A Cirtan party at Roman imperial court During Nerva–Antonine dynasty

Abstract

The subjugation of the Maghreb region to Roman occupation gradually led to the Romanization of its field and its people, and one of the manifestations of this was the emergence of a Romanized local elite that gradually reached the highest positions in the Roman empire. The city of Cirta and the surrounding region, which was historically known as the region of the Cirtan Confederation was not immune from these political and cultural transformations. It in turn presented an important group of figures who played important roles in the Roman Empire at the time of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Therefore, this article attempts to study the rise of Cirta elite from the very beginnings, meaning the Flavian dynasty, until the time of the aforementioned dynasty by working to highlight the path of the high positions that they held and their intertwined relationships with the authorities and between them. and explain how the increase in their number in the imperial court turned them into a “party” or “clique” within the authority, which sought help from them for their political, administrative, military, and legal competencies, and they created glory for themselves and great fame in the political field at that time.