Provincia Byzacena ἐπαρχία Βυζακινῆς
Province of the Late Roman Empire - Byzantine Empire
293–439 534–698
Map of Roman Africa and Egypt; Byzacena shown in top right.
The Province of Byzacena, showing its territorial extent, capital and major cities.
Capital	Hadrumetum
Historical era	Late Antiquity - Early Middle Ages
• Division by Diocletian	c. 293
• Vandal Conquest of Carthage	439
• Byzantine reconquest by Vandalic War	534
• Reorganization into the Exarchate	591
• Fall of Carthage	698
Preceded by Succeeded by Africa (Roman province) Vandal Kingdom Vandal Kingdom Ifriqiya
Today part of	Tunisia

Byzacena (or Byzacium) (Ancient Greek: Βυζάκιον, Byzakion)^[1] was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis.

History

At the end of the 3rd century AD, the Roman emperor Diocletian divided the great Roman province of Africa Proconsularis into three smaller provinces: Zeugitana in the north, still governed by a proconsul and referred to as Proconsularis; Byzacena to its adjacent south, and Tripolitania to its adjacent south, roughly corresponding to southeast Tunisia and northwest Libya. Byzacena corresponded roughly to eastern Tunisia or the modern Tunisian region of Sahel.

Hadrumetum (modern Sousse) became the capital of the newly made province, whose governor had the rank of consularis. At this period the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Byzacena was, after the great metropolis Carthage, the most important city in Roman (North) Africa west of Egypt and its Patriarch of Alexandria.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Byzacena listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:^[2]

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Tunisia
• List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)
• List of Catholic titular sees

References

Sources and external links

• GCatholic - Tunisia
• Map of the Roman state according to the Compilation notitia dignitatum
• Place-names in the Compilation notitia dignitatum