Zaraï is a titular see of Numidia

Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...

 in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, mentioned by the "Itinerarium Antonini", 35, and by the "Tabula Peutingerii". Ptolemy calls it Zaratha, and wrongly places it in Mauretania Caesariensis

Mauretania Caesariensis

Mauretania Caesariensis was a Roman province located in northwestern Africa. It was the easternmost of the North African Roman provinces, mainly in present Algeria, with its capital at Caesarea , now Cherchell.-Historical background:In the first century AD, Roman...

.

It is probably the Zaratha of Apuleius

Apuleius

Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...

. These two forms and the term "Zaraitani" found in an inscription seem to indicate that the name Zaraï which appears on another inscription must have lost a final dental letter.

The ruins of Zaraï, called Henshir Zaria, to the south-east of Setif

Sétif

Sétif |Colonia]]) is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the capital of Sétif Province and it has a population of 239,195 inhabitants as of the 1998 census. Setif is located to the east of Algiers and is the second most important Wilaya after the country's capital. It is 1,096 meters above sea...

 in Algeria, crown an eminence which commands all the country on the left bank of the Oued Taourlatent, which the Arabs in the Middle Ages called Oued Zaraoua; remains in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 called Oued Zaraoua; remains of a Byzantine citadel and of two Christian basilicas are yet visible.

Two bishops of Zaraï are known: Cresconius, present at the Conference of Carthage (411), where he had as a rival the Donatist

Donatist

Donatism was a Christian sect within the Roman province of Africa that flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries. It had its roots in the social pressures among the long-established Christian community of Roman North Africa , during the persecutions of Christians under Diocletian...

 Rogatus; and Adeodatus

Adeodatus

Adeodatus may refer to:*Pope Adeodatus I , pope from 614-618*Pope Adeodatus II , pope from 672-676*Deodatus of Nevers *The illegitimate son of Augustine of Hippo...

, exiled by Huneric

Huneric

Huneric or Honeric was King of the Vandals and the oldest son of Genseric. He dropped the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was married to Eudocia, daughter of western Roman Emperor Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. She left him, probably in 472...

 after the Conference of Carthage (484), and who died in exile.