Uppenna
Uppenna or Upenna is a Tunisian archaeological site located on the site of the present locality of Henchir Chigarnia. The site has delivered a basilica and the remains of a fortress .Jacques Alexandropoulos, Programme d'investigations archéologiques sur le site d'Uppenna, 1994.Noël Duval, « L'Église d'Uppenna. Henchir Chigarnia, Tunisie », Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, 218bis, 1973, p. 87-106.
Location
The site is located at Henchir Fraga at 36°10'20.60"N, 10°24'50.22"E about 8 km north of Enfidaville, Tunisia.[https://vici.org/vici/31141/ Henchir Chigarnia - Uppenna] at Vici.org.
Archaeology
A Christian baptistery was cleared by René Cagnat in 1881. The fortress, classified March 25, 1889,{{in lang|fr}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=rpAtMs0DEoEC&dq=uppenna&pg=PA28 Dominique Raynal, Archéologie et histoire de L'Église d'Afrique. Uppenna I, éd. Presses universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse, 2006, p. 28] was largely degraded thereafter. The discovery of 1881 was identified in 1901, by Paul Gauckler as belonging to a basilica, however, it is not exhaustively searched for budgetary reasons. The church may have been built atop the foundations of a demolished pagan temple.Anna Leone, The End of the Pagan City: Religion, Economy, and Urbanism in Late Antique North Africa (Oxford University Press. Oxford, 27 June 2013)p75.
The site was considered important by the excavators of the campaigns in 1904–1905, and focusing on this building allowed the discovery of about forty mosaics, the main one is the mosaic of martyrsJ. Patout Burns, Robin M. Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 30 Nov. 2014). which led to a major controversy between Gauckler and Dr. Louis Carton, recovering a conflict between the Antiquities Department and the Archaeological Society of Sousse. Indeed, the mosaic citing thirteen African martyred saints led to a debate on the place of the monument in the Donatist schism.
Bishopric
File:Roman Empire - Africa Proconsularis (125 AD).svg
The Diocese of Uppenna, is an ancient episcopal seat of the Roman province of Byzacena.[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d3m16.html Entry] at www.catholic-hierarchy.org. The diocese was centered on a Roman town identifiable with Henchir-Medded in today's Tunisia.{{dubious|date=November 2018}}Duval Noël, L'évêque et la cathédrale en Afrique du Nord, in Actes du XIe congrès international d'archéologie chrétienne, École Française de Rome, 1989, p. 396.J. Mesnage L'Afrique chrétienne, Paris 1912, pp. 46–48.
- Titular bishop {{ill|Jan De Bie|nl|Jan De Bie (geestelijke)|vertical-align=sup}} of Belgium.[http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t1906.htm Titular Episcopal See of Uppenna].
- Titular archbishop Sergio Obeso Rivera (1974 – 1979)
- Titular archbishop Bernardo José Bueno Miele (1967 – 1972)[http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bbumi.html Bernardo José Bueno Miele] at Catholicheirachy.org.
- Bishop Honorius,J Burns and Robin Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p 125. is attested in the archaeology, and may be the bishop of the same name known from the synod called in 484 by Huneric, the Vandal.
- Bishop Baleriolus, known only from a mosaic in the basilica.
=Basilica=
Inscriptions in the church are dedicated to Bishops Honorius,J Burns and Robin Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p 125. and Baleriolus, a deacon Crescentius and the Presbyter Emeritus.J. Patout Burns, Robin M. Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p432.
Had an eight lobed font J Burns and Robin Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p 109.
The basilica was built to memorialize a group of local martyrs. A [http://www.cassiciaco.it/navigazione/africa/martiri/images/saturnino.jpg Mosaic] now housed in the [https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppenna&prev=search Enfida Museum] with a prominent Cross and the list of martyrs was uncovered in the basilica.The local martyrs listed are, Saturninus Bindemius Saturninus Donatus Saturninus Gududa Paula Clara Lucilla Fortunatus Lader Cecillius ad Emilius.
Others commemorated in mosaics include Bishops HonoriusJ Burns and Robin Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p 125. and Baleriolus, a deacon Crescentius and the Presbyter Emeritus.J. Patout Burns, Robin M. Jensen, Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2014) p432.
See also
External links
- {{EB1911 |wstitle=Enfidaville |volume=9 |page=403}}
- [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/d2u11.html Catholic Hierarchy]