History of Roman-era Tunisia

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History of Tunisia
Partie de la coste de Barbarie en Africque où sont les royaumes de Tunis et de Tripoli et pays circonvoisins - par le Sr Sanson d'Abbeville
Prehistoric
Prehistory
Ancient
Carthage12th C.–146 BC
1st Roman (Province)146 BC–435
Vandal435–534
2nd Roman (Byzantine) / Byzantine North Africa534–698
Prefecture534–590
Exarchate590–698
Early Islamic
Umayyad698–750
Abbasid750–800
Aghlabid800–909
Fatimid909–973
Medieval
Zirid973–1148
Norman1148–1160
Almohad1160–1229
Hafsid1229–1574
Early modern
Ottoman 1574–1705
Husainid 1705–1881
Modern
French Tunisia 1881–1956
Kingdom of Tunisia 1956–1957
Bourguiba rule 1957–1987
Ben Ali coup 1987
Ben Ali rule 1987–2011
Tunisian Revolution 2011
Parliamentary system 2011–present
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Roman Province of Africa in 146 BC

Roman Tunisia initially included the early

ancient Roman province of Africa
, later renamed Africa Vetus. As the Roman empire expanded, the present Tunisia also included part of the province of Africa Nova.

The

Punic) empire was finally defeated by the Romans in the Third Punic War (149–146) and there followed a period when nearby kingdoms of Berber kings
were allied with Rome and eventually these neighbouring countries were annexed and reorganised. The city of Carthage was rebuilt, eventually becoming the capital of the province and the 3rd city of the Empire.

A long period of prosperity ensued based on rich agricultural exports, leading to a cosmopolitan culture.

Christianity became important in the province and provided Roman Catholicism with three Popes, as well as Augustine of Hippo.

The Vandals invaded Tunisia in 439 with the help of the Maurii (Libyans of Northwest Africa) and reigned over the province for nearly a century. Several Berber revolts occurred and some established self-rule at the periphery.

The Byzantine Empire eventually recaptured the area from the Vandals in 534, which endured until the Islamic conquest in 705.

Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between 218 BC and 117 AD

Roman Province of Africa

Main article: Africa (Roman province)
Roman cities of Tunisia

Following the

defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War (149–146), the Roman Republic destroyed the city and occupied the region with its rich and developed agricultural lands. At first the old city Utica
, north of ruined Carthage, served as provincial capital.

The Roman

Berber people.[1]
The subsequent Arabic name for the region Ifriqiya evidently derives from the Roman province of Africa.

Adjacent lands to the west were allocated to their Berber allies, who continued to enjoy recognition as independent Berber kingdoms.[2]

Roman Africa expanded to encompass modern Tunisia and all of northern modern Africa.[3]

City of Carthage

Main article: Carthage

The rebuilding of the city of Carthage from the ashes began under

Africa Proconsularis from 27 BC and was home to a Roman praetor or proconsul
.

Carthage flourished during the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd centuries.[5][6]

Roman Carthage, showing major civic institutions.

The province became known for fine

Medjerda) river valley, north and northwest of Carthage.[8] An aqueduct about 120 km in length, built by the Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138), travels from a sanctuary high up Jbel Zaghouan overland about 70 km. to ancient Carthage. It was repaired and put into use during the 13th century, and again in modern times.[9][10]

Carthage, and other cities in Roman Africa, contain the ruins or the remains of large structures dedicated to popular spectacles. The urban games performed there included the infamous blood sports, with

gladiators who fought wild beasts or each other for the whim of the crowd. The Telegenii was one of the gladiator associations of the region. Although often of humble origins, a handsome, surviving gladiator might be "considered someone worthy of adulation by the young ladies of the audience."[11]

Another city entertainment was the theater. The renowned

mimes were popular. Much more costly and less vulgar were productions featuring pantomimes.[12] The African writer Apuleius (c. 125 – c. 185) describes attending such a performance which he found impressive and delightful. An ancient epitaph
here celebrates Vincentius, a popular pantomime (quoted in part):

He lives forever in the thoughts of the people... just, good and in his every relationship with each person irreproachable and sure. There was never a day when, during his dancing of the famous pieces, the whole theater was not captivated enough to reach the stars."[13]

Peace and prosperity came to Carthage and Africa Province. Eventually Roman security forces began to be drawn from the local population. Here the Romans governed well enough that the Province became integrated into the economy and culture of the Empire, attracting immigrants. Its cosmopolitan, Latinizing, and diverse population enjoyed a reputation for its high standard of living. Carthage emerged near the top of major Imperial cities, behind only Alexandria and Rome.[6][14]

Agriculture

Rome occupied the lands of Carthage after its fall (146 BC) not to develop the harvest and benefit themselves, than to keep others off.

vineyards, and farms, had "fled into the hinterland".[16]

Public lands (ager publicus) passed to Rome by right of conquest, and many privately-held lands also, those ruined or abandoned, or that had unpaid taxes. Some land good for agriculture, which had been used up to then only seasonally by Berber pastoralists, were also taken and distributed for planting. Accordingly many nomads (and small farmers, too) "were reduced to abject poverty or driven into the steppes and desert." Tacfarinas led a sustained Berber insurgency (17–24) against Rome; yet these rural tribal forces eventually met defeat. Thereafter the expansion of farming operations over the provincial lands did produce a higher yield. Yet Rome "never succeeded in keeping the nomads of the south and west permanently in check."[17][18]

Great estates were formed by investors or the politically favored, or by emperors out of confiscated lands. Called

latifundia, their farming operations were leased out to coloni often from Italia, who settled around the owner's 'main house'--thus forming a small agrarian town. The land was divided into "squares measuring 710 meters across". Many small farms were thus held by incoming Roman citizens or army veterans (the pagi), as well as by the prior owners, Punic and Berber. The quality and extent of large villas with comfort amenities, and other farm housing, found throughout Africa Province dating to this era, evince the wealth generated by agriculture. Working the land for its fruits was very rewarding.[19][20]

Rich agricultural lands led the province to great prosperity.

St. Augustine (354–430) wrote that in Africa lamps fueled by olive oil burned well throughout the night, throwing light over the neighborhoods.[22][23][24]

Evidence, from artifacts and the often large mosaics of great villas, indicates that one favorite sport of the agrarian elite was the hunt. Depicted are well-dressed sportsmen (in embroidered riding tunics with striped sleeves). Mounted on horseback they go cross-country in pursuit of illustrated game—here perhaps a jackal. Various wild birds are also shown as desired prey, to be gotten with traps. On the floor of a patio, a greyhound appears to be chasing a hare across the surface of its mosaic.[25]

Commerce and trade

Mosaic of a Roman Trireme, likely from Africa Province.

terra-cotta plaques showing biblical scenes were designed and made for the churches. Much of this industry was located in central Tunisia, e.g., in and around Thysdrus (modern El Djem), a drier area with less fertile agricultural lands, but ample in rich clay deposits.[27][28][29]

The export of large amounts of wheat, and later of olive oils, and wines, required port facilities, indicated are (among others):

Thabraca (modern Tabarka).[30] Ancient associations engaged in export shipping might form navicularii, collectively responsible for the commodities yet granted state privileges. Inland trade was carried on Roman roads, built both for the Roman legions and for commercial and private use. A major road led from Carthage southwest to Theveste (modern Tébessa) in the mountains; from there a road led southeast to Tacapes (modern Gabès) on the coast. Roads also followed the coastline. Buildings were erected occasionally along such highways for the convenience of traders with goods and other travelers.[31]

Other products of Africa Province were shipped out. An ancient industry at Carthage involved cooking up a Mediterranean condiment called garum, a fish sauce made with herbs, an item of durable popularity. Rugs and wool clothing were fabricated, and leather goods. The royal purple dye, murex, first discovered and made famous by the Phoenicians, was locally produced. Marble and wood, as well as live mules, were also important export items.[32]

Local trade and commerce was conducted at mundinae (fairs) in rural centers at set days of the week, much as it is today in souks. In villages and towns macella (provision markets) were established. In cities granted a charter the market was regulated by the municipal

aediles (Roman market officials dating to the Roman Republic), who inspected the vendor's instruments for measuring and weighing. City trading was often done at the forum, or at stalls in covered areas, or at private shops.[33]

Expeditions ventured south into the Sahara. Cornelius Balbus, Roman governor then at Utica, occupied in 19 BC. Gerama, desert capital of the Garamantes in the Fezzan (now west-central Libya).[34][35] These Berber Garamantes had long-term, though unpredictable, breakable, contacts with the Mediterranean.[36][37] Although Roman trade and other contact with the Berber Fezzan continued, on and off, raid or trade, extensive commercial traffic across the Sahara, directly to the more productive and populous lands south of the harsh deserts, had not yet developed; nor would it for many centuries.[38][39]

Latin culture and the Berbers

Assimilation

Amphitheatre of Thysdrus (modern El Djem)

People from all over the Empire began to migrate into Africa Province, merchants, traders, officials, most importantly

veterans in early retirement who settled in Africa on farming plots promised for their military service. A sizable Latin speaking population developed that was multinational in background; they shared the region with those speaking Punic and Berber languages.[40] Usually the business of the empire was conducted in Latin, so that a markedly bi- or tri-lingual situation developed.[41]
Imperial security forces began to be drawn from the local population, including the Berbers. The Romans apparently sounded the right notes, which facilitated general acceptance of their rule.

