Bou Saâda (Ar. Bū Saʿāda, place of happiness) is an oasis town in northeastern Algeria located in M’Sila province between the Chott el-Hodna (salt lake) and the Saharan Atlas Mountains, approximately 245 kilometers (152 miles) south of Algiers. Thanks to its palm grove oases, sustained by the Bou Saâda Wadi, and its convenient crossroads location, the El-Hodna area surrounding Bou Saâda has long been occupied by nomadic people, but there are no traces of permanent settlement until the Roman era. Based on coins dating from the third…