Where Saint Augustine preached above Roman Hippo — Algeria's Mediterranean city of basilicas, coral beaches, and cedar mountains
Annaba is Algeria's fourth-largest city, set on a Mediterranean bay backed by the Edough massif and its dense cork-oak and cedar forests — one of the most biologically rich mountain ranges in North Africa. The Roman ruins of Hippo Regius, just outside the city on the Seybouse river plain, are where Saint Augustine served as bishop from 396 to 430 AD and wrote Confessions and The City of God; the ruins include a well-preserved theatre, baths, and forum. The city's French colonial waterfront boulevard (the Cours de la Révolution), the Basilique Saint-Augustin on the hill above the ruins, and th…
Hippo Regius was a Phoenician foundation before becoming a major Roman city — second in importance in North Africa only to Carthage — and its theatre and civic complex date from the 2nd century AD. Saint Augustine's tenure as bishop (396–430 AD) made Hippo one of early Christianity's most influential intellectual centres; he died there in 430 as the Vandals besieged the city. The Arab conquest renamed it Bona; French colonists renamed it Bône and developed the port; independence in 1962 restored the Berber toponym Annaba (meaning 'jujube trees').