City
Tacape Colonia
Gabes · قابس
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Tacape Colonia carries its rank in its name: an ordinary local community in the time of Augustus, the town later became a Roman colony. It lies beneath modern Gabès in Tunisia, at the innermost corner of the Lesser Syrtis, and the map marks it with the usual pair of towers. Ancient writers saw it quite differently. The Greek geographer Strabo called it a very large trading place, while the Roman writer Pliny set it in the middle of the desert. Its harbour was poor, but hot springs lay close by, and bishops of the town are recorded into the sixth century.