Djemila e Timgad, order and nature

These two small towns of Algeria, abandoned for centuries, have been continuously at the center of numerous reflections by historians, archaeologists and architects. The reason for this interest is given by several factors related to the age of their foundation, to the comparable dimensions, to the relative proximity and to their apparently opposed settlement principle. Two cities that have had a common origin and history, rediscovered a few years later and brought to light at the same time by scholars who have worked on both sites. Timgad and Djemila are still two paradigmatic styles of urban construction, in which the same idea of city, built in two different places, gave origin to two ways of interpreting the shape of the ground. In the city of Timgad one principle is applied, showing the strength and certainty of the rule, while in Djemila, even if the principles and rules of the Roman city are maintained, the intelligence of the ability to adapt to the specific condition of the ground form is shown