Sidi El Hani (or Sidi Al-Hani) (سيدي الهاني) is a town and commune in the Sousse Governorate, Tunisia located at 35.67n, 10.30e. As of 2004 it had a population of 3,058. It gives its name to the largest lake of the governorate, a natural salt lake or salt pan (sabkha) in dry seasons, the Sebkhet de Sidi El Hani which is shared with between one and two other areas depending on precipitation and its maximum extent forms the official boundary with part of a third, Monastir Governorate. The town is 30 km south-west of the coast, its straightest connection being by Tunisian Railways, with a secondary connection by road, the P12 road which is a principal road to Kairouan from the A1 a few kilometres to the east. Recensement de 2004 (Institut national de la statistique) it is 19 km from KairouanJean Baptiste Bourguignon d' Anville, Compendium of Ancient Geography, Volume 2 (R. Faulder, 1791) p834. and 26 km from Raqqada.
History During the Roman Empire Sidi El Hani was a Roman town of the Province of Africa Proconsularae. Vicus Augusti at Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.Hitchner, R. ,Places: 315259 (Vicus Augusti?). The remains a large amphitheater are still seen.Frank Sear, Roman Theatres: An Architectural Study(OUP Oxford, 2006) p290. VICUS AUGUSTI, Sidi el-Hani (Africa Proconsularis). The town was known as Quartz AugustBarrington Atlas, 2000, pl. 33 F1. (Street of Augustus) or vicus Augustii (the Village of Augustus) and was active from 30 BC to AD 640. Quartz August Tunisia (Africa) .
In Late Antiquity Sidi El Hani was the seat of a Christian Bishopric, and remains a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church.Apostolische Nachfolge – Titularsitze.entry at gcatholic.org.entry at catholic-hierarchy.org
See also List of cities in Tunisia Kroussia Sahali VICUS LAURENTIUM AUGUSTANORUM archaeology report.
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