Thapsus

Thapsus

Shown within Tunisia
Location	Tunisia
Region	Monastir Governorate
Coordinates	35°37′15″N 11°02′30″E / 35.62083°N 11.04167°E / 35.62083; 11.04167Coordinates: 35°37′15″N 11°02′30″E / 35.62083°N 11.04167°E / 35.62083; 11.04167

Thapsus or Thapsos (less commonly, Tapsus) (Greek: Θάψος) was an ancient city in what is modern-day Tunisia.

It was founded by Phoenicians, and served as a marketplace on the coast of the province Byzacena in Africa Propria. Thapsus was established near a salt lake on a point of land eighty stadia (14.8 km) from the island of Lampedusa.

In 46 BC, Julius Caesar defeated Metellus Scipio and the Numidian Berber King Juba I with a tremendous loss of men near Thapsus (see Battle of Thapsus). Caesar exacted a payment of 50,000 sesterces from the vanquished. Their defeat marked the end of opposition to Caesar in Africa. Thapsus then became a Roman colony. Later, it was part of the Roman province of Byzacena.

Thapsus became a Christian bishopric, probably a suffragan, but no Metropolitan is known. Its only known bishop is Vigilius, the author of several controversial works against the Arians and the Eutychians. He was one of the Catholic bishops whom king Hunneric of the Vandals summoned to his court in Carthage in 484 and then exiled.

Its ruins exist at Ras Dimas, a promontory near Bekalta, approximately 200 km southeast of Carthage. They include an amphitheatre and various mosaics.