Icosium
Ikosim was founded in 1100 BCE as a Phoenician commercial outpost or emporium which later developed into a small Roman town called Icosium which existed on what is now the marine quarter of the city. The rue de la Marine follows the lines of what used to be a Roman street, Decumenus. Roman cemeteries existed near Bab-el-Oued. Exact location unknown, position given for the Bardo Museum, which has some prehistoric pieces.
This quarter covers in fact part of the urban area of Ikosim, an ancient Punic trading post. Little is known of the origins of this city: the foundation of the ancient Ikosim probably dates from the 3rd century BC. The city was an integral part of the Kingdom of Mauretania from the reign of Juba II (25 BC-23 AD), a prince brought up in Rome, and whose capital is Caesaria (Cherchel).
In the year 40 AD the control of Rome became complete after the assassination of Ptolemy, Juba II's son, on Caligula's orders. Ikosim, under the latin name of Icosium, then became a Roman municipium – a status enjoyed by autonomous cities in the Roman Empire.
In 371-372, Mauretania revolted and followed Firmus, a rebel prince, desirous of installing an independent State: Caesaria and Icosium were captured.
In the 7th century, on the birth of Islam, the Beni Mezrenna tribe settled here.
In 1516, the corsair Arudj Barberousse, founded a republic in Algiers which resisted Charles the Fifth. Then the town developed considerably under the Ottomans from the 16th century onwards.
From 1830, the colonial epoch also left its mark.
For archaeologists, it offers a unique opportunity to open a window onto the substructure of the Place des Martyrs. Well conserved, the archaeological levels go down more than 7 metres. The site reveals cellars of the colonial epoch, a commercial quarter of the Ottoman period (16th-19th centuries), important Early Christian remains and levels dating from Antiquity.
Also:
http://archnet.org/library/places/one-place.jsp?place_id=1456&order_by=title&showdescription=1
http://www.amazighworld.org/history/ancienthistory/amina/part1.php
