Kasserine

In classical antiquity Kasserine was a Roman colony, known as Cillium. Under Roman Emperor Vespasian (69–79) or Titus (79-81), it was elevated to the rank of municipium, and under the Severan dynasty (193-235) to that of colonia (Cillilana). It became Roman territory following the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC, belonging to the provinces of Africa, Africa Vetus, Africa Proconsularus, and finally Africa Byzacena following the reforms of Diocletian in 314 AD.

Archaeological evidence remains on site: mausoleums, triumphal arches, thermae, a theatre and a Christian basilica.[http://www.cassiciaco.it/navigazione/africa/siti_archeologici/cillium.html Associazione Storico-Culturale S. Agostino: "Cillium"]

File:The Mausoleum of the Flavii in Cillium, erected in the 2nd century AD by Tiberius Flavius Secundus and dedicated to his father, it is inscribed with two poems totalling 110 lines, Kasserine, Tunisia - 52702682649.jpg

One noted monument is the Tomb of the Flavii, built for local landowner Titus Flavius Secundus in the late second century AD. The Tomb contains a 110-line poem memorializing Flavius, and is the "longest extant Latin funerary epitaph from antiquity.{{cite web |last1=Sawyer |first1=Jesse Jake |title=A COMMENTARY ON THE VERSE INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF THE FLAVII AT CILLIUM |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/sawyer_jesse_j_201008_ma.pdf |website=uga.edu |access-date=Feb 2, 2021}}"

The theater was built at the end of the first century AD, probably to celebrate elevation of the town to a municipium,{{cite book |last1=Stillwell |display-authors=etal |first1=Richard |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |date=1976 |publisher=Princeton University Press |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=cillium&highlight=cillium |access-date=Feb 2, 2021}} It was restored, and reopened for performances in 2018.{{cite news |last1=Ben Ali |first1=Fawz |title=Réhabilitation du théâtre de Cillium |url=http://kapitalis.com/tunisie/2018/08/06/rehabilitation-du-theatre-de-cillium-un-nouvel-air-souffle-sur-kasserine/ |access-date=Feb 2, 2021 |agency=Kapitalis |date=Aug 6, 2018|language=fr}}

In 544 the Byzantines were defeated by the Berbers in the Battle of Cillium.

The town was renamed Kasserine, meaning "The Two Palaces", which is a reference to the two Roman mausoleums.{{cite book |author=John Everett-Heath |title=The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-256243-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVRuDwAAQBAJ&dq=kasserine+name+origin&pg=PT951}}

In 1906, an attack by local bedouin on isolated settler farms near Kasserine, and the French civil administration offices during the Thala-Kasserine Disturbances was the first violent resistance to French authority under the protectorate.

During World War II, from January to March 1943, the Germans operated a forced labour camp for Jews in the city.{{cite book|last1=Megargee|first1=Geoffrey P.|last2=Overmans|first2=Rüdiger|last3=Vogt|first3=Wolfgang|year=2022|title=The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV|publisher=Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum|page=585|isbn=978-0-253-06089-1}} In February 1943, it was the site of the Battle of Kasserine Pass.

Cillium was important enough in the Roman province of Byzacena to become a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Hadrumetum.

Cillium was represented at the Conference of Carthage (411) between Catholic and Donatist bishops by the Catholic Tertiolus and the Donatist Donatus. In 484, Fortunatianus of Cillium was one of the Catholic bishops whom the Arian Vandal king Huneric summoned to Carthage and then exiled.Stefano Antonio Morcelli, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dO4-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA139 Africa christiana], Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 139–140Pius Bonifacius Gams, [http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=65154&dirids=1 Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae], Leipzig 1931, p. 465J. Ferron, v. Cillium, in [https://archive.org/stream/dictionnairedhis12baud#page/426/mode/2up Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques], vol. XII, Paris 1953, coll. 831-832

No longer a residential bishopric, Cillium is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 869

Since its nominal restoration in 1925, the Latin titular bishopric has had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank:

