan MacKendrick, The North African Stones Speak (UNC Press Books, 1 Dec. 2000)p54.
- ^ James S. Reid, The Municipalities of the Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2 Jan. 2014) p315.
- ^ James S. Reid, The Municipalities of the Roman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2 Jan. 2014) p293.
- ^ Information on the diocese