Robba

Robba (383/4 – 434) was a North African Donatist nun. A church was built in Ala Miliaria to commemorate her murder by traditors. Robba was born in 383/4, the sister of Bishop Honoratus of Aquae Sirenses. She was a consecrated virgin of Donatism. In 434, at the age of fifty, she was killed in an uprising of traditores (Catholic Christians who had given up their scriptures during Roman persecution). Donatists either built or repurposed part of a military building in Ala Miliaria (modern-day Beniane, Algeria) into a substantial church, where Robba and several others are buried. Robba is commemorated there by an epitaph which calls her a martyr. The church was rediscovered by archaeologist Stéphane Gsell in 1899. Robba's is the last known Donatist epitaph, and it demonstrates the public presence of Donatists in North Africa decades after the official suppression of Donatism at the Council of Carthage in 411.

Donatist nun (383/4 – 434)

Robba (383/4 – 434) was a North African Donatist nun. A church was built in Ala Miliaria to commemorate her murder by traditors.

Robba was born in 383/4, the sister of Bishop Honoratus of Aquae Sirenses. She was a consecrated virgin of Donatism.

In 434, at the age of fifty, she was killed in an uprising of traditores (Catholic Christians who had given up their scriptures during Roman persecution).^[1][2][3]

Donatists either built or repurposed part of a military building in Ala Miliaria (modern-day Beniane, Algeria) into a substantial church, where Robba and several others are buried.^[4][5] Robba is commemorated there by an epitaph which calls her a martyr.^[1] The church was rediscovered by archaeologist Stéphane Gsell in 1899.^[6]

Robba's is the last known Donatist epitaph, and it demonstrates the public presence of Donatists in North Africa decades after the official suppression of Donatism at the Council of Carthage in 411.^[7][8][9]

References

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1. ^ ^{a b} Lander, Shira L. (2016-10-24). Ritual Sites and Religious Rivalries in Late Roman North Africa. Cambridge University Press. pp. 168–9. ISBN 978-1-107-14694-5.
2. ^ Workshop, Impact of Empire (Organization) (2011-05-10). Frontiers in the Roman World: Proceedings of the Ninth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Durham, 16-19 April 2009). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20119-4.
3. ^ Cristini, Marco (2025-06-27). The Years of the Infidels: African Latin Christianity from the Vandals to the Almohads. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-38178-6.
4. ^ Frend, W. H. C. (2020-03-31). The Donatist Church: A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 305. ISBN 978-1-5326-9755-5.
5. ^ Collins, Rob; Symonds, Matt; Weber, Meike (2015-11-30). Roman Military Architecture on the Frontiers: Armies and Their Architecture in Late Antiquity. Oxbow Books. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-78297-993-7.
6. ^ Frend, W. H. C. (2003). From Dogma to History: How Our Understanding of the Early Church Developed. SCM Press. pp. 60, 70. ISBN 978-0-334-02908-3.
7. ^ Screen, Elina; West, Charles (2018-05-03). Writing the Early Medieval West. Cambridge University Press. pp. 190–1. ISBN 978-1-107-19839-5.
8. ^ Decret, Francois (2009-06-01). Early Christianity in North Africa. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 137. ISBN 978-1-4982-7029-8.
9. ^ Hitchner, R. Bruce (2022-03-29). A Companion to North Africa in Antiquity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 328. ISBN 978-1-4443-5001-2.