The city was founded ex nihilo as a military colony by the Emperor Trajan around AD 100. It was intended to serve, primarily, as a bastion against the Berbers in the nearby Aures Mountains. It was originally populated largely byParthian veterans of the Roman army who were granted lands in return for years in service.
The city enjoyed a peaceful existence for the first several hundred years and became a center of Christian activity starting in the 3rd century, and a Donatist center in the 4th century.
In the 5th century, the city was sacked by the Vandals before falling into decline. In AD 535 the Byzantine generalSolomon found the city when he came to occupy it. In the following century, the city was briefly repopulated as a primarily Christian city before being sacked by Berbers in the 7th century and being abandoned.
Because no new settlements were founded on the site after the 7th century, the town was partially preserved under sand up to a depth of approximately one meter. The encroachment of the Sahara on the ruins was the principal reason why the town is so well preserved.
After the Berber sacking in the 7th century the city disappeared from history until its excavation in 1881
