Hippo Regius is an ancient port on the coast of North Africa, located near the modern town of Annaba (formerly Bône) in Algeria. Because of its strategic position, it was soon a regular trading post. The city is in Numidia, but was incorporated into Africa Proconsularis by Augustus.
In AD 430, the Vandals advanced eastwards along the North African coast and laid siege to the walled city of Hippo Regius. The city fell to the Vandals and King Geiseric made it the first capital of the Vandal Kingdom until the capture of Carthage in 439.
It was later conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 534. Under Roman control it was first made a municipium (a community that exercised partial rights of Roman citizenship) and later a colonia (Roman settlement with full rights of citizenship).
Christianity appears to have been brought to Hippo from Italy and from the East. The Christian quarter was in the port area, within the pre-Roman settlement on the outskirts of the Roman city and its forum. Its first known bishop bore a Greek name; Augustine's immediate predecessor, Valerius, still spoke Greek and had difficulty with Latin.
It was kept under Roman rule until 698, when it fell to the Muslims; the Arabs rebuilt the town in the eighth century.
Ancient city of
Hippo Regius (Annaba)
