Uthina

Uthina is also a spider genus (Pholcidae).

Uthina was a town in the province of Africa Proconsularis, now northern Tunisia.^[1]

Uthina is mentioned by Ptolemy (IV, 3, 34), Pliny the Elder,^[2] and the Tabula Peutingeriana.^[3] Pliny and an inscription call it a Roman colony.^[4]

From the accounts given by geographers the site seems to be the ruins that form the archeological site of Oudna, near a station on the railway from Tunis to Kef and not far from what was the World War II Oudna Airfield. These ruins occupy a surface nearly three miles in circumference, covering a hilly plateau, and commanding the left bank of the Milian wady; there are remains of a fortress, cisterns, an aqueduct, a triumphal arch, a theatre, an amphitheater, a basilica with a circular crypt, and a bridge. Many mosaics are to be found there as well.

Uthina amphitheater

Uthina amphitheater.

In the north of the former city. The building is half dug into the hill and the seats were adorsed to the slope, only upper part of the building with the arcs is above ground. The building measures 113x90 m and seated about 16,000. The amphitheater has undergone restoration and excavation work since the start of excavation in 1993. The central arena measures 58mx35m. An underground vaulted galleries aligned in a major axis provides access to the amphitheater basement with symmetrical vaults and rooms under the central arena. It dates from the reign of Hadrian.

References

1. Hitchner, R., DARMC, R. Talbert, R. Warner, J. Becker, S. Gillies, T. Elliott. "Places: 315247 (Uthina)". Pleiades. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
2. Plin. HN 5.29.3 http://latin.packhum.org/loc/978/1/327/168-174
3. http://www.cambridge.org/us/talbert/talbertdatabase/TPPlace143.html
4. Mary Taliaferro Boatwright (1 December 2002). Hadrian and the Cities of the Roman Empire. Princeton University Press. pp. 86–. ISBN 0-691-09493-4.

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