Tozeur

Tozeur (Arabic: توزر, romanized: Tūzir^ⓘ; Berber languages: ⵜⵓⵣⴻⵔ, romanized: Tuzər) is a city in southwest Tunisia. The city is located northwest of Chott el Djerid, in between this Chott and the smaller Chott el Gharsa. It is the capital of Tozeur Governorate. It was the site of the ancient city and former bishopric Tusuros, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.

During the Roman era, Tozeur was known as Tusuros or Thusuros, and it was part of the Roman province of Byzacena in Africa Proconsularis.

Several hypotheses exist regarding the origin of the name Tozeur. One hypothesis links the name to the Egyptian pharaoh Tausret , whose name means “the powerful one” in ancient Egyptian. Following her reign as the last monarch of Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty, Tozeur is said to have been paid as tribute by the Kingdom of Kush in her honor. This theory is supported by architectural similarities between Tozeur and ancient Egyptian cities, particularly the use of sun-dried and kiln-fired mud brick.

The Tunisian philosopher Youssef Seddik has also suggested an ancient Egyptian origin, proposing that the prefix “T” is commonly found in toponyms such as Thebes, Tamazret, while “Ozeur” may be a latinized form of Osiris, the ancient Egyptian deity.

During the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire and in the Vandal Kingdom, Tozeur was the site of Tusuros, in the Roman province of Byzacena (originally part of Africa Proconsularis).

At this time it was the seat of a suffragan bishopric, called Tusuros.

Located in the Sahel hinterland of the Byzacena coastline, close to the towns of Aquae and Nefta and south of Capsa and Ad Turres, Roman Tursuros became an important center of Donatism.

The bishopric ceased to function following the seventh-century arrival of Islam. The remains of an ancient church are visible in the foundations of an old mosque.