• Boleslavs Sloskāns (1926.05.05 – 1981.04.18), Apostolic Administrator of Mohilev (Belarus) (1926.08.13 – 1981.04.18) and Apostolic Administrator of Mi(e)nsk (Belarus) (1926.08.13 – 1981.04.18)
• Louis Anthony DeSimone, (1981.06.27 – 2018.10.05), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of Philadelphia{{cite web |url=https://www.timesherald.com/news/most-reverend-louis-anthony-desimone-dies/article_5c824eac-c8cd-11e8-8027-afd89f37cf12.html |title=Most Reverend Louis Anthony Desimone, 96, dies {{!}} News {{!}} timesherald.com |website=www.timesherald.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181006003514/https://www.timesherald.com/news/most-reverend-louis-anthony-desimone-dies/article_5c824eac-c8cd-11e8-8027-afd89f37cf12.html |archive-date=2018-10-06}}

Kasserine is located in western central Tunisia. By road it is 200 kilometres west of Sfax, 246 kilometres (180 mi) south-west of the capital Tunis, and 166 kilometres (141 mi) south-west of Sousse.

Kasserine is divided into 11 districts:

• El Arich
• Ennour District
• Essalem District
• Ezzouhour District
• El Bassatine District
• El Fath District
• El Karma District
• El Khadhra District
• El Manar District
• Olympic District
• Zouhour District

{{Geographic location

|Centre = Kasserine

|North = Foussana

|Northeast = Sbeitla

|East = Sbeitla

|Southeast = Hassi El Ferid

|South = Hassi El Ferid

|Southwest = Feriana

|West = Foussana, Feriana

|Northwest = Foussana

}}

{{Weather box

|metric first = yes

|single line = yes

|location = Kasserine (1991–2020, extremes 1950–2017)

