Gemellae was a Roman fort and associated camp on the fringe of the Sahara Desert in what is today part of Algeria. It is now an archaeological site, 25 km south and 19 km west of Biskra, and 5 km southwest of the present-day village of M'Lili with which it probably shares an original Berber name. It was connected by military Roman road to Castellum Dimmidi and Capsa. History Apparently there was a fortification at Gemellae prior to the coming of the Romans. Pliny the Elder recounts that when Lucius Cornelius Balbus celebrated his victory over the Garamantes of the Sahara in 19 BC, one of the conquests feted in the parade through Rome was that of Milgis Gemmella, described as an oppidum (usually meaning fortified settlement). The Romans seem to have then occupied the site and made it one of the southernmost outposts, marking the limes or boundary of the Roman Empire. The earliest epigraph retrieved from the site is an inscription for a statue of Emperor Hadrian, in about the year 126 AD, by a cohors equitata (equestrian regiment) originating from Chalcis in Syria. The presence of this army unit in Africa is attested by inscriptions elsewhere dating from as early as 78 AD and as late as 164 AD. A second very large dedication to Hadrian, which faced the central courtyard, dates from 132 AD. The name of the Legion to which the regiment belonged was hammered off, presumably because of the withdrawal of their legion for disciplinary reasons, then re-inscribed, presumably following the return of the regiment in 253 AD. Also present in the sacellum were statues of Antoninus Pius, Pertinax and Gordian, the latter two with inscriptions indicating the presence of the Ala I Pannoniorum (a cavalry unit raised by the Emperor Gordian). Altars to the Dii Campestres (army gods) were dedicated by Marcus Celerius Augendus, prefect of the Pannonians, and by Titus Aurelius Aurelianus, prefect of another cavalry unit from Thrace. It is likely that the Pannonians were substitutes for the Legio III Augusta regiment until its reinstatement in 253 AD. The hypothesis is that the inscription of 126 AD, for a small-sized statue, represents the establishment of a 'provisional' camp, and that the inscription of 132 marks the completion of the greater fort. The establishment of the fort and surrounding settlement is probably linked to the construction of the Fossatum Africae. Gemellae is