Thibaris

Titular see in Byzacena (Africa), not mentioned by any ancient author. The official list of the Roman Curia places it in Byzacena, but in reality it belonged to Africa Proconsularis. An inscription fixes the exact site at the ruins now called Henshir Hamamet, in a plain watered by the Wady Tibar which has retained the name of the town. These ruins are situated about five miles north-east of Djebba, near the Djebel Gorra Tunaiai. There are galena and calamine mines at Djebba. The former were worked even in ancient times and are mentioned in a letter from St. Cyprian to the faithful of Thibaris (Epistle 66). The chief ruins are those of an aqueduct and a Christian church. Nearby is the native orphanage of St. Joseph of Tibar, where the White Fathers received chiefly Algerian Kabyles. Two bishops of Thibaris are known: Vincent, present at the Council of Carthage in 256, and Victor, at the Conference of Carthage in 411, where his rival was the Donatist, Victorian.