TIMGAD vs PIKILLACTA

          The remains of a Roman city were discovered buried in the sands of Northern Algeria in 1881. The city known as Timgad was found just as it had been left 2,000 years ago. Numerous Roman structures were built to demonstrate the power and prosperity of the Empire at that time.

Stored rainwater and irrigated water was brought here. Along the walls of this open area are bench-like chairs. Each seat has a round hole. This in fact is a public lavatory. Rainwater flowed through the channel below and flushed the human waste away. The water and sewage systems are especially remarkable.

A notable feature of Timgad is that all the houses are the same size. Why was the town designed in a grid system? Dividing land equally among Romans and Africans and promoting equality would appeal to all citizens of the city. Timgad was the embodiment of Roman power but it also existed for another hidden political purpose. When Timgad was built, it was declared that only Roman citizens would be allowed to live there. Roman citizenship was granted to “any man completing 25 years of military service and his son”. People wanting to benefit from comfortable living conditions and for the sake of their children willingly joined the army. Timgad was a city built for soldiers who gained citizenship by fighting for Rome. The reward for enduring a harsh military life was the prospect of leading an elegant life in Timgad.

The Peruvian site of Pikillacta is an enormous set of ruins belonging to the Wari Empire. The site is located in the Lucre Basin of Peru at the east end of the valley of Cuzco, some thirty kilometers from the capital city of Cuzco.The word Pikillacta means "flea city" in Quechua; its original name is unknown (as mentioned by the author). The site covers an area of nearly 2 square kilometers, including an enormous rectangular enclosure with hundreds of separate rooms, some small and plain, some large enclosures and compounds, some richly decorated. Some of the rooms contained human remains, and based on that, Pikillacta is thought to represent a ritual facility for the practice of ancestor worship.One of the most interesting aspects of Pikillacta (and there are numerous) is the hydraulic works that connect the water resources of the site to terraces and cultivable fields in the Lucre Basin, including canals, reservoirs, causeways, and aqueducts. This complex set of features allowed intensive agriculture of maize,potatoes and other crops.The purpose of Pikillacta was pretty clearly not residential--in fact, it appears to have been used only sporadically. Excavator Gordon McEwan believes the primary function of the site was administrative. Pikillacta, says McEwan, was a device used by the Wari Empire to control its subjects by controlling the location and context of the Wari religious ceremonies. In my opinion the site as a whole was built to serve in an administrative capacity. No remains that would suggest storage in the compartmentalized structures exist. In the case of Pikillacta, the style of Wari architecture was simply used as a statement of administrative power, and occupied by an elite population. Though the imposing grided formation of structures is aesthetically obtrusive, the layout was, as was the placement of the city in the region itself, strategic and followed a plan.

The difference is that Timgad was structually built to house soldiers and to be “residential”. Pikillacta is built in a more “transparent” way. It was built to serve as an administrative center for the Wari Empire. The similarities on the other hand consist in that both these cities where colonial and they represented the power of each empire. 

Timgad as seen from above

Pikillacta. One can see the clear non-organic path surrounded by high walls.