Casbah of Algiers
Algiers is one of the trading stations made by the Phoenicians during the period of their commercial expansion in the mediterranean sea.
The Algerian gulf area attracted the attention of Phoenicians so they established the port of icosium ( Algiers) in the first millennium bc as cited in historical books and old coins found near the port .
Starting from the year 202 BC the region was to the reign of the roman empire after the alliance of Massenissa and the african scipio against the carthaginian authority it got transformed to the colony of Icosium while keeping its original phoenician name .
the casbah got affected by the events during the reign of the Roman empire especially regarding the expansion of christianity and religion conflicts, the vandals took over the city in 429 Ad after the weakness touching Rome and led to the big separation between Rome and its colonies in north Africa, however icosium returned under the authority of rome after concluding a deal with the vandals in 442 AD.
In 533 Ad the Byzantine emperor Justinian joined icosium under his policy aiming to revive the glories of the new Roman empire ,however the historical texts did not publish the exact details of the events in that period.
With the beginning of the second half of the 14 century AH/10 Ad the name Beni mzghena started to be used frequently in historical and geographical sources, its name was associated with the tribe of beni mezghena. its leader prince Belkin ben ziri the rebuilding operation of the city, it became one of the most important cities in the middle maghreb
algeria preserved this name during the reign of the states that succeeded after the zirids, it got influenced with the civilizations that passed through it, and the casbah is the only one monument left from it, and it was included in the UNESCO’s world heritage list in algeria in 1982.
