Abyla
Ruins of Paleochristian Roman basilica in current Ceuta
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 Shown within Spain
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| Alternate name | Ad Septem Fratres |
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| Location | Spain |
| Region | Ceuta |
| Coordinates | 35°53′18″N 5°18′56″W / 35.888333°N 5.315556°WCoordinates: 35°53′18″N 5°18′56″W / 35.888333°N 5.315556°W |
Abyla (called also Ad Septem Fratres or simply "Septem") was a Roman colony in Mauretania Tingitana. It was an ancient city that existed in what is now the downtown of Ceuta.
Septem's location on the southern side of the Gibraltar Strait has made it an important commercial trade and military way-point for many cultures, beginning in the fifth century BC with the Carthaginians (who first called the city by the name "Abyla").
It was not until the Romans took control of the region in 42 AD that the port city, then named "Septem Fratres", assumed an almost exclusively military purpose. The city become a Roman colonia with full rights for the citizens under emperor Claudius.
Septem flourished economically in the Roman Empire and developed one of the main production places for fish salting commerce and industry. The city was connected with southern Roman Hispania not only for commerce, but even administratively. Efficient Roman roads connected Septem with Tingis and Volubilis, facilitating trade for military movements of legions.
In the beginning of the first century, under Augustus, the citizens of Septem used mainly the Phoenician language. Soon after that started the process of Romanization of the inhabitants. As a result, most of Septem's inhabitants spoke Latin in the fourth century, but there was also a sizable local community of romanised Berbers, who spoke their Berber dialect mixed with some Phoenician loanwords. When the city fell to the Byzantines in the sixth century, Greek was added to Latin as the official language.
Septem was an important Christian center in Mauretania Tingitana since the fourth century (as recently discovered ruins of a Roman basilica show ); it is thus the only place in the current Maghreb where Roman heritage (represented by Christianity) has continued uninterrupted even to the present day.
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Wikipedia