Military and Colonial Destruction of the Roman Landscape of North Africa, 1830-1900

Michael Greenhalgh, M.A., Ph.D. (1967) is currently Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University and was from 1987 the Sir William Dobell Foundation Professor of Art History. Author of many books and papers on the survival and re-use of the antique around the Mediterranean, including Marble Past, Monumental Present (2009), and From the Romans to the Railways: The Fate of Antiquities in Asia Minor (2013).

• Preface ixSetting the Scene: Algeria in Context...11 The French Conquest...14Introduction...14Planning & logistics...15A lack of knowledge...16A lack of planning...18Logistics and Supply...20Political and Military Control...25The Dépôt de la Guerre and Reconnaissances...29Occupying the Ground...32The French as Successors to the Romans...32Roman Monuments and French Defences...38Surviving within Roman Structures...41Agriculture Roman and 19th-century...43Health and Welfare...48Civilising the Natives?...48Fighting the Natives...51Dealing with Colons and Speculators...55Colonisation or Abandonment?...58Reactions to the Occupation...60Scholars and Commissions...60A Forgotten Colony and War?...65The French-Language Press in Paris...66The Press in Britain and Germany...67The French-Language Press in Algeria...68Conclusion...692 The Army Establishes Itself, Colonisation Begins...75The Army, Colonists and Roads...75Security...76Building or Repairing the Infrastructure...77Builders, Competence and Algerian Conditions...77Forts and Fortresses Roman and French...82Accommodation for Body and Spirit...86Byzantine Fortresses and French Scholarship...87Defences for Arabs and Colons...89Fountains and Water Supply...92The Arabs and Water...94The French and Water...99Water Capture and Storage...102Road, Bridge and Farm Building with Antiquities...109Prehistoric Antiquities...112Conclusion: Water and Roads...1133 1830–40: The Destruction of Algiers, Constantine and other Early Settlements...119Algiers (Capitulated 5 July 1830)...121Constantine (Occupied 13 October 1837)...125Médéa (Occupied 1830)...133Arzew/Arzeu (Occupied 1833)...133Bougie (Occupied 1833)...134Guelma (Occupied 10 November 1836)...137Tlemcen etc (Occupied 1836)...141Philippeville and Stora (Occupied 8 October 1838)...145Sétif (First Entered 15 December 1838)...150Milah (Occupied 1838)...155Cherchel (Occupied by Valée 15 March 1840)...155Force majeure, plus ça change . . . 1594 Ruins, Roads and Railways...165The Largest Quantity of Roman Ruins outside Asia Minor...165North African Sites Occupied or Unoccupied...167Officers and Soldiers Digging Together...181Roads...184Roman Roads in Algeria and Tunisia...185French Roads in Algeria and Tunisia...187Transport without Roads...189New Roads, or Refurbished Roman Roads?...191Railways...197The Ponts et Chaussées...2015 Epigraphy, Topography and Mapping...208The Army’s uses for Roman Inscriptions...210Army Camps, Route Marches and Inscriptions...211Inscriptions in Mosques and Houses...214Milestones...216Léon Renier, Inscriptions and the Mission Civilisatrice...217Inscriptions and International Recognition...220Professionals versus Amateurs...225Inscriptions versus Ruins...227Ruins Undescribed...232Inscriptions versus Archaeology...234Inscriptions and Museums versus Settlers and Entrepreneurs...236Destroy the Stone – but Let me Transcribe it First!...239Mapping, Antiquities and Reconnaissances...242Map-making in France...242Early Map-making in Algeria...243Confusion and Delay...248The Brigades Topographiques and Antiquities...250Centuriation Unrecognised...254A Nest of Puzzles...2576 The Army Rebuilds Tebessa (First visited 1842)...262The Site and its Monuments...262The French Occupy the Site...264Extensive Building Work Begins...266Destruction by Ledger...2697 Building European Towns from the 1840s...275European Town Plans...276Building with Ruins...277French-Occupied Sites and their Transformation...278Orléansville (Settled 1843)...279Lambessa (First Visited during 1844)...280Aumale (Occupied 1846)...285Tipasa (Occupied 1854)...286Le Kef (Occupied 1881)...288Sfax (Occupied 1881)...290Sousse (Garrisoned 1881)...290Histoire du vandalisme: Les monuments détruits de l’art français...2928 Planting Colonies...299The Bureaux Arabes...302The Mitidja...306Villages and Farms...308Agricultural Colonies...309Arab Villages...311French Villages...314Seriana: Documented Destruction...320Farms...323Si Monumentum Requiris . . . 3259 Algeria and Tunisia on Display...329Triumphalism and Collecting...329Collections of Roman Art in France and North Africa...332Hindsight: Napoleonic Art...335Ideas and Algerian Propaganda...336Representing Algeria and Tunisia: Exhibitions and Museums...341Restoring the Ancient Monuments?...345Museums...348Conclusion: “Là où nous passons, tout tombe”...356Appendix: A Timeline and Some Statistics...364Bibliography...370Sources...370Modern Scholars...413Index...425Illustrations