Read Online The Sahara by Eamonn Gearon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Eamonn Gearon
Tags: History, Travel, Literature, Art, Sahara, Desert, North Africa, Colonialism, Culture, Tunisia, Berber, Tuareg
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of Romanization itself did not begin in earnest until Octavian-who in 27 BCE was styled Augustus, Rome’s first emperor became the undisputed master of Roman Africa in 36 BCE, eight years after the murder of his great-uncle and adoptive father, Julius Caesar. In 30 BCE Octavian also began to rule Egypt, after the defeat and suicide of his fellow triumvir, Antony and Antony’s paramour Cleopatra. The event is recorded with understatement in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti (the Deeds of the God Augustus), where it is written: “I added Egypt to the empire of the Roman people.”
That relative peace prevailed is clear from the small number of Roman soldiers stationed along the desert’s borders. With various client rulers in place, as well as soldiers turned farmers, Rome was able to maintain order for much of this period with about 5000 troops. This is not to say that the Romans were not alive to potential threats from the Sahara proper. There are many ostraka or potsherds, shards of pottery that record the comings and goings of local tribes, including details such as the tribe’s name, the numbers moving, their direction, what livestock they were leading, and a note of any goods being transported.
The Romans also made a number of trips deep into the Sahara which do not appear to have been military but more aimed at exploration and developing friendly relations with desert allies. One of these, led by Septimius Flaccus at the end of the first century CE, took four months and the Romans are believed to have reached the Tibesti Mountains. Another expedition, under Julius Maternus, travelled to Agisymba, the place where rhinoceroses gather. While Agisymba has not been definitively identified, Ptolemy’s description of high mountains, the journey from the Fezzan and the preponderance of large animals suggests it was in the Lake Chad area.
Rome never tried to conquer the desert tribes, nor were attempts made to garrison the oases of the desert interior. In spite of this, Rome’s presence was felt throughout the desert, from Egypt and the Sudan to West Africa and south of the Atlas Mountains. Trade links between Rome and inhabitants of the desert remained numerous and diverse. One major indication of just how widespread they were was the circulation of Roman coins throughout Saharan Africa, which could still be found in the towns of the north-central Sahara as recently as 1900. It is also believed that the most commonly used word for money in much of North Africa, filoos, derives from the Latin word follis, a common, low denomination bronze Roman coin.
The Garamantes
Although settling in their central-Libyan homeland around 1500 BCE, it is only with Herodotus that our written record of the Garamantes begins, when he writes: “Further inland toward the South, in the part of Libya where wild beasts are found, live the Garamantes, who avoid all intercourse with men, possess no weapons of war, and do not know how to defend themselves.” Like the Phoenicians, we do not know what the Garamantes called themselves, so we must rely on their Greek name, which the Romans, and subsequently everyone else, adopted.
We are, however, better able to piece together an understanding of the Garamantes than any number of their neighbours during this time. One of the glories of the Sahara is its rock art, and this provides us with substantial detail about Garamantean culture, and an idea of how far it spread in the central Sahara. Recent archaeological digs have also increased our knowledge, and surprised everyone with how much more substantial and numerous Garamantean towns were than previously thought.
Unlike other Saharan cultures, the Garamantes only moved into the Fezzan, from the Mediterranean basin, after the process of desertification had taken hold. Once there, they developed an innovative hydrological system that allowed them to farm in the Sahara for centuries. As a result, the Garamantes ruled over virtually the entire Fezzan
That relative peace prevailed is clear from the small number of Roman soldiers stationed along the desert’s borders. With various client rulers in place, as well as soldiers turned farmers, Rome was able to maintain order for much of this period with about 5000 troops. This is not to say that the Romans were not alive to potential threats from the Sahara proper. There are many ostraka or potsherds, shards of pottery that record the comings and goings of local tribes, including details such as the tribe’s name, the numbers moving, their direction, what livestock they were leading, and a note of any goods being transported.
The Romans also made a number of trips deep into the Sahara which do not appear to have been military but more aimed at exploration and developing friendly relations with desert allies. One of these, led by Septimius Flaccus at the end of the first century CE, took four months and the Romans are believed to have reached the Tibesti Mountains. Another expedition, under Julius Maternus, travelled to Agisymba, the place where rhinoceroses gather. While Agisymba has not been definitively identified, Ptolemy’s description of high mountains, the journey from the Fezzan and the preponderance of large animals suggests it was in the Lake Chad area.
Rome never tried to conquer the desert tribes, nor were attempts made to garrison the oases of the desert interior. In spite of this, Rome’s presence was felt throughout the desert, from Egypt and the Sudan to West Africa and south of the Atlas Mountains. Trade links between Rome and inhabitants of the desert remained numerous and diverse. One major indication of just how widespread they were was the circulation of Roman coins throughout Saharan Africa, which could still be found in the towns of the north-central Sahara as recently as 1900. It is also believed that the most commonly used word for money in much of North Africa, filoos, derives from the Latin word follis, a common, low denomination bronze Roman coin.
The Garamantes
Although settling in their central-Libyan homeland around 1500 BCE, it is only with Herodotus that our written record of the Garamantes begins, when he writes: “Further inland toward the South, in the part of Libya where wild beasts are found, live the Garamantes, who avoid all intercourse with men, possess no weapons of war, and do not know how to defend themselves.” Like the Phoenicians, we do not know what the Garamantes called themselves, so we must rely on their Greek name, which the Romans, and subsequently everyone else, adopted.
We are, however, better able to piece together an understanding of the Garamantes than any number of their neighbours during this time. One of the glories of the Sahara is its rock art, and this provides us with substantial detail about Garamantean culture, and an idea of how far it spread in the central Sahara. Recent archaeological digs have also increased our knowledge, and surprised everyone with how much more substantial and numerous Garamantean towns were than previously thought.
Unlike other Saharan cultures, the Garamantes only moved into the Fezzan, from the Mediterranean basin, after the process of desertification had taken hold. Once there, they developed an innovative hydrological system that allowed them to farm in the Sahara for centuries. As a result, the Garamantes ruled over virtually the entire Fezzan
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