Road station
Zaras
Zraia · Zraya
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Zaras is Zarai, today Zraia in Algeria, a Numidian town close to the border with Mauretania and a meeting point of several roads. In July 128 the emperor Hadrian inspected the cohort stationed here. After the troops had left, a customs tariff was set up here in 202, under Septimius Severus and Caracalla; whether it taxed goods crossing between provinces or caravans from the south, it is a key document for the economy of Roman Africa. In 411 the town had two bishops, one Catholic and one Donatist.