Read Online The Sahara by Eamonn Gearon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Eamonn Gearon
Tags: History, Travel, Literature, Art, Sahara, Desert, North Africa, Colonialism, Culture, Tunisia, Berber, Tuareg
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was greeted by the priests of the Temple as the new, rightful Pharaoh of Egypt. Satisfied, Alexander henceforth insisted on being referred to by this new title, Zeus-Ammon. Coins from the period depict Alexander as Zeus, complete with ram’s horns signifying his divinity. After Alexander’s visit, the Oracle of Ammon enjoyed an even more elevated status across the ancient world, with a notable increase in supplicants travelling there in the hope of a consultation with the Oracle.
After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, Ptolemy, a life-long friend and trusted general, seized power in Egypt, taking the title of Pharaoh and establishing the Ptolemaic Dynasty that was to last for the next three hundred years. Ptolemy, whose name is the Greek for “aggressive” or “warlike”, crowned himself Ptolemy I Soter, or Ptolemy the Saviour. His male heirs all took the same name, while females in the dynastic line were named either Cleopatra, “father’s glory”, or Berenice, “bearer of victory”.
Not content to control the desert lands they inherited, the Ptolemies were soon extending their control west into Libya and south into the Sudan. While any Egyptian Empire was tied to the Nile, Ptolemy recognized that the oases, too, were of great importance. Strung out through the desert along the trans-Saharan trade routes, not only were they a source of taxation, but they were also useful bases from which to launch raids. As a result, a sizeable garrison was stationed at the oasis of Bahariya and a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great, which was only uncovered in the 1930s, was built.
The elevated status of the Saharan Oracle did not survive the Ptolemies. Almost exactly three hundred years after Alexander’s visit to Siwa, Strabo wrote the following about Oracles in Book XVII of his Geography : “In ancient times [they were] held in greater esteem than at present. Now they are generally neglected for the Romans are satisfied with the oracles of Sibyl. .. Hence the oracle of Ammon, which was formerly held in great esteem, is now nearly deserted.” This decline in part resulted in a concurrent dropping off in attention paid to the inhabitants of the oases by their ostensible rulers in Memphis.
The Romans
The razing of Carthage in 146 BCE marked not only the end of the third Punic War but also the end of Carthaginian civilization itself As Polybius wrote in his Histories , “Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for his enemies... realizing that all cities, nations, and authorities must, like men, meet their doom.”
At that time Rome was not interested in establishing colonies in North Africa. Nevertheless it ended up ruling the region, which it seems almost to have acquired by accident, for five centuries. For its first one hundred years in North Africa, Rome did little more than appoint a senator to the region and collect tribute, both done annually. Eventually, belying these humble beginnings, Rome’s North African provinces, including Egypt, would be the breadbasket of the empire and consequently the most important of all Roman possessions. Much changed from when Horace described Roman Africa as Leonum arida nutrix or dry nurse of lions.
First occupying the Tripolitanian ports that were the hubs of trans Saharan trade - Sabratha, Oea (Tripoli) and Leptis Magna - Rome took a share of the profits made from any goods that emerged from the desert. Later, after Julius Caesar landed in North Africa to destroy his rival in
Rome’s civil war, Pompey, and his Numidian allies, Rome pursued more permanent territorial gains. The old kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania, eastern Morocco and the bulk of Algeria were annexed to become the re-titled Roman province of Africa Nova, thereby distinguishing it from Africa Vetus, or Old Africa, which covered north-eastern Algeria and northern Tunisia.
The process
After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, Ptolemy, a life-long friend and trusted general, seized power in Egypt, taking the title of Pharaoh and establishing the Ptolemaic Dynasty that was to last for the next three hundred years. Ptolemy, whose name is the Greek for “aggressive” or “warlike”, crowned himself Ptolemy I Soter, or Ptolemy the Saviour. His male heirs all took the same name, while females in the dynastic line were named either Cleopatra, “father’s glory”, or Berenice, “bearer of victory”.
Not content to control the desert lands they inherited, the Ptolemies were soon extending their control west into Libya and south into the Sudan. While any Egyptian Empire was tied to the Nile, Ptolemy recognized that the oases, too, were of great importance. Strung out through the desert along the trans-Saharan trade routes, not only were they a source of taxation, but they were also useful bases from which to launch raids. As a result, a sizeable garrison was stationed at the oasis of Bahariya and a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great, which was only uncovered in the 1930s, was built.
The elevated status of the Saharan Oracle did not survive the Ptolemies. Almost exactly three hundred years after Alexander’s visit to Siwa, Strabo wrote the following about Oracles in Book XVII of his Geography : “In ancient times [they were] held in greater esteem than at present. Now they are generally neglected for the Romans are satisfied with the oracles of Sibyl. .. Hence the oracle of Ammon, which was formerly held in great esteem, is now nearly deserted.” This decline in part resulted in a concurrent dropping off in attention paid to the inhabitants of the oases by their ostensible rulers in Memphis.
The Romans
The razing of Carthage in 146 BCE marked not only the end of the third Punic War but also the end of Carthaginian civilization itself As Polybius wrote in his Histories , “Scipio, when he looked upon the city as it was utterly perishing and in the last throes of its complete destruction, is said to have shed tears and wept openly for his enemies... realizing that all cities, nations, and authorities must, like men, meet their doom.”
At that time Rome was not interested in establishing colonies in North Africa. Nevertheless it ended up ruling the region, which it seems almost to have acquired by accident, for five centuries. For its first one hundred years in North Africa, Rome did little more than appoint a senator to the region and collect tribute, both done annually. Eventually, belying these humble beginnings, Rome’s North African provinces, including Egypt, would be the breadbasket of the empire and consequently the most important of all Roman possessions. Much changed from when Horace described Roman Africa as Leonum arida nutrix or dry nurse of lions.
First occupying the Tripolitanian ports that were the hubs of trans Saharan trade - Sabratha, Oea (Tripoli) and Leptis Magna - Rome took a share of the profits made from any goods that emerged from the desert. Later, after Julius Caesar landed in North Africa to destroy his rival in
Rome’s civil war, Pompey, and his Numidian allies, Rome pursued more permanent territorial gains. The old kingdoms of Numidia and Mauretania, eastern Morocco and the bulk of Algeria were annexed to become the re-titled Roman province of Africa Nova, thereby distinguishing it from Africa Vetus, or Old Africa, which covered north-eastern Algeria and northern Tunisia.
The process
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