"What made the Berbers accept the Roman way of life all the more readily was that the Romans, though a colonizing people who captured their lands by the might of their arms, did not display any racial exclusiveness and were remarkably tolerant of

grafted from the Carthaginians. However, the Roman territory in Africa was unevenly penetrated by Roman culture. Pockets of non-Romanized Berbers continued to exist throughout the Roman period, even in such areas as eastern Tunisia and Numidia."[42]

That the majority of the Berbers adjusted to the Roman world, of course, does not signify their full acceptance. Often the presence of cosmopolitan cultural symbols coexisted with the traditional local customs and beliefs, i.e., the Roman did not supplant the Berber, but merely augmented the prior Berber culture, often the Roman being on a more transient level of adherence.[43]

Social strata

The success of the Berber Apuleius, however, may be regarded as more an exception than the rule. Evidently many native Berbers adopted to the Mediterranean-wide influences operating in the province, eventually intermarrying, or otherwise entering the front ranks as notables. Yet the majority did not. There remained a social hierarchy consisting of the

Punic aristocracy.[44][45]

The stepped-up pace and economic demands of a

Donatist schism.[49][50]

Personalities from Roman Tunisia

The Gordian dynasty

In 238 local proprietors rose in revolt, arming their clients and agricultural tenants who entered

Persian frontier. His successor was Philip the Arab.[51][52]

Salvius Julianus

Main article: Salvius Julianus

Julian's life demonstrates the opportunities available to gifted provincials. Also it gives a view of Roman Law, whose workings crafted much of the structure holding together the various nationalities across the Empire. Apparently Julian came from a family of the Latin culture which had gradually become established in Africa Province, although his youth and early career are not recorded.

Senatus Populusque Romanus.

Roman legal history. "The task of his life consisted, in the first place, in the final consolidation of the edictal law; and, secondly, in the composition of his great Digest in ninety books."[54]

Julian served the Empire at its top echelon, on the

Africa Province.[55][56] An inscription found near his native Hadrumetum (modern Sousse, Tunisia) recounts his official life.[53]

The emperor Hadrian appointed Julian, this native of a small city in Africa province, to revise the

Roman Law. "The Edict, that masterpiece of republican jurisprudence, became stabilized. ... [T]he famous jurist Julian settled the final form of the praetorian and aedilician Edicts."[57]

Later Julian authored his Digesta in 90 books; this work generally followed the sequence of subjects found in the praetorian edict, and presented a "comprehensive collection of responsa on real and hypothetical cases".[53][58] The purpose of his Digesta was to expound the whole of Roman Law.

In the 6th century, this 2nd-century Digesta of Salvius Julianus was repeatedly excerpted, hundreds of times, by the compilers of the

Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527–265). This Pandect (also known as the Digest, part of the Corpus Juris Civilis) was a compendium of juristic experience and learning. "It has been thought that Justinian's compilers used [Julian's Digesta] as the basis of their scheme: in any case nearly 500 passages are quoted from it."[59] The Pandect, in addition to its official rôle as part of the controlling law of the eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, also became a principal source for the medieval study of Roman Law in western Europe.[60]

About Julian's personal life little is known. Apparently he became related in some way (probably through his daughter) to the family of the Roman emperor Didius Julianus, who reigned during the year 193.[61]

Julian died probably in Africa province, as its Roman governor or shortly thereafter. This was during the reign of the philosophical emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180), who described Julian in a rescript as amicus noster (Latin: "our friend"). "His fame did not lessen as time went on, for later Emperors speak of him in the most laudatory terms. ... Justinian [6th century] speaks of him as the most illustrious of the jurists."[62] "With Iulianus, the Roman jurisprudence reached its apogee."[53]

Lucius Apuleius

Main article: Apuleius

Lucius

Medjerda) river valley, in Madaura (modern M'Daourouch). In the town lived many retired Roman soldiers, often themselves natives of Africa. His father was a provincial magistrate, of the upper ordo class. When he was still young his father died, leaving a relative fortune to him and his brother.[65]

His studies began at Carthage, and continued during years spent at Athens (philosophy) and at Rome (oratory), where he evidently served as a legal advocate. Comparing learning to fine wine but with an opposite effect, Apuleius wrote, "The more you drink and the stronger the draught, the better it is for the good of your soul."[66] He also traveled to Asia Minor and Egypt. While returning to Carthage he fell seriously ill in Oea (an ancient coastal city near modern Tripoli), where he convalesced at the family home of an old student friend Pontianus. Eventually Apuleius married Prudentilla, the older, wealthy widow of the house, and mother of Pontianus. Evidently the marriage was good; Sidonius Apollinaris called Prudentilla one of those "noble women [who] held the lamp while their husbands read and meditated."[67] Yet debauched and greedy in-laws (this characterization by Apuleius) wantonly claimed he had murdered Pontianus; they did, however, prosecute Apuleius for using nefarius magic to gain his new wife's affections. At the trial in nearby Sabratha the Roman proconsul Claudius Maximus presided. Apuleius, then in his thirties, crafted a trial speech in his own defense, which in written form makes his Apology;[68] apparently he was acquitted.[69] A well-regarded modern critic characterizes his oratory, as it appears in his Apologia:

"We feel throughout the speech a keen pleasure in the display of superior sophistication and culture. We can see how he might well have dazzled the rich citizens of Oea for a while and how he would also soon arouse deep suspicions and hostilities. Particularly one feels that he is of a divided mind about the accusation of wizardry. He deals with the actual charges in tones of amused contempt, yet seems not averse from being considered one of the great magicians of the world."[70]

Apuleius and Prudentilla then moved to Carthage. There he continued his Latin writing, dealing with Greek philosophy, with oratory and rhetoric, and also fiction and poetry. Attracting a significant following, several civic statues were erected in his honor.[71] He showed brilliance speaking in public as a "popular philosopher or 'sophist', characteristic of the second century A.D., which ranked such talkers higher than poets and rewarded them greatly with esteem and cash... ." "He was novelist and 'sophist', lawyer and lecturer, poet and initiate. It is not surprising that he was accused of magic--".[72]

Sketch of Apuleius

His celebrated work of fiction is

Egyptian pantheon
.

Metamorphoses is compared by

Michael Grant suggests that "the ecstatic belief in mystery religions [here, Isis] marked, in some sense, the transition between state-paganism and Christianity." Yet later he notes that "the Christian Fathers, after long discussion, were disposed to let Apuleius fall from favour."[86]

The City of God.[87] When Apuleius lived was an age, Augustine elsewhere decries, of damnabilis curiositas.[88] In discussing Socrates and Plato on 'the souls of gods, airy spirits, and humans,' Augustine refers to "a Platonist of Madaura", Apuleius, and to his work De Deo Socratis [The God of Socrates].[89] Augustine, holding the view that the world was under the lordship of the devil,[90][91] challenged the pagans their reverence for particular gods. Referring to what he found as moral confusion or worse in stories of these gods,[92] and their airy spirits, Augustine suggests a better title for Apuleius' book: "he should have called it De Daemone Socratis, of his devil."[93]

That Apuleius worked magic was widely accepted by many of his contemporaries; he was sometimes compared to Apollonius of Tyana (died c. 97), a magician (whom some pagans later claimed as a miracle-worker, equal to Christ). Apuleius himself was drawn to mystery religions, particularly the cult of Isis.[94] "He held the office of sacerdos prouinciae at Carthage."[95] "In any event Apuleius became for the Christians a most controversial figure."[96]

Apuleius used a Latin style that registered as elocutio novella ("new speech") to his literary contemporaries. This style expressed the everyday language used by the educated, along with naturally embedded archaisms. It worked to transform the more formal, classical grammar once favored since Cicero (106–43 BC). To rhetoricians perhaps it would be asiatic as opposed to attic style.[97][98][99] Also new speech pointed toward the future development of modern Romance languages.[100] Some suggest a style source in Africa, "owing its rich colours to the Punic element... his Madauran origins"; yet, while calling Africa informative, Lindsay declares it insufficient:

"[W]e cannot reduce his style as a whole to African influences. His mixture of ornate invention and rhetorical ingenuity with archaic and colloquial forms marks him rather as a man of his epoch, in which the classical heritage is being transformed by a welter of new forces."

