Cherchell (Amazigh: ⵛⵔⵛⴰⵍ, Arabic: شرشال) is a town on Algeria's Mediterranean coast, 89 kilometers (55 mi) west of Algiers.

[15][16] After its notional refounding as a Roman colony, it was formally named Colonia Claudia Caesariensium Iol after its imperial patron Claudius.

In the 3rd century BC, it was fortified[19] and began issuing Numidia's first coins in bronze and silver, bearing Punic text, Carthaginian gods, and images of local produce, particularly fish.

The roads were relaid on a grid and amenities included a theater, an art gallery,[19] and a lighthouse modeled after the Pharos in Alexandria.

He probably began the Roman wall that ran for about 7 kilometers (4 mi) around a space of about 400 hectares (988 acres); about 150 of that total was used for the settlement in antiquity.

[21] It was defended by auxiliary units and was the harbor of Rome's Mauretanian Fleet,[17] which was established as a permanent force after Berber raids in the early 170s.

[citation needed] It received a new forum and further patronage from the African emperor Septimius Severus and his dynasty, possibly reaching as many as 100,000 inhabitants.

After the Vandal Kingdom conquered Carthage in 439, they also acquired a large part of Rome's Mediterranean fleet which they used to carry out raids all over the sea.

[19] The first duke was named John; that he was given an infantry unit rather than cavalry implies that he was meant to hold the port without much concern about controlling its surrounding hinterland.

Successive waves of Umayyad attacks into Byzantine North African territory over 15 years wore down the smaller and less motivated imperial forces, until finally Umayyad troops laid siege to the city of Caesarea and, although the defenders were resupplied by Byzantine fleets, finally overwhelmed it.

Much of the Byzantine nobility and officials fled to other parts of the Empire, while most of the remaining Roman and semi-Roman Berber population accepted Islamic rule which granted them protected status.

For the following few centuries, the city remained a power center of Arabs and Berbers with a small but significant population of Christians who were fully assimilated by the beginning of the Early Modern period.

Similarly, by the 10th century the city's name had transformed in the local dialect from a Latin to a Berber and ultimately into the Arabised form Sharshal (in French orthography, Cherchell).

Under Turkish occupation, the city's importance as a port and fort led to it being inhabited by Moslems of many nationalities, some engaging in privateering and piracy on the Mediterranean.

During this period a number of palaces were built, but the overwhelming edifice of Hayreddin Barbarossa's citadel, was considered too militarily valuable to destroy and uncover the previous ancient buildings of old Caesarea.

After the end of the Napoleonic Wars and Revolutions of the early 19th century, the French under both British, American, and other European powers were encouraged to attack and destroy the Barbary Pirates.

[citation needed] In turn, many ancient statues and buildings were either restored and left in Cherchell, or taken to museums in Algiers or Paris, for further study.

The end of the war with its departure of Allied forces and a reduction of French naval personnel due to rebasing saw an actual decline in Europeans living in the city.

Additionally, the general austerity of the post-war years dried up the tourism industry and caused financial stagnation and losses to the local Franco-Algerian community.

With its large proportion of Europeans, French control and influence was strong enough to discourage all but the most daring attacks by anti-French insurgents.

Additionally, the ancient cistern first developed by Juba and Cleopatra Selene II was restored and expanded under recent French rule and still supplies water to the town.

Cherchell has various splendid temples and monuments from the Punic, Numidian and Roman periods, and the works of art found there, including statues of Neptune and Venus, are now in the Museum of Antiquities in Algiers.

The temples, which have been found on a spur of the mountain to the East of the central esplanade, on the edge of the route from Ténès to the West of the modern town, are too much destroyed to warrant publication even of plans.

Grouped around peristyles with vast trichinia, they are readily adapted to the terrain and are constructed on terraces on the lower slopes or on the edge of cliffs with views over the sea.

The orchestra had later undergone great modification which had resulted in the disappearance of the platform of the stage: an oval arena had been built, intended for hunting spectacles, and a wall was raised between the first row of seats and the cavea to protect spectators from the wild beasts.

The tiers of seats, for the most part missing, were carried on ramping vaults, and the arena floor was cut by two perpendicular passages intended for beasts.

For vandalizing an idol of Diana, St Marciana was supposedly tortured and killed in Caesarea's arena, gored by a bull and mauled by a leopard for the amusement of the crowd.