unders� (conditores) (Septimius Severus and Caracalla, whose Latin title was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus); the granting of a new legal status to Dougga was equated to the foundation of a new city.
The significance of the term Liberum is not immediately clear. The term appears in the titles of a certain number of other municipal also founded at the same time: Thibursicum Bure, Aulodes and Thysdrus. Several interpretations of its meaning have been suggested � . According to Alfred Merlin and Louis Poinssot, the term derives from the name of the god Liber, in whose honor a temple was erected at Dougga. The epithet Liberum would thus follow the same pattern as Frugifer and Concordia, which appear in the title of Thibursicum Bure. Thibursicum Bure is however an exception to the rule; the titles of the other municipal including the termLiberum do not include the names of any divinities, and this hypothesis has therefore been abandoned. Liberum is thus a reference tolibertas (liberty). This interpretation is confirmed by an inscription found at Dougga that honours Alexander Severus as the conservator libertatis (the preserver of liberty).
It is however also unclear exactly what form this liberty took. Jules Toutain is of the opinion that this is a designation for a particular type of municipium - free cities where the Roman governor did not have the right to control the municipal magistrates. There is however no evidence that Dougga enjoyed exceptional legal privileges of the type associated with certain free cities such as Aphrodisias in Asia Minor. Paul Veyne has thus suggested that Dougga�s libertas is nothing but an expression of the concept of liberty without any legal meaning; obtaining the status of a municipium had freed the city of its subjugation and enabled it to adorn itself with the ornamenta libertatis. The city�s liberty was celebrated just as its dignity was extolled; Emperor Probus is conservator libertatis et dignitatis (the preserver of
