HADRUMETUM, a town of ancient Africa on the southern extremity of the sinus Neapolitanus (mod. Gulf of Hammamet) on the east coast of Tunisia. The site is partly occupied by the modern town of Susa (q.v.) . The form of the name Hadrumetum varied much in antiquity; the Greeks called it'ABeb,uns,'ABEV,urlros, 'ABEagir-s, 'ABEaµrlros : the Romans Adrumetum, Adrimetum, Hadrumetum, Hadrymetum, etc. ; inscriptions and coins gave Hadrumetum. The town was a Phoenician colony founded by Tyrians long before Carthage (Sallust, Jug. iv). It became sub ject to Carthage, but lost none of its prosperity. Often mentioned during the Punic Wars, it was captured by Agathocles in 31o, and was the refuge of Hannibal and the remnants of his army after the battle of Zama in 202. During the last Punic War it gave assistance to the Romans; after the fall of Carthage in 146 it received an accession of territory and the title of civitas libera (Appian, Punica, xciv.; C.I.L. i. p. 84). Caesar landed there in 46 B.C. on his way to the victory of Thapsus (De bello A f ric. iii.; Suetonius, Div. Jul. lix.).
In the organization of the African provinces Hadrumetum became a capital of the province of Byzacena. It was a busy port and the centre of a fertile country. Trajan made it a Latin colony under the title of Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugi f era Hadrumetina; a dedication to the emperor Gordian the Good, found at Susa gives these titles to the town, and at the same time identifies it with Susa. Quarrels arose between Ha drumetum and its neighbour Thysdrus in connection with the temple of Minerva situated on the borders of their respective territories (Frontinus, Gromatici, ed. Lachmannus, p. 57) ; Ves pasian when pro-consul of Africa had to repress a sedition among its inhabitants (Suetonius, Vesp. iv.; Tissot, Fastes de la prov. d'Afrique, p. 66) ; it was the birthplace of the emperor Albinus. At this period Hadrumetum was after Carthage, the most im portant town in Roman Africa. Its bishops are mentioned at the councils of 258, 393 and even later. Destroyed by the Vandals in 434 it was rebuilt by Justinian and renamed Jus tinianopolis (Procop. De aedif. vi. 6). After the Arabic invasion of the 7th century the place became the haunt of pirates. The Arabic geographer Bakri gave a description of the chief Roman buildings which were standing in his time (Bakri, Descr. de l'Afrique, tr. by de Slane, p. 83 et seq.) . The modern town of Susa, despite its commercial prosperity, occupies only a third of the old site.
There remains a fragment of the fortifications of the Punic town and of the substructions of the Byzantine acropolis, the circus, the theatre, the water cisterns and of other buildings, notably an interesting Byzantine basilica. In the ruins have been found numerous columns of Punic inscriptions, Roman inscrip tions and mosaic, among which is one representing Virgil. In the large Christian catacombs are numerous sarcophagi and inscrip tions painted or engraved of the Roman and Byzantine periods. There are also Punic and Pagan-Roman cemeteries. The town had no Punic coins, but under the Roman domination there were coins from the time of the Republic. These are of bronze and bear the name of the city in abbreviations, HADR or HADRVM ac companying the head of Neptune or the Sun. We find also the names of local duumvirs. Under Augustus the coins have on the obverse the imperial effigy, and on the reverse the names and often the effigies of the pro-consuls. After Augustus the mint was closed.