Phrases like "oppido formido" [I greatly fear] litter his pages. Apuleius' "prose is a mosaic of internal rhymes and assonances. Alliteration is frequent." One who involutarilly remains alive after a loved one's death is "invita remansit in vita". "This may seem an over-nice analysis of a verbal trick; but Apuleius' creative energy resides precisely in this sort of thing--".[101]

Christianity, and its schism

Felicitas and Perpetua

Mosaic of St Perpetua, Croatia

The Roman

triune deity.[103]

In the Province of Africa lived two newly baptised Christians, both young women: Felicitas a

martyrdom.[104][105] These manuscript Acts were soon read aloud in Churches throughout the Empire.[106][107]

Tertullian, Cyprian

Three significant

theologians
arose in the Province, all enjoying native African ancestry: Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine.

Tertullian (160–230) was born, lived, and died at Carthage. An expert in Roman law,[108] a convert to Christianity and then a priest, his Latin books on theology were once widely known. He articulated an early understanding of the Trinity.[109] Tertullian later came to espouse an unforgiving puritanism, after Montanus, and so ended in heresy.[110][111]

St. Augustine, by Botticelli (1480).

Cyprian (210–258) was Bishop of Carthage, and a martyr. Also a lawyer and a convert, he considered Tertullian his teacher. Many of Cyprian's writings kindly offer moral counsel, and are read today. His book De Unitate Ecclesiae [On Church Unity] (251) also became well known. He accepted the Church's correction of these views (which he then renounced): that a repentant heretic required a new baptism;[112] that a bishop in his diocese was supreme.[113][114]

Augustine of Hippo

Main article: Augustine of Hippo

Manichaean teachings. Following his strong conversion to Christianity, and after his mother died at Ostia in Italia, Augustine returned to Africa. Here he served as a priest, and later as bishop of Hippo; as the author of many works, he eventually became a primary influence on subsequent Christian theology.[119]

Well-versed in the pagan philosophy of the Greco-Roman world, Augustine both criticized its perceived shortcomings, and employed it to articulate the message of Christianity.[120] Although open to the study and close reading of his fellow African writer, Apuleius (c. 125–185), a pagan thaumaturge, Augustine strongly criticized his understanding of spiritual phenomena.[121] In a well-known work, The City of God, Augustine embarks on wide-ranging discussions of Christian theology, and also applies his learned views to history. He harshly criticizes the ancient state religion of Rome, yet frankly admires traditional Roman civic virtues; in fact he opines that their persistent practice found favor with God (unknown in name to them), hence the progress of the Roman cause throughout the Mediterranean. Later he traces the history of Israel as guided by God, and searches out the gospels of Christianity.[122]

Augustine remains one of the most prominent and most admired of all

Confessions,[125] are still widely read and discussed.[126][127][128][129]

Donatist schism

The

Constantine by the Edict of Milan had granted tolerance to Christianity, himself becoming a Christian. This turnabout led to confusion within the Church; in Northwest Africa this accentuated the divide between wealthy urban members aligned with the Empire, and the local rural poor who were salt-of-the-earth believers (which included as well social and political dissidents). In general, agrarian Christian Berbers tended to be Donatists, although more assimilated urban Berbers probably were Catholic.[132][133][134] To this challenge the Church did not respond well. The Donatists became centered in southern Numidia
, the Catholics in Carthage.

One issue was whether a

priest could perform his spiritual office if not personally worthy of the holy sacraments. The Donatist schismatics set up parallel churches in order to practice a ritual purity as a collective body like ancient Israel,[135] a purity beyond that required by the Catholic Church.[136]

Some Donatists sought to become martyrs by provocative acts.[137] A disorderly, rural extremist group became associated with the Donatists, the circumcellions, who opposed taxes, debt collection, and slavery, and would obstruct normal commerce in order to protect the poor.[138][139][140] The Donatist schism also became later linked to two revolts led by the Berber half-brothers, Firmus (372–375), and then Gildo (395–398).[141][142][143] As a bishop Augustine came to condemn the Donatists throngs for rioting;[144] at one time there were Imperial persecutions. Church negotiations lasted about a century until finally the Catholics declared Donatism a heresy in 405, though general tolerance persisted until the ban became enforced late in the 6th century.[145][146][147]

Berber revolts

Residential mosaic of Roman-era Tunisia.

The two armed conflicts described below may or may not differ from the revolt of

nobles, with their tribes, against another." Although enjoying maybe "unquestioningly loyal tribesmen on [their] great estates" the nobles themselves held a divided loyalty stemming from their ambivalent role as mediators between Roman Empire elites and local tribal life, mostly rural. Based on subsistence farming, or herding, such tribes remained remote from the literate cities. To their Berber subjects "the nobles offered protection in exchange for tribute and military service." Protection promised safety against attacks by another tribe, but also against slave raiders from the cities. The nobles themselves required revenue and the ability to marshall "armed might" on the one hand, and on the other "their fluency in Roman cultural forms and their ability to communicate as equals with the rest of the Roman elites." If so equipped the nobles "occupied key positions in Roman provincial administration." Yet an unexpected shift in status among the nobles might on occasion trigger a desperate resort to arms, an intra-noble dynastic struggle.[148]

Administrative divisions of the Empire in 395: Diocese of Africa in light blue.

Another view holds that the nobles Firmus and Gildo each continued the struggle of the

circumcellion movement. The conflicts were part of the long effort by native agricultural people to reclaim their farming and pasture lands, seized by the Romans as a result of military victories.[149][150] Professor Laroui differentiates two primary perspectives on Maghriban history of the Roman period, i.e., colonial and liberal. The colonial perspective conforms to the "dynastic struggle view" first suggested above; it adopts the interests of Imperial Rome and its clients. The liberal perspective takes the conquered and colonized view, that of the dispossessed farmers and herders, the expropriated natives—former proprietors of the land. Taking this "liberal" view, Laroui sees the conflict here as centuries old, and as more of an ethnic struggle for fairness and justice.[151]

Mauri tribe of Berbers,[152] according to the historian Ammianus Marcellinus.[153][154][155] Nubel the father held three positions: influential leader in Berber tribal politics; Roman official with high connections; and, private master of large land holdings. Nubel probably is the same person as Flavius Nubel, the son of a vir perfectissimus and Comes (Roman titles of prestige and authority). Flavius Nubel himself was a commander of Roman cavalry, whose inscription also credits to him the construction of a local Christian church. Six sons of Nubel are listed: Firmus, Sammac, Gildo, Mascezel, Dius, and Mazuc.[156] In addition to his wife Nonnica, the father Nubel had concubines, "a Christianized version of polygamy." The names of Nubel's children probably indicate an ambivalent cultural strategy, half-imperial, half-tribal, half Roman, half Berber. Gildo from the Libyan root GLD signifies a "ruler" (in modern Berber "Aguelid"). Firmus and Dius derive from Latin. Sammac and Mascezel are also Berber. A daughter's name Cyria is Greek.[157]

Firmus

Imperial East-West boundaries at death of Theodosius I (r. 379–395), 'sole' Emperor.[158]
  Western Roman Empire
  Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire

