{{Short description|Ancient mausoleum in Algeria}} {{Infobox ancient site |name = Madracen |native_name = |alternate_name = |image = Mausolée des Rois numides dit le Medracen -1.JPG |alt = |caption = |map_type = Algeria |map_alt = Location in Algeria |map_size = 250px |coordinates = {{coord|35.7071|6.4346|format=dms|region:DZ|display=inline,title}} |location = Batna Province, Algeria |region = Numidia |type = |part_of = |length = |width = |area = |height = |builder = |material = |built = |abandoned = |epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" --> |cultures = |dependency_of = |occupants = |event = |excavations = |archaeologists = |condition = |ownership = |management = |public_access = |website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> |notes = }} '''Medracen''', also spelled '''Madghacen''',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoyos |first=Dexter |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Carthage/DGwJEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=medracen+madghacen&pg=PT87&printsec=frontcover |title=Carthage: A Biography |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-000-32816-5 |language=en |quote=Some of the most striking remains of Punic-influenced art and architecture stand outside Carthage: the second-century bc tower mausoleum of the Numidian lord Ataban outside Thugga, for example; another (in sadly fragmentary state) near Sabratha west of modern Tripoli; and the huge tumulus-shaped mausoleum called the Medracen (in Berber, Madghacen), built maybe for Masinissa and his family in the bare countryside 90 kilometres south of Constantine.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ball |first=Joanne |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Tacfarinas_An_African_Rebel_Against_Rome/tMCpEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=medracen+madghacen&pg=PA36&printsec=frontcover |title=Tacfarinas: An African Rebel Against Rome: The Numidian Revolt Against the Emperor Tiberius (AD 17 to 24) |publisher=Pen and Sword Military |year=2025 |isbn=978-1-3990-3989-5 |pages=36 |language=en}}</ref> is an ancient funerary monument located near Batna in Algeria. It has been identified as a royal mausoleum built by the Berber Numidian Kingdom. == History ==
Medracen is one of several large funerary monuments from the era of ancient Berber kingdoms in Classical antiquity. It is one of two that were built in the shape of a tumulus; the other being the so-called "Tomb of the Christian Woman" or Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Quinn |first=Josephine Crawley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rl1bAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA185#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=The Hellenistic West: Rethinking the Ancient Mediterranean |date= |year=2013 |isbn=9781139505987 |editor1-last=Prag |editor1-first=Jonathan R. W |pages=184–185 |language=en |chapter=Monumental power: 'Numidian Royal Architecture' in context |doi= |editor2-last=Quinn |editor2-first=Josephine Crawley}}</ref> Medracen is the oldest of these and has been dated to fourth century BC<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roblès |first=Jean-Marie Blas de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nq5TEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 |title=Classical Antiquities of Algeria: A Selective Guide |last2=Sintes |first2=Claude |last3=Kenrick |first3=Philip |publisher=Society for Libyan Studies |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-900971-58-4 |pages=166–167 |language=en}}</ref> or to the time of the Numidian king Masinissa ({{Reign|202|148 BC}}), around the end of the third century BC and first half of the second century BC.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Brett |first1=Michael |title=The Berbers |last2=Fentress |first2=Elizabeth |publisher=Blackwell |year=1996 |isbn=9780631207672 |pages=27–29 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Penelope J. E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5V6GqkjPFIC&pg=PT111 |title=Death and the Emperor: Roman Imperial Funerary Monuments from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius |date= |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-292-78956-2 |language=en |quote=Medracen (end of the third century B.C. or first half of the second)}}</ref><ref name=":12" />
== Architecture == The mausoleum was possibly influenced by Greek architecture further east or built with the help of Greek craftsmen. It consists of a large tumulus constructed in well-cut ashlar masonry and featuring sixty Doric columns and an Egyptian-style cornice.<ref name=":22" />
Though independent, the Numidian kingdom was increasingly involved in Mediterranean power politics, and an architect familiar with classical architecture surrounded the vertical section of wall at the base with engaged columns in the Doric order, "heavily proportioned and with smooth shafts, beneath a cavetto cornice".<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Lawrence |first=Arnold Walter |author-link=A. W. Lawrence |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Greek_Architecture/zLQyAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22heavily+proportioned+and+with+smooth+shafts%22&dq=%22heavily+proportioned+and+with+smooth+shafts%22&printsec=frontcover |title=Greek Architecture |date=1957 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-056011-4 |pages=189 |language=en}}</ref> The whole exterior was covered with a stone facing, most of which remains, with the straight cone of the upper part (except for a flat top) formed into steps, like the Pyramids of Egypt.<ref name=":0" /><gallery> File:20141108- DSC1449 (15893915831).jpg|Profile view of the monument File:Mausolée des Rois numides dit le Medracen -4.JPG|View from above, showing the stepped sides File:Column of Imedghassen, Boumia.jpg|One of the Doric order columns </gallery> == Threats == As ICOMOS noted in their 2006/2007 Heritage at Risk report, the mausoleum has become "the victim of major 'repair work' without respect for the value of the monument and its authenticity."<ref>[http://www.international.icomos.org/risk/world_report/2006-2007/pdf/H@R_2006-2007_04_National_Report_Algeria.pdf Algeria Mausoleum of Medracen in Danger]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.icomos.org/risk/world_report/2006-2007/pdf/H@R_2006-2007_04_National_Report_Algeria.pdf|title=Algeria Mausoleum of Medracen in Danger|date=2006–2007|website=ICOMOS|access-date=8 August 2016}}</ref>
==See also== {{Commons category}} * List of cultural assets of Algeria
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Gabriel Camps, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/crai_0065-0536_1973_num_117_3_12921 Nouvelles observations sur l'architecture et l'âge du Medracen, mausolée royal de Numidie], ''CRAI'', 1973, 117–3, pp. 470–517. * Yvon Thébert & Filippo Coarelli, [http://www.persee.fr/showPage.do?urn=mefr_0223-5102_1988_num_100_2_1607 Architecture funéraire et pouvoir : réflexions sur l'hellénisme numide], ''MEFRA'', Année 1988 * Serge Lancel, ''L'Algérie antique'', édition Mengès, Paris 2003. * {{cite book |last1=Balhi |first1=Mohamed |title=Pyramides d'Algérie: Imedghassen – Tombeau royal maurétanien – Djedars |last2=Ouadahi |first2=Nacer |date=2017 |publisher=ANEP |isbn=978-9961-768-70-9 |language=fr |trans-title=Pyramids of Algeria: Imedghassen – Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania – Djedars}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.manar-al-athar.ox.ac.uk/pages/search.php?search=%21collection3243 Images of Medracen] in Manar al-Athar digital heritage photo archive
{{Authority control}} Category:History of Batna (city) Category:Mausoleums in Algeria Category:Kingdom of Numidia Category:Buildings and structures in Batna Province Category:Berber architecture