Sicca Veneria

SICCA VENERIA(Σίκκαor Σίκα Οὐενερία, Ptol. 4.3.30, 8.2.9), a considerable town of Numidia on the river Bagradas, and on the road from Carthago to Hippo Regius, and from Musti to Cirta, ( Itin. Ant. pp. 41, 45.) It was built on a hill, and, according to Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.3. s. 2), was a Roman colony, We learn from Valerius Maximus (Val. Max. 2.6.15) that it derived its surname from a temple of Venus which existed there, in which, agreeably to a Phoenician custom, the maidens of the town, including even those of good family, publicly prostituted themselves, in order to collect a marriage portion; a circumstance which shows that the town was originally a Phoenician settlement, devoted to the worship of Astarte. (Comp. Sal. Jug. 56; Plb. 1.66, 67.) Shaw ( Travels, p. 87) takes it to be the modern Keff, where a statue of Venus has been found, and an inscription, with the words Ordo Siccensium. (Comp. Donati, Suppl. Thes. Murat. ii. pp. 266. 6; Orelli, Inscr. no. 3733.)
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