Roman and Christian Era

The territory of Carthage became the Roman province of Africa, administered from Utica. The province was enlarged when Julius Caesar defeated the Numidians at the seaport of Thapsus in 46 B.C. and annexed their country. Carthage was rebuilt and colonized with Romans, and it became again the capital. Carthage was an early center of the Christian faith. Tunisia produced two fathers of the church—Tertullian and Saint Augustine—as well as Saints Perpetua, Felicitas, and Cyprian.

The Vandals, Germanic barbarians who were Arian Christians, conquered Tunisia in 431–39. During the next century the old ways of life were disrupted by constant attacks of nomadic Berbers and persecution by the Vandals of Catholic Christians. In 533 the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) forces of Emperor Justinian the Great defeated the Vandals. The Byzantines ruled for about 150 years, but controlled only the coastal areas.