City
Thelepte Colonia
Medinet-el-Kedima · el Kadima bei Feriâna
Listen to the story
Thelepte was a Roman colony, a status it probably received under the emperor Trajan, and the map marks it with the usual pair of towers. Its wide field of ruins lies just outside Feriana in Tunisia, at a spot locals call Medinet el-Kedima, the old city. Thelepte was an important road junction; four roads left it, the best known running by Capsa, now Gafsa, to Tacape on the coast. In AD 354 the military commander of the province lived here. Older research equated it with Thala, the stronghold of King Jugurtha described by the Roman historian Sallust, but later research rejects the match.