Or Hippo; Ancient city and port in N Africa, close to the modern Algerian port of Annaba. A Phoenician colony is known to have existed on the site before the end of the 4th century BC, and under Carthaginian rule Hippo was second only to Carthage itself in prosperity. It later became the capital of the Numidian kings. The city was a flourishing colony under the Roman empire, and became an early center of Christianity from the 3rd century AD.
St Augustine was bishop of Hippo from 395 until the city was sacked by the Vandals in 430.