Timgad is an ancient Roman city in North Africa, the ruins of which are located in the territory of modern Algeria, 480 kilometers southeast of Algeria and 35 kilometers east of the city of Batna. The military colony of Martian Ulpiy Trayan Tamugadi (the full name of the city of Timgad) was founded on the northern slopes of the Ores Mountains, which are part of the Atlas Mountains, by the Roman Emperor Trajan in 100 AD. The main purpose of the military settlement was to protect the coastal areas of Numidia from the raids of the Berber nomads. Initially, the city was inhabited by veterans of the 3rd Augustinian Legion, participants in the Parthian campaign of Trajan, who received land in the vicinity. By the middle of the II century, the military settlement had grown rapidly, having gone beyond its original borders. New quarters appeared in Timgad, in which the Capitol, a forum, a library, the triumphal arch of Trajan, many temples, a theater, a market and Roman baths were built. Public and residential buildings were built exclusively of stone, the houses of the nobility impressed with their magnificent mosaics and bathtubs, and the streets of the city were paved with large rectangular limestone slabs. Timgad, which became one of the most important outposts of the Roman Empire in Africa, personified the greatness of Rome on Numidian land. The prosperous city was destroyed at the end of the 5th century by vandals and partially restored by the Byzantines in 539. The city existed for another two centuries, until it was completely destroyed in the VIII century by the Arab conquerors. Gradually, the Timgad was "swallowed" by the Sahara desert, thanks to which the ruins of Timgad are so well preserved to this day. The ancient city of Timgad was discovered only in 1765 - then the English traveler James Bruce first reported the existence of the ruins of a Roman city in Timgad. Large-scale archaeological research of the ruins did not begin until 1880, during which the Triumphal Arch of Trajan, the amphitheater, the temples of Ceres and the Colonies of Genius, the remains of the foundations and walls of Roman villas, therms with aqueducts, the main street Dekumanos, paved with stone slabs, the columns of the Capitol, were excavated. the basilica, forum, library and market of Serzia with well-preserved counters richly decorated with carvings and stucco molding. In 1982, the ancient city of Timgad was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "a great example of ancient Roman urban planning."
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