Sammac became holder of "a fortified estate built up... like a city" whose inhabitants were local Mauri Berbers. An inscription erected by Sammac refers to his endorsement by the tribal Mauris and to his authority conferred by Imperial Rome.[159] Sammac was a close friend of the Comes ("Count") of Africa, Romanus; he also enjoyed substantial family connections. Yet by order of his brother Firmus, Sammac was assassinated for unstated reasons (sibling rivalry is suggested). Firmus sought to justify his actions, but Romanus effectively blocked his efforts, and denounced him to higher Roman officials. Cornered, Firmus took up arms. Hence Ammianus Marcellinus calls Firmus perduellis (national enemy), rebellis (insurgent), and latro (brigand); the nearby bishop Augustine of Hippo calls him rex barbarus (barbarian king).[160] The historian Gibbon, however, blames a corrupt Romanus for the revolt.[161]

Firmus gained support for his revolt (372–375) from three of his brothers and from Mauri tribal allies that he through his family could summons to the struggle. Also attracted were the dissendent

Donatist Christian churches,[162] and anti-Roman, anti-taxation sentiment. Evidently Firmus styled himself King of Mauritania.[163] Perhaps he went over to the side of the rural dispossessed and championed their cause. Yet he was opposed by his younger brother Gildo, who remained aligned with Rome. The formidable Comes Theodosius (father of the future Emperor) led a Roman force to Africa against Firmus. The subsequent military campaign, wrote Ammianus, tore at social loyalties, "disrupted the balance of power relationships in the region."[164] In the fighting that led to the defeat of Firmus, Gildo served the Romans under the Comes Theodosius.[165][166]

Gildo

Gildo a decade later in 386 became the Comes of

Vandal Roman general, became regent of the West. With Egypt's grain assigned to the East, Italy's main source was Gildo's Africa. Preferring to deal directly with Theodosius at Constantinople, Gildo suggested the "transfer" of Africa to the East, anathema to Stilicho. Stilicho's protagonist Claudian in his poem De bello Gildonico mocked Gildo's disloyalty.[172]

On the death of Emperor

Gildo's defiance was opposed by his own brother Mascezel, who served Stilicho. Conflict between the two brothers had already become bitter, murderous.[178] Driven from the field by Stilicho, Gildo failed to escape east by ship and died captive in 398. Mascezel died soon after. Gildo's daughter Salvina raised her children in Constantinople at the imperial court, in its Christian community.[179][180] The Vandals led by Gaiseric crossed over to Africa in 429.[181]

These events show a once powerful, 4th-century, Berbero-Roman family in the context of the Mediterranean-wide Empire. "As Roman aristocrats, Nubel's family was not unique in exploiting a local power base in order to play a role at the centre." They also demonstrate the complexities of the loyalties tugging on the Africans of that time and place.[182] Or, on the other hand, beneath all the political complexity may exist a simpler story of the dispossessed seeking capable leaders to further their struggle for the land.[183]

Late Antiquity

Berber states

The

captured by Vandals under Gaiseric (see below).[184]
These changes were traumatic to Roman citizens in Africa Province including, of course, those acculturated Berbers who once enjoyed the prospects for livelihood provided by the long fading, now badly broken Imperial economy.

Yet also other Berbers might see a chance for betterment if not liberation in the wake of Rome's slide toward disorder. Living within the empire in urban poverty or as rural laborers, or living beyond its frontiers as independent

Sahara desert to the south." Here Berber tribal chiefs acted through force and negotiation to establish a new source of governing authority.[185]

From west to east across Northwest Africa, eight of these new Berbers states have been identified, being the kingdoms of:

Africa Proconsularis, and all eight were within the now defunct Diocese of Africa (314–432), Carthage its capital. Alike in situation to the newly formed Germanic kingdoms within the fallen Empire in Europe to the north,[187] these Berber kingdoms served two disparate populations: the Romani who were "the settled communities of provincial citizens" and the "barbarians", here the Mauri, "Berber tribes along and beyond the frontier". The Romani contributed the urban resources and fiscal structure for which a civil administration was required, while the Mauri provided fruits of the countryside and satisfied essential military and security requirements. This functional and ethnic duality at the core of the Berber successor states is reflected in the title of the political leader at Altava (see here above), one Masuna, found on an inscription: rex gent(ium) Maur(orum) et Romanor(um).[188] King Masuna
of the Mauri and of the Romans must have been, in some perhaps transformed way, similar to Firmus or Gildo (see above).

In the Kingdom of Ouarsenis (by

bazinas, with flanking 'chapels', which are distributed in an arc through the pre-Saharan zone and beyond" perhaps several thousand kilometers to the southwest (to modern Mauritania). Some display "decorative carvings and Christian motifs" although the bilingual dedicatory inscriptions are virtually illegible. "The Djedars could thus be considered the ultimate development of an indigenous, pre-Saharan funerary architectural tradition, adapted to fit a Christian, Romanized environment."[189]

Yet an unresolved issue concerns the Christianity of independent Berbers after Roman rule, both Catholic and

Donatist, i.e., Berber Christianity under the Vandals, Byzantines, and Arabs.[190] Christianity never completely supplanted the ancient pagan beliefs of Berbers, mixed and augmented by Punic practices and later Greco-Roman. Nor did Christianity among the Berbers attain an enduring unity among its diverse and conflicting believers.[191]

Under the Byzantines, several Berber political entities proximous to Imperial power became nominal vassal-states pledging loyalty to the Empire, who invested their leaders. A major Imperial concern was, by negotiation and trade, or by show or demonstration of might, to harness the anarchic tendencies of these more rural regimes; otherwise, to withstand any challenge. Roman urban centers, however, survived into the 7th century at Tiaret, Altaya, Tlemcen, and Volubilis, where practicing Christians wrote in Latin. Other Berber polities at the periphery of the settled regions retained their total independence.[192]

Vandal Kingdom

Main article: Vandal Kingdom
Migrations of the Vandals in blue (c. 270 to 530) from the Vistula river, southeast into Pannonia, westward to Gaul, south into Hispania, across to Africa and Carthage; raids by sea.[193]

In the 5th century, the western Roman Empire was in a steep decline. A Germanic tribal nation the

St. Augustine within awaited his natural death.[194] Eventually in 439 the Vandals captured Carthage, which became the center of their Germanic kingdom.[195]

The western Imperial capital at Ravenna recognized his rule in 442. Yet from Constantinople the eastern Empire attempted reconquest several times. At last in 468 a large Byzantine fleet approached Cape Bon by Carthage, and Gaiseric asked for time to consider submission to Imperial demands. When the wind changed Vandal fire ships were scudded into the fleet causing its ruin. After guaranteeing Catholic freedom of worship, Gaiseric entered a peace treaty with the Byzantines in 474, which lasted about sixty years.[196]

"Nothing could have been more unexpected in North Africa than these conquerors of Germanic origin."[197] Initially many Berbers fought the Vandals as they arrived; after the Vandals' conquest, Berber forces remained the only military threat against them.[198] Yet in governing their kingdom the Vandals did not maintain in full their martial posture against the Berbers, but made alliances with them in order to secure their occupation of the land. In 455 the Gaiseric sailed with an army to the city of Rome.[199]

In religious policy, the Vandals tried to convert the urban Catholic Christians of Africa to their Arian heresy (named after the Egyptian Christian priest Arius, who taught that the Father is greater than the Son and the Spirit). The Vandal regime sent the Catholic clergy into exile and expropriated Catholic churches; in the 520s their efforts turned to persecution, including martyrdom of resisters, yet without success. The Berbers remained aloof. In all Vandal rule would last 94 years (439–533).[200][201]

The Vandals did provide functional security and governed with a light hand, so that the former Roman province prospered at first. Large estates were confiscated, but with former owners as managers. Roman officials administered public affairs and Roman law courts continued, Latin being used for government business. Yet Romans would wear Vandal dress at the royal court in Carthage. Agriculture provided more than enough to feed the region and trade flourished in the towns.[202] Yet because of their desire to maintain a superiority in status, the Vandals refused to intermarry or agreeably assimilate to the advanced culture of the Romans. Consequently, finer points were overlooked; the Vandals failed to sustain in its entirety the workable civil society situated subtly, uniquely. Berbers confederacies beyond the frontier grew increasingly powerful, dangerous to the prevailing regime.[203][204]

Byzantine Empire

Main articles: Byzantine North Africa, Praetorian prefecture of Africa, and Exarchate of Africa
Byzantine Empire in 565, at its height.

