Castellum Ripae

During the Roman Empire Hadjar-Ouaghef was known as Castellum Ripae. It appears to have been a civitas in of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. Castellum Ripae has been identified with a set of ruins near Hadjar-Ouaghef.

Ancient Castellum Ripae was also the seat of a Christian bishopric during late antiquity.^[4][5] The only known bishop of this diocese is Cerealis, who took part in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by the Vandal King Huneric, after which Cerealis was exiled.^[6]

Although the see ceased to effectively function with the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, today the bishopric (Latin: Dioecesis Castelloripensis) survives as a titular bishopric of the Roman Catholic Church,^[7] and the current bishop is Jose Pandarassery, of Kottayam.^[8]

At the beginning of French colonialism a fort was established here and it became a de facto entry into the Tafna Valley.^[9]