Byzantine fort
Mid-site.
Carole Raddato — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carole Raddato — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carole Raddato — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dan Sloan — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dan Sloan — CC BY-SA 2.0
Madauros was a Roman-Berber city in ancient Numidia, whose ruins lie near today's town of M'Daourouch in Souk Ahras Province, eastern Algeria, about 27 km south of Souk Ahras and 92 km south of Annaba in a straight line. The city dates back to the 5th century BC under the Punics and became a Roman colony of veterans at the end of the 1st century AD under Emperor Nerva. It was famous for its school, which many consider one of the earliest centres of higher learning in North Africa. Its best-known son is the writer Apuleius, author of «The Golden Ass». The golden stone ruins spread over an open plateau among fields, with the remains of a Roman theatre made smaller by a Byzantine fort built in 535, baths, a Roman mausoleum and paved streets. The massive walls of the Byzantine fort stand in the middle of the site. Visitors walk the old streets among the ruins and stop at the theatre and the fort. The site is quiet and little visited, makes a trip from Souk Ahras or Annaba by car, and is loveliest in spring when the fields turn green.
Mid-site.
Roman.
Ancient.
Near M'Daourouch, Souk Ahras Province, Algeria
Spring.
By car from Souk Ahras.