The Eastern Romans, known also as the Byzantine Empire, eventually recaptured Rome's Africa province during the Vandalic War in 534, when led by their celebrated general Belisarius. The Byzantines rebuilt fortifications and border defenses (the limes), and entered into treaties with the Berbers. Nevertheless, for many decades security and prosperity were precarious and were never fully restored. Direct Byzantine rule didn't extend far beyond the coastal cities. The African interior remained under the control of various Berber tribal confederacies, e.g., the Byzantines contested against the Berber Kingdom of Garmules.[205]

Early in the 7th century, several new Berber groups (the

Monophysite
doctrine.

In the early 7th century, the Byzantine Empire entered a period of serious crises that would alter the future of Tunisia. For centuries Byzantium's greatest enemy had been the

Slav confederacies. Much of the Empire was overrun and its end seemed near.[208]

It was the son of the

Khazar allies. In subsequent fighting the Byzantines managed to out-flank the Persians. By 627 Heraclius was marching on their capital Ctesiphon in a complete reversal of fortune. Then in 628 the Persian Shah, Chosroes II, was killed in a revolt by his generals.[209]

Exarchate of Carthage
, yet after its recent loss of Syria (634–636) and of Egypt (639–641) to the Arabs of Islam.

As a result of these dramatic and tumultuous events,

Chalcedonian Church also returned. In order to mediate this Christological conflict, Emperor Heraclius attempted to work out a theological compromise. The result was Monothelitism, whose compromise doctrine satisfied neither Monophysite nor Chalcedonian; the religious discord among Christians continued to conflict the Empire.[210]

Yet events along the imperial frontier did not rest. To the south, the Arab peoples of the desert began to stir under the influence of a new

Battle of Yarmuk to the east of the Sea of Galilee the Arab Islamic armies decisively defeated the Byzantine forces.[208] Soon the recently lost and regained Roman provinces of Syria and Egypt would be lost again by the Byzantines—with finality—to emerging Islam.[211]

Following the

St. Maximus the Confessor leading the orthodox Catholics.[212]