|Jan record high C = 25.2

|Feb record high C = 31.5

|Mar record high C = 33.0

|Apr record high C = 34.7

|May record high C = 41.7

|Jun record high C = 43.4

|Jul record high C = 43.6

|Aug record high C = 42.5

|Sep record high C = 40.3

|Oct record high C = 36.0

|Nov record high C = 31.6

|Dec record high C = 26.5

|year record high C = 43.6

|Jan high C = 13.8

|Feb high C = 14.9

|Mar high C = 18.5

|Apr high C = 22.0

|May high C = 27.0

|Jun high C = 32.2

|Jul high C = 36.1

|Aug high C = 35.2

|Sep high C = 29.9

|Oct high C = 25.1

|Nov high C = 18.8

|Dec high C = 14.8

|year high C = 24.0

|Jan mean C = 8.4

|Feb mean C = 9.2

|Mar mean C = 12.2

|Apr mean C = 15.4

|May mean C = 19.8

|Jun mean C = 24.4

|Jul mean C = 27.7

|Aug mean C = 27.3

|Sep mean C = 23.3

|Oct mean C = 18.8

|Nov mean C = 13.1

|Dec mean C = 9.5

|year mean C = 17.4

|Jan low C = 2.9

|Feb low C = 3.5

|Mar low C = 6.0

|Apr low C = 8.8

|May low C = 12.7

|Jun low C = 16.7

|Jul low C = 19.4

|Aug low C = 19.3

|Sep low C = 16.7

|Oct low C = 12.5

|Nov low C = 7.5

|Dec low C = 4.3

|year low C = 10.9

|Jan record low C = -7.0

|Feb record low C = -6.0

|Mar record low C = -3.0

|Apr record low C = 0.0

|May record low C = 3.2

|Jun record low C = 8.0

|Jul record low C = 10.5

|Aug record low C = 12.0

|Sep record low C = 5.8

|Oct record low C = 0.5

|Nov record low C = -3.1

|Dec record low C = -6.5

|year record low C = -7.0

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 19.0

|Feb precipitation mm = 15.8

|Mar precipitation mm = 21.1

|Apr precipitation mm = 25.8

|May precipitation mm = 29.2

|Jun precipitation mm = 19.4

|Jul precipitation mm = 14.8

|Aug precipitation mm = 28.0

|Sep precipitation mm = 38.2

|Oct precipitation mm = 23.3

|Nov precipitation mm = 23.7

|Dec precipitation mm = 13.5

|year precipitation mm = 271.9

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 2.7

|Feb precipitation days = 2.4

|Mar precipitation days = 3.7

|Apr precipitation days = 4.0

|May precipitation days = 4.4

|Jun precipitation days = 3.2

|Jul precipitation days = 2.6

|Aug precipitation days = 3.9

|Sep precipitation days = 5.3

|Oct precipitation days = 3.7

|Nov precipitation days = 2.9

|Dec precipitation days = 2.5

|year precipitation days = 41.5

|Jan sun = 184.9

|Feb sun = 177.5

|Mar sun = 223.6

|Apr sun = 226.3

|May sun = 244.9

|Jun sun = 261.8

|Jul sun = 280.4

|Aug sun = 262.7

|Sep sun = 221.5

|Oct sun = 216.4

|Nov sun = 187.5

|Dec sun = 171.3

|year sun =

|source 1 = Institut National de la Météorologie (extremes 1950-2017, sun 1981-2010) {{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191219211209/http://data.transport.tn/dataset/9e1ed3a1-69f5-4ef9-a05e-daa8126fdb7c/resource/acf0d32e-92b3-4247-9281-1b3a1587d23f/download/normales_1981_2010.txt

| archive-date = 19 December 2019

| url = http://data.transport.tn/dataset/9e1ed3a1-69f5-4ef9-a05e-daa8126fdb7c/resource/acf0d32e-92b3-4247-9281-1b3a1587d23f

| title = Les normales climatiques en Tunisie entre 1981 2010

| publisher = Ministère du Transport

| language = fr

| access-date = 3 February 2020}}{{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191221032155/http://data.transport.tn/dataset/c8d4b465-056c-41e2-a666-05160d19784e/resource/3d38ac83-8a3c-4207-b327-9684131292b3/download/normales_1961_1990.txt

| archive-date = 21 December 2019

| url = http://data.transport.tn/dataset/normales-climatiques-en-tunisie-entre-1961-1990/resource/3d38ac83-8a3c-4207-b327-9684131292b3

| title = Données normales climatiques 1961-1990

| publisher = Ministère du Transport

| language = fr

| access-date = 3 February 2020}}{{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191221032448/http://data.transport.tn/dataset/b19bf5d3-5f47-43a3-befc-80a4f4f1d267/resource/0f4ff280-9f86-4e4f-bc18-29df886c2a30/download/extremes.txt

| archive-date = 21 December 2019

| url = http://data.transport.tn/dataset/extremes-climatiques-en-tunisie/resource/0f4ff280-9f86-4e4f-bc18-29df886c2a30

| title = Les extrêmes climatiques en Tunisie

| publisher = Ministère du Transport

| language = fr

| access-date = 3 February 2020}}{{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191221032448/https://www.meteo.tn/index.php/donnees-climatiques | archive-date = 21 December 2019 | url = https://www.meteo.tn/index.php/donnees-climatiques | title = Période ensoleillée 1981-2010 climatiques en Tunisie | publisher = Ministère du Transport | language = fr | access-date = 26 December 2019}}{{refn|group=note|name=Station ID|The Station ID for Kasserine is 64646111.{{cite web |url=http://data.transport.tn/dataset/reseau-des-stations-meteorologiques-synoptiques/resource/9d68c101-4789-4e6a-bdff-8952d727c0c1 |title=Réseau des stations météorologiques synoptiques de la Tunisie |publisher=Ministère du Transport |language=fr |access-date=3 February 2020}}}}

|source 2 = NOAA

{{cite web

| url = https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/2.2/data/0-data/Region-1-WMO-Normals-9120/Tunisia/CSV/Kasserine_60739.csv

| title = Climate Normals 1991-2020

| website = NOAA.gov

| publisher = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

| access-date = 18 September 2018}}

}}

image:Karim Haggui.jpg in 2007.]]

Kasserine's most popular sport club is the AS Kasserine (football, soccer).

• Faouzia Aloui (born in 1958), a poet and fiction writer.[http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php?nav=personne&no=8843 Faouzia Aloui Profile in africultures]{{in lang|ar}} [http://www.diwanalarab.com/spip.php?article21972 Faouzia Aloui] at Diwanalarab
• Karim Haggui (born January 20, 1984), a football defender

{{reflist|2}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

• [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0504.htm GigaCatolic, with titular incumbent biography links]

• Battle of the Kasserine Pass
• Kasserine Dam
• History of Roman-era Tunisia

{{Kasserine Governorate}}

{{Communes of Tunisia}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities in Tunisia

Category:Communes of Tunisia

Cillium

Category:Populated places in Kasserine Governorate