Cheffia

El Cheffia الشافية El Cheffia
Commune and town
Country	Algeria
Province	El Taref Province
Population  (2008)
• Total	8,195
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)

Cheffia is a town and commune in El Taref Province, Algeria. According to the 1998 census it has a population of 7,450.[1]

Topographic map of the region around Cheffia

The Cheffia valley was described in 1868 by Reboud[2] as being comprised between the eastern slope of the Bou Habet and a series of grassy knolls where a few gardens and clumps of azeroliers stand here and there. It is a valley which measures from north to south about fifteen kilometres and five kilometres wide. It is divided into two basins by the cultivated plateau of Sidi-Bou-Aoun, which has large stones.

History

Libyco-Berber inscriptions from Cheffia

Cheffia is the site of the Roman city of Thullium in the Province of Numidia.[3] The Cheffia valley contains a number of ruins that can be considered as Libyan necropolises. Reboud describes a number thereof, and their Lybic (Libyco-Berber) inscriptions, and published the map shown in this article. The region was slow to christianize, with Thullium not receiving its first bishop until the end of the fifth century; a bishop from there was present at the Council of Carthage in 525.[4][5]

Map showing sites where necropolises have been discovered around Cheffia

Notable people

• Boudjemaa Talai (1952–2022), politician

References

1. Statoids
2. Reboud, Victor (1870). "Recueil d'inscriptions libyco-berbères". Paris: Mémoires de la Société française de numismatique et d'archéologie: 113. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
3. Bowman, Alan; Wilson, Andrew (2013). The Roman Agricultural Economy: Organization, Investment, and Production. Oxford University Press. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-19-966572-3. Retrieved Jan 3, 2022.
4. Price, Jonathan J.; Finkelberg, Margalit; Shahar, Yuval (2021). Rome: An Empire of Many Nations. Cambridge University Press. pp. 98–99. ISBN 9781108785563. Retrieved Jan 6, 2022.
5. Leone, Anna (2011–2012). "Bishops and Territory: The Case of Late Roman and Byzantine North Africa". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 65/66: 5–27. JSTOR 41933702. Retrieved Jan 7, 2022.

36°36′40″N 8°02′20″E