See also

Reference notes

  1. ^ Afri was a "classical Latin name for the Berbers". J. A. Ilevbare, Carthage, Rome and the Berbers (University of Ibadan 1981) at 177.
  2. ^ See above, Rome and the Berber kings.
  3. ^ Roman provincial boundaries were redrawn several times. E.g., Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971), map at 32.
  4. ^ The Elder Pliny's African Geography Brent D. Shaw, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, 1981, p 452, Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435778
  5. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990) at 167.
  6. ^ a b Perkins, Tunisia (Westview 1986) at 19.
  7. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990), e.g., at 213, 215–216, 217–221, 223–224, 231 (mosaics).
  8. ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge Univ. 1971) at 35.
  9. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990) at 191–192.
  10. ^ Wheeler, Roman Art and Arquetecture (New York: Praeger 1964) at 149, photograph of Zaghouan to Carthage aqueduct at 150.
  11. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990), e.g., at 204–210 (games).
  12. ^ Cf., Michael Grant, Roman Literature (Cambridge Univ. 1954; Penguin 1958) at 20–22: brief view of ancient mime and pantomime.
  13. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990), e.g., at 221–223 (theater).
  14. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (Simon and Schuster 1990) at 172–173, 187 ff.
  15. ^ Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire (Leipzig 1885, 5th ed. 1904; London 1886, 1909; reprint 1996) at II: 306.
  16. ^ Perkins, Tunisia (Westview 1986) at 18.
  17. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 261–285, at 261–262, 270.
  18. ^ See Berber kings of Roman-era Tunisia: "Tacfarinas and the land".
  19. ^ Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire (Leipzig 1885, 5th ed. 1904; London 1886, 1909; reprint 1996) at II: 333–334, 339.
  20. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 261–285, at 261, 269–272.
  21. ^ Cf., Pliny (c. 23–79 CE), Naturalis Historia V, 24–25, translated as Natural History (London: Wm. Heinemann [Loeb Classical Library] 1942, 1969) vol. II (Books III-VII) at 237.
  22. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990) at 173–174.
  23. ^ Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire (Leipzig 1885, 5th ed. 1904; London 1886, 1909; reprint 1996) at II: 336–338.
  24. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 261–285, at 269–272.
  25. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990), e.g., at 225–230 (hunting).
  26. ^ Ceramics and pottery traditions date back to Phoenicia. Dimitri Baramki, Phoenicia and the Phoenicians (Beirut: Kayats 1961) at 69–75.
  27. ^ Slim, Mahjoubi, Belkhoja, and Ennabli, L'Antiquité (Tunis: Sud Éditions 2010) at 202–204 (ceramics), economic map at 211 (showing major olive groves in the sahel (eastern coastlands) as they are currently, and showing the ancient ceramic areas by El Djem, Gafsa, and the lower Medjerda).
  28. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 161–185, at 272–273, in General History of Africa, volume II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Paris: UNESCO 1990), edited by G. Mokhtar, abridged edition.
  29. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990) at 175–177.
  30. ^ Slim, Mahjoubi, Belkhoja, and Ennabli, L'Antiquité (Tunis: Sud Éditions 2010), at 204–205, and fold-out map at end; [Histoire Générale de Tunisie, Tome 1].
  31. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 161–185, at 272–274, in General History of Africa, volume II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa (1990).
  32. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (1990) at 177.
  33. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 161–185, at 273, in General History of Africa, volume II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa (1990).
  34. ^ Pliny (AD 23–79), Natural History V, 36 (Heineman, Harvard Univ. 1942) at 244–245.
  35. ^ Max Cary and Erik M. Warmington, The Ancient Explorers (London: Methuen 1929; revised ed., Pelican 1963) at 216–221, 219.
  36. ^ Roman artifacts and a cut-stone mausoleum at Gerama, 700 km. south of the Mediterranean port of Tripoli. Mortimer Wheeler, Rome beyond the Imperial Frontiers (Penguin 1954) at 121–133, 130.
  37. ^ Cf., Herodotus (c. 484 – c. 425), The Histories IV, 181 (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 332.
  38. ^ Richard W. Bulliet, The Camel and the Wheel (Harvard Univ. 1975) at 113, 138.
  39. ^ A. Bathily, "Relations between the different regions of Africa" at 348–357, 350, in General History of Africa, volume III, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century (UNESCO 1992).
  40. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 35–37.
  41. ^ Laroui challenges the accepted view of the prevalence of the Latin language, in his The History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 45–46.
  42. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 36.
  43. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996) at 48–49, 50 ff.
  44. ^ Soren, Khader, Slim, Carthage (Simon and Schuster 1990) at 179.
  45. ^ Cf., Perkins, Tunisia (Westview 1986) at 21.
  46. ^ Cf., Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 35.
  47. ^ Cf., below, the Gordion line of Emperors in the section Emperors from Africa.
  48. ^ Also, see the above subsection Tacfarinas.
  49. ^ Perkins, Tunisia (1986) at 19–23, 21.
  50. ^ Cf., below, the section on Christianity.
  51. ^ Grant, The Roman Emperors at 140–155.
  52. ^ Bowder, editor, Who was Who in the Roman World.
  53. ^ a b c d Adolph Berger, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society 1953) at 522.
  54. ^ Rudolph Sohm, Institutionen. Ein Lehrbuch der Geschichte und System des römischen Privatrechts (Leipzig: Duncker und Humblot 1883, 12th ed. 1905), translated as The Institutes. A textbook of the History and System of Roman Private Law (London: Oxford University, Clarendon Press, 3d ed. 1907; reprint: Augustus Kelly 1970) at 97–98.
  55. ^ W. W. Buckland, Text-book on Roman Law. From Augustus to Justinian (Cambridge University 1921, 3rd ed. 1963), the third posthumous edition as revised by Peter Stein, at 29.
  56. ^ Diane Bowder, editor, Who Was Who in the Roman World (Ithaca: Cornell University 1980) at 119.
  57. ^ Fritz Schulz, History of Roman Legal Science (Oxford University 1946, 1967) at 127.
  58. ^ Fritz Schulz, History of Roman Legal Science (Oxford University 1946, 1967) at 229–230: the Digestorum libri xc of Julian.
  59. ^ W. W. Buckland, Text-book on Roman Law (Cambridge University 1921, 3rd ed. 1963 by P. Stein), at 29.
  60. F. W. Maitland
    : "[B]ut for [Justinian's] Digest [Pandect] Roman Law could never have reconquered the world." Stein (1999) at 44.
  61. ^ Michael Grant, The Roman Emperers (New York: Scribner's 1985; reprint Barnes & Noble 1997) at 105. The emperor Diduis, in contrast to Julian, left no good reputation.
  62. ^ W. W. Buckland, Text-book on Roman Law. (Cambridge University 1921, 3rd ed. 1963 by P. Stein) at 29, at 29 n.5.
  63. ^ H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (London: Methuen 1936, 3d ed. 1954; reprint by Dutton, New York 1960) at 520.
  64. ^ Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996) at 42, 52.
  65. ^ Jack Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 5–6, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana University 1960).
  66. ^ Apuleius quoted in Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 6, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960).
  67. ^ Quotation in Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 11–12, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960).
  68. ^ Apuleius, The Apology and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura (Greenwood Press 1970), translated by Butler.
  69. ^ Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (1936, 3d ed. 1954; reprint 1960) at 520–521.
  70. Jack Lindsay
    , "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 11, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960). Lindsay estimates the year of the trial at 155–158, no later than 161. Ibid.
  71. ^ Diana Bowder, editor, Who was Who in the Roman World (Cornell Univ. 1980) at 27.
  72. ^ Michael Grant, Latin Literature (Cambridge University 1954; reprint Penguin 1958) at 118, 119.
  73. ^ Metamorphoses has seen many translations from its original Latin, several into English, e.g., Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Indiana University 1960), translated by Jack Lindsay.
