Cirta
(
Κίρτα), later
Constantīna. Now Constantine; a city of the Massylii in Numidia, fifty Roman
miles from the sea; the capital of Syphax, and of Masinissa and his successors. Its position
on a height, surrounded by the river Ampsagas, made it almost impregnable, as the Romans found
in the Jugurthine, and the French in the Algerian wars. It was restored by Constantine the
Great, in honour of whom it received its later name. A Roman bridge and the remains of a Roman
aqueduct still interest the archæologist, and in 1858 a fine statuette of a Wingless
Victory was discovered here.