It flourished from the time of the Roman Empire through the Islamic Middle Ages until it was sacked and destroyed by the Banu Hilal in the 11th century, after which it was finally abandoned.

Only a single milestone appearing to mention Tobna by name has been found; it was located on the ancient road to Nicivibus (Ngaous) and carries the inscription "[a Thu]bonis".

[5] On the south side of the city was the fortress,[2] which featured vaulted chambers, a cistern dating to the Byzantine period, a Jami mosque, and the governor's palace (dār al-'imāra).

[5] Inside the walls, the main street of Tobna ran east–west ("simaṭ", corresponding to the Roman Decumanus Maximus)[5] and was lined with shops and markets.

[5] For two centuries beginning c. 700 CE, Tobna was a major strategic center for Muslim rulers,[2] serving as capital of the Zab region.

[5][6] It had a garrison (jund) and newly built walls, and it served as the main point d'appui for campaigns against rebellious Berbers, including members of the Khawarij and, later, the Kutama tribe.

One military governor of Tobna, Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab, went on to found the Aghlabid dynasty, which would rule Ifriqiya for a century.

[2] In 906 CE, during the final years of Aghlabid power, Tobna was besieged by the forces of Abu Abdallah al-Shi'i, an Isma'ili missionary who had gathered a large following among the Kutama tribe.

Tobna was fortified with structures dating back to the Byzantine Empire, as well as a large Aghlabid garrison which defended itself with mangonels during the siege.

The defenders soon surrendered; Ibn Idhari recorded this as taking place at the end of Dhu al-Hijjah, 293 AH (905-906 CE).

Ibn Khaldun described the devastation they brought: after sacking and destroying both Tobna and Msila, the Banu Hilal attacked the caravanserais, towns, villages, and farms, razing them completely to the ground.

Writers such as Morcelli uses the spelling "Tubunae" for both of them,[8] but the Catholic Church's list of titular sees refers to the second of them (corresponding to modern Tobna) as Thubunae in Numidia.

[8] It was to this town "in the depths of Numidia"[10] that Augustine of Hippo and Alypius went, probably in 421, to meet the Roman official Boniface and exhort him "to serve the Church by protecting the empire from the barbarians".

Its ruins, known as Tobna, are in the Department of Constantine, Algeria, at the gates of the Sahara, west of the Chott el Hodna, the "Salinae Tubunenses" of the Romans.

Another bishop was Cresconius, who usurped the see after quitting that of Bulla Regia, and who assisted at the Council of Carthage (411), where his rival was the Donatist Protasius.