  74. ^ Apuleius: The Golden Ass: Being the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius (London: Wm. Heinemann; Cambridge: Harvard Univ. 1915, 1989), two volumes, translated by W. Aldington (1566) as revised by S. Gaselee [Loeb Classical Library].
  75. ^ Also: a psychological study by Marie-Louise von Franz, An Interpretation of Apuleius' Golden Ass with the tale of Eros and Psyche (University of Dallas, Spring Pub. [1970], 2d ed. 1980).
  76. ^ H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (1936; 3d ed. 1954; reprint 1960) at 521–522.
  77. ^ Michael Grant, Latin Literature (Cambridge Univ. 1954; Penguin 1958) at 118–122. Prof. Grant mentions a shorter, prior work in Greek, Lucius or the Ass (118), though the story probably first arose as a folktale; Grant later discusses Apuleius' wide influence after 'rediscovery' by Renaissance Europe (121–122).
  78. ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960) at 82–84 (near the end of book III).
  79. ^ Regarding the hero's metamorphosis: one may note the emblem (the imperial Roman eagle, or the owl of Athens) indirectly referenced by the admired bird of prey, versus the North African populist image of the libidinous donkey.
  80. ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960) at 104–142 (near the end of book IV to near the end of book VI).
  81. ^ Also: a psychological study by Erich Neumann, Amor and Psyche. The Psychic Development of the Feminine. A Commentary on the Tale by Apuleius (New York: Bollingen 1956; reprint by Harper & Row/Torchbook 1962).
  82. ^ Lindsay comments that Apuleius, in the episode at the bakery, provides a rare and hellish description of ancient slavery. Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 22, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960) at 156–160 (mistreatment at mill), at 191–193 (at bakery).
  83. ^ Apuleius, The Golden Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960) at 242–243 (middle of book XI).
  84. Jack Lindsay
    , "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 13 & 21, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana University 1960). Lindsay also notes in Apuleius traces of anti-Christian views (at 21–22, 26–27).
  85. ^ H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (1936; 3d ed. 1954; reprint 1960) at 522.
  86. Michael Grant
    , Roman Literature (Cambridge Univ. 1954; Penguin 1958) at 119 and 121.
  87. ^ Augustine, De Civitate Dei (413–426) at Book VIII, chapters 14–19, 22–23, and Bk.IX, ch.3, 6, 8, 11, also Bk.XII,10; translated by Healey (1610) and revised by Tasker (1945) as The City of God (London: J.M.Dent 1945, 1967) at vol. I: 238–262, 353.
  88. ^ Grant, Roman Literature (1954; Penguin 1958) at 119.
  89. ancestors
    .
  90. Manichaean
    . Cf., Augustine, Confessions ([c. 397–400]; New York: Doubleday/Image 1960) at 159–160 (bk.VII, ch.2); and also, works by Augustine against the Manichees, e.g., those listed by John K. Ryan, "Translator's Introduction", Ibid. 17–38, at 27.
  91. Neoplatonic worldview, with the pagan mystic philosopher Plotinus
    (204–270), so that "love of the world" was to be avoided because in this age the world remains imperfect and transient (although also "demon-haunted" and contaminated by false images, e.g., of pagan gods).
  92. ^ Already in his The City of God (London: Dent 1945) [two volumes], Augustine had illustrated immoral behavior, e.g., the adultery by Jupiter (bk.II, ch.8; v.I:47) and by Venus (III,3; I:78).
  93. ^ Augustine, The City of God (London: J.M.Dent 1945, 1967) at vol.I: 238 (VIII,14). Augustine acknowledges that daemones were called good by pagans (citing Labeo), but claims that since the word has become pejorative in everyday use. Augustine, The City of God (1945) at I: 269 (IX,19). Also, cf., Ibid. at I: 262 (IX,8) and at II: 245 (XIX,9).
  94. ^ Diana Bowder, editor, Who was Who in the Roman World (Cornell University 1980) at 26 (Appollonius), 27 (Apuleius).
  95. ^ H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature (1936; 3d ed. 1954; reprint 1960) at 521.
  96. ^ Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, at 26 (thaumaturge Appollonius and Apuleius, 'controversial' quote), at 27 ("Everyone believed in the miracles of Apuleius" citing 1888 journal article "Apuleé magicien" by Monceau), in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960).
  97. ^ Diana Bowder, editor, Who was Who in the Roman World (1980) at 27.
  98. ^ Rose, Handbook of Latin Literature (3d ed. 1954, 1960) at 161–163.
  99. ^ Cf., Cicero, Brutus at xcv.325–326, in Cicero, v.5 ([Loeb Classical Library] 1939, 1971) at 283–285.
  100. ^ Michael Grant, Roman Literature (Cambridge University 1954, reprint Penguin 1958) at 118–122. Given here are several lengthy excerpts in English translation from three ages (Elizabethan, late-19th, mid-20th) of "Metamorphoses". Fronto (early 2nd century) of Cirta, Numidia, tutor of Marcus Aurelius, is said to be an originator of elocutio novella. Grant mentions African influence as a reason for its emergence, but better he credits its creation as "the Latin of an epoch". Grant (1954, 1958) at 118.
  101. ^ Lindsay, "Apuleius and his Work" 5–28, blockquote at 17, Latin quotes at 19–20, in Apuleius, The Golder Ass (Indiana Univ. 1960).
  102. Lucius Septimius Severus
    (r. 193–211) issued in 202).
  103. ^ Cf., Hans Kung, Christentum: Wessen und Geschichte (München: Piper Verlag 1994), translated as Christianity. Essence, history, and future (New York: Continuum 1995) at 131–133.
  104. ^ W.H.Shewring, The Passion of SS. Perpetua and Felicity (London: Sheed and Ward 1931).
  105. ^ Marie-Louise von Franz, The Passion of Perpetua (Irving, Texas: Spring Pub. 1980), text and commentary [Jungian Classics Series].
  106. ^ Donald Attwater (ed.& rev. by John Cumming), Dictionary of the Saints (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press [1938, 1958] 1993) at 249.
  107. ^ Joyce E. Salisbury, Perpetua's Passion. The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman (London: Routledge 1997) at 5–9 (Perpetua), 92–112 (her visions), 136–148 (her martyrdom).
  108. ^ Eusebius (260–340), Historia Ecclesiastica, II 2, translated as The History of the Church (Penguin 1965, reprint: Minneapolis: Augsburg 1975) at 75.
  109. Henry Bettenson
    in his The Early Christian Fathers (Oxford Univ. 1956) at 133–137.
  110. ^ Dom Charles Poulet, Histoire de l'Eglise (Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne et ses Fils 1926, 1930), fourth edition edited and translated by Sidney A. Raemers as Church History (St. Louis: B. Herder 1934, 1951) at vol. I, 108–110 (life, doctrines, e.g., "rule of faith"), also: Montanus, at I: 83–84. Tertulian in 207 adopted this heresy.
  111. ^ Maureen A. Tilley discusses Tertullian as a predecessor to the Donatists, in her The Bible in Christian North Africa. The Donatist World (Minneapolis: Fortress 1997) at 20–28.
  112. ^ Eusebius (260–340), Historia Ecclesiastica, II 2, translated as The History of the Church (Penguin 1965; reprint: Minneapolis: Augsburg 1975) at 88.
  113. ^ Poulet, Church History (1930, 1934) at I: 97–99 (unforgivable sins), 99–101 and 103–105 (baptism by heretics), 110–111 (Cyprian's books); at I: 90–91, Cyprian on the brutal persecutions under the Emperor Decius (r. 245–251), who came after Philip the Arab (r. 244–249), and was later followed by Valerian (r. 253–260) whose persecutions martyred St. Cyprian.
  114. ^ Donald Attwater (edited & revised by John Cumming), Dictionary of the Saints (Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press [1938, 1958] 1993) at 79.
  115. ^ The name Mon (from which that of his mother Monica) referred to a local Numidian goddess. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (University of California 1967) at 32.
  116. ^ Cf., William M. Green, "Augustine's Use of Punic" at 179–190, in Semitic and Oriental Studies presented to Prof. Wm. Popper (Univ.of California 1951).
  117. ^ Cf., W. H. C. Frend, A note on the Berber background in the life of Augustine in J.Theol. St. (1942) XLIII: 188–191.
  118. ^ Augustine evidently could not understand the Berber idiom. Brown, Augustine of Hippo (1967) at 139.
  119. St. Monica
    ), 46–61 (as Manichee), 130–132 (return to Africa), 299–312 (his writing the City of God).
  120. St. John the Evangelist
    ).
  121. ^ See above, subsection Lucius Apuleius, for Augustine's criticism.
  122. ^ Augustine, The City of God (London: Dent 1945), 2 volumes, at [vol.I] books 1–4 (Roman pagan religion), at [vol.I] book 5, ch.12 (Roman virtue), at [vol.II] books 15–18 (Israel), at [vol.II] books 18–22 (Christianity).
  123. ^ E.g., Augustine, hearing that a wise man will not wage but just war, writes:

