We know that in 168AD the city is still a
civitas (town) but under
Septimius Severus and
Caracalla it had been raised to a
municipium status.
Babelon records an
aqueduct with a source in the South-Vedic area near
Ain Sense, a temple and a bridge, later converted into a
fortress. 6 kilometres north of the ruins of Bir-el-Ach, was found a Base for statue of Valentinian I (364–375) now on display at the
Bardo Museum. The town was also the
seat of an ancient Christian
bishopric, and one
bishop is known to have attended the
Council of Carthage (411). The
diocese effectively ceased to function with the
Muslim conquest of the Maghreb but was re-established in 1927 as a
titular bishopric of the
Roman Catholic Church. The current bishop is
John Baptist Tseng Chien-tsi. ==References==