    "As if the very rememberance (sic) that he is man ought not to procure his greater sorrow in that he has cause of just wars, and must needs wage them, which if they were not just, it were not for him to deal in, so that a wise man should never have war. For it is the other men's wickedness that makes his cause just that he ought to deplore, whether it produce wars or not." The City of God (London: Dent 1945) at II: 243 (XIX,7). Also, ibid. at II: 247 (XIX,12).
  124. ^ Aurelius Augustinus, De Civitate Dei ([c. 413–426]), translated by Healey (1610), revised by Tasker (1945), as The City of God (London: J.M.Dent 1945), two volumes.
  125. ^ Augustine, Confessiones ([c. 397–400]), translated by John K. Ryan as The Confessions of St. Augustine (New York: Doubleday/Image 1960), with "Translator's Introduction" at 17–38.
  126. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib at 38 & 43–44, 46.
  127. ^ Diana Bowder, editor, Who was who in the Roman World (Cornell Univ. 1980) at 35.
  128. ^ Dom Charles Poulet, Histoire de l'Eglise (Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne et sus Fils 1926, 1934), translated and edited by S.A.Raemers as A History of the Catholic Church (St. Louis: Herder 1951) at vol. I, 218–228.
  129. ^ Perter Brown, Augustine of Hippo. A biography (University of California 1967).
  130. ^ Named after the Berber Bishop Donatus or Donatus Magnus, there being some confusion. Catholic Encyclopedia: Donatists
  131. ^ Concerning Donatus or Donatus Magnes, see Tilly, The Bible in Christian North Africa. The Donatist World (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1997): compare Donatus of 61,n18 (194,n18) & 131, with Donatus of 69–70.
  132. ^ Cf., W. H. C. Frend, The Donatist Church. A Movement of Protest in Roman North Africa (Oxford Univ. 1952, 1971).
  133. ^ Contra: Elizabeth Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1995) at 37–38 text, and note 78 at 359–360, who refers to strong criticism of Frend's ethnic and social-economic theories, citing A.H.M.Jones, J.Theo. St. (1959), and P.Brown, J.ROM. St. (1968).
  134. ^ Maureen A. Tilley has continued questioning many assumptions about the Donatists, in her The Bible in Christian North Africa. The Donatist World (Minneapolis: Fortress Press 1997). She explicates their theological integrity in light of ancient Christianity.
  135. ^ Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo. A biography (University of California 1967) at 218–219.
  136. Coptic Egypt
    and elsewhere.
  137. ^ Joyce E. Salisbury, Perpetua's Passion. The Death and Memory of a Young Roman Woman (London: Routledge 1997) at 164, citing letters of Augustine. Salisbury remarks that North Africa was the last place in the Mediterranean region to practice human sacrifice. Ibid. at 165.
  138. ^ Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa (1995) at 38: "This [the circumcellions] was clearly a Peasant's Revolt; they lived in community near the tombs of rural martyrs, carrying clubs called Israel, attacking their propertied opponents with the war cry Deo Laudes."
  139. ^ Tilley, The Bible in Christian North Africa (1997) at 94.
  140. ^ Brent D. Shaw, in his "Who were the Circumcellions?" at 227–258, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by A. H. Merrills, seeks to show that how the meaning of the movement became abstracted by the Church at large, enough to become unrecognizably pejorative. "The image of the circumcellions that has now emerged is one that lives on in an odd world of its own, with no reference to any reality that had ever existed in the African countryside... ." Shaw (2004) at 248.
  141. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 41–43.
  142. ^ Tilley, The Bible in Christian North Africa (1997) at 132–136.
  143. ^ See Firmus and Gildo section above.
  144. ^ Yet Augustine himself was attacked by Donatists, because of his 'un-Christian' youth. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo. A biography (University of California 1967) at 233.
  145. ^ Johnson, A History of Christianity (New York: Atheneum 1979) at 83–85, 88, 115.
  146. ^ Brown, Augustine of Hippo at 215–225, 235, 240–241.
  147. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib at 38–44, 62.
  148. ^ Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996) at 72–74. Here, perhaps more often, due to lack of primogeniture among the Berbers. Ibid. at 75.
  149. ^ Abdallah Laroui, L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthèse (Paris: Librairie François Maspero 1970), translated as The History of the Maghrib. An interpretive essay (Princeton University 1977) at 30–35, 51–58.
  150. ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 34–44.
  151. ^ Abdalah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton Univ. 1977) at 51, 54–58.
  152. ^ Blackhurst comments on the multivalent dynamics that operated in Berber tribal society, where "authority was distributed between segments of the tribe, with the 'tribe' being, in reality, a constellation of clans, shifting and, ultimately, ephemeral." Andy Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 72, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (Ashgate 2004), edited by A. H. Merrills, regarding recent literature in anthropology.
  153. ^ Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330–390s), Res Gestae at 29.5.2, (Harvard Univ. 1935) [Loeb classics]; cited by Blackhurst at 59, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004). From the Greek east, Ammianus wrote in Latin his Roman Imperial history; only its mid-4th century survives.
  154. ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 41, 4 (map), locates the family near Mitidja (by modern Algiers), with Nubel being chief of the Juabeleni Berber clan.
  155. ^ The tribe's name being Iubaleni, the father's name Nubel may be an appropriation by the tribal chief, emblematic of an eponymous tribal ancestor. Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996) at 294 n.66 (to text at 75).
  156. ^ Andy Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 64–65 (Flavius Nuvel), at 61 (six sons), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by A. H. Merrills.
  157. ^ Michael Brett & Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (Oxford: Blackwell 1996) at 71–72. Nonnica & Mazuca are not discussed.
  158. ^ East-West Empire map: superimposed on modern borders.
  159. ^ Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 72: Sammac's inscription of 70-plus words is given in English translation, from his fortified estate called "Petra".
  160. ^ Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 61–62, 64 (Sammac), at 62–63 (Firmus), at 65 (rivalry), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by Merrills. Such local armed rebellions were not uncommon in the 4th-century Roman Empire.
  161. ^ Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: Strahan & Cadell 1776–1789) at Chapter XXV, Sec. III; Modern Library reprint: at I: 881–886, 882. Gibbon blames Romanus for greed and corruption, "till the Africans were provoked, by his avarice, to join the rebellious standard of Firmus the Moor."
  162. ^ See hereinabove at subsection Donatist schism.
  163. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 41. His major Donatist ally was Optatus, a bishop in southern Numidia.
  164. ^ Ammianus, Res Gestae at 29.5.28 (Harvard Univ. 1935) [Loeb]; quoted by Blackhurst at 64, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004).
  165. ^ Andy Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 62–66, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004).
  166. ^ The Comes Theodoius was executed at Carthage shortly thereafter in 376, during the confusion following the death of Valentinian I. Diana Bower, editor, Who's Who in the Roman World (Cornell University 1980) at 211.
  167. ^ The late 4th-century designation "Africa" referred to territory corresponding to the modern Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.
  168. ^ Michael Grant, The Roman Emperors. A biographical guide to the rulers of Imperial Rome, 31 B.C.–A.D. 476 (New York: Scribner's 1985; reprint by Barnes and Noble 1997) at 270–274.
  169. ^ Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 67 (quote), at 66 & 69 (Jerome's letters), at 72 & supra (Salvina), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by A. H. Merrills.
  170. ^ Michael Grant, The Roman Emperors (1985, 1997) at 272, 274–276.
  171. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 41–42.
  172. ^ Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 66–72 (Gildo's loyalty esp. at 69–70), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004). Claudian styled Gildo tyrannus.
  173. ^ Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 40–43.
  174. ^ Blackhurst in his "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 72, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by A. H. Merrills. Blackhurst at 75 conjectures that the divide among Numidian Donatist (Rogatists vs. Firmiani) might be the result of factions left over from the revolt of Firmus. Also Blackhurst, adding a contrary (not Donatist) layer of connections, notes that "Nubel, Mascezel [his fourth son] and Salvina [his granddaughter through Gildo] subscribed to Christianity of a distinctly 'Catholic' cast."
  175. ^ Michael Grant, The Roman Emperors (1985, 1997) at 280.
  176. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 41–43, 42.
  177. ^ Abdallah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton Univ. 1977) at 56 (text at note 37).
  178. ^ Gildo had killed two children of Mascezel. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 42–43.
  179. ^ Blackhurst, "The House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 70 & 73 (Mascezel), at 69 n.68 & n.70 (Salvina), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004).
  180. ^ Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London: 1776–1789) at Chapter XXIX (near the end); Modern Library reprint, at I: 1040–1045 (Gildo). Gibbon here painted a very unattractive portrait of Gildo, as a tyrant to his people, and a slave to his avarice and lust. Ibid. at 1040.
  181. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 45.
  182. ^ Blackhurst, "House of Nubel: Rebels or Players?" 59–75, at 74–75, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by Merrills.
  183. ^ Abdallah Laroui, L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthèse (Paris: Librairie François Maspero 1970), translated as The History of the Maghrib. An interpretive essay (Princeton University 1977) at 54–56.
  184. ^ Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton Univ. 1977) at 67–69.
  185. ^ Alan Rushworth, "From Arzuges to Rustamids: State Formation and Regional Identity in the Pre-Saharan Zone" at 77–98, 77–78, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by A. H. Merrills.
  186. ^ Cf., Christian Courtois, Les Vandales et l'Afrique (Paris 1955), map at 334; modified and reproduced in Alan Rushworth, "From Arzuges to Rustamids: State Formation and Regional Identity in the Pre-Saharan Zone" at 77–98, 80, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by A. H. Merrills.
  187. Lex Romana Visigothorum
    which states Roman law to be applied to the former provincial citizens of the Empire now under Gothic rule. Herwig Wolfram, Das Reich und die Germanun (Berlin: Wolf Jobst Siedler Verlag 1990), translated as The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples (University of California 1997, 2005) at 156–158.
  188. ^ Latin: National King of the Mauri and of the Romans. Alan Rushworth, "From Arzuges to Rustamids: State Formation and Regional Identity in the Pre-Saharan Zone" at 77–98, 86–88, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by A. H. Merrills.
  189. ^ Alan Rushworth, "From Arzuges to Rustamids: State Formation and Regional Identity in the Pre-Saharan Zone" at 77–98, 79 and 82–86, 87, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by H. H. Merrills.
  190. ^ Mark A. Handley, "Disputing the End of African Christianity" at 291–310, in Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New perspectives on late antique North Africa (Aldershot: Ashgate 2004), edited by H. H. Merrills.
  191. ^ Hédi Slim, Ammar Mahjoubi, Khaled Belkhoja, Abdelmajid Ennabli, L'Antiquité (Tunis: Sud Éditions 2010) at 417–418, 423. [Histoire Générale de la Tunisie, Tome I].
  192. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 261–285, at 283–285, in General History of Africa, Volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Paris: UNESCO 1990), edited by G. Mokhtar. Garmul, King of Mauretania, "destroyed a Byzantine army" in 571. Ibid. at 284.
  193. ^ Wolfram, The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples (Berlin 1990; Univ.of California 1997) at xi-xiii.
  194. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971), at 45–46.
  195. ^ Herwig Wolfram, Das Reich und die Germanen (Berlin: Wolf Jobst Siedler 1990) translated as The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples (University of California 1997), chap. 7, "The Vandals" at 159–182, 166–171 (Vandals), at 163, 166, 161–163 & 169–170 (Alans and Vandals), 163 & 165–167 (travel to Hispania, then to Carthage and capture).
  196. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 48.
  197. ^ A. Mahjoubi and P. Salama, "The Roman and post-Roman period in North Africa" 261–285, at 281, in General History of Africa, Volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Paris: UNESCO 1990), edited by G. Mokhtar.
  198. ^ Walter Pohl, "The Vandals: Fragments of a Narrative" at 31–47, 41 (Berbers only military threat after conquest), in Vandals, Romans and Berbers (2004), edited by Merrill.
  199. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 47 (Rome, the islands), 50 (military posture).
  200. ^ Wolfram, The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples (Berlin 1990; Berkeley 1997) at 174–175.
  201. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 49–51.
  202. ^ Herwig Wolfram, The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples (Berlin 1990; Berkeley 1997) at 173 (Vandal clothes at court). By a modern estimate, the population of Roman Africa would then have been about three million people. Wolfram (1990, 1997) at 167, citing Christian Courtois, Les Vandales et l'Afrique (Paris 2d ed. 1955) at 105 ff.
  203. ^ Perkins, Tunisia (Westview 1986) at 23–24.
  204. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 48–49, 52–53.
  205. ^ Also, see here above "Berber states".
  206. Donatist
    . Cf., H. Mones, "The conquest of North Africa and the Berber resistance" in General History of Africa (Univ.of California/UNESCO 1992) at 119–120, who opines that only a "marginal" few (called al-Afarika by Arabs) of Romanized Berbers and Punics were Christians, as well as Romans and Greeks.
  207. ^ Contra: For strong indications that there was indeed substantial communities of Berber Christians, cf., e.g., here above the sections "Firmus and Gildo" and especially "Donatist schism" and "Berber states".
  208. ^ a b A. A. Vasiliev, History of the Byzantine Empire (1917, 1923–25; Univ.of Wisconsin 1928–29, 1964) at vol. I, 176, 194–200, 211.
  209. ^ Percy Sykes, A History of Persia (London: Macmillan 1915, 1921, 1930, reprinted New York: St. Martin's 1951) at vol. I, 480–486.
  210. ^ For an early 20th-century view on these theological issues arising in early Christianity, cf., Dom Charles Poulet, Histoire de l'Eglise (Paris: Gabriel Beauchesne et sus Fils 1926, 1934), translated by Raemers as A History of the Catholic Church (St. Louis & London: Herder Book Co. 1951) at volume I: 238–244, and 301–307.
  211. al-Qadisiyyah (637) and Nihavand
    (642) to the Arabs of Islam; their subsequent incorporation into the Muslim fold would result in mutual transformations. Richard N. Frye, The Golden Age of Persia (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1975, 1977) at 54–73, 58, 60.
  212. ^ Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 63–65.

Further reading

  • Hitchner, R. Bruce (2022). A companion to North Africa in antiquity. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
    ISBN 9781444350012
    .
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