The Laguatan: A Libyan Tribal Confederation in the Late Roman Empire

Mattingly, David

doi:10.1017/s0263718900007810

Cited by 51 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…(3) disruption of the social and economic life of the area by tribal movements in North Africa (see Mattingly 1983) or the Islamic invasion ; (4) induced changes of the natural environment on which the agricultural exploitation of the area was based, possibly because of salinisation (Barker et al 1983), or the overexploitation of the desert soils (as discussed in Chatterton and Chatterton 1985); (5) climatic change (Burns and Denness 1985);…”

Section: The Decline Of Pre-desert Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…They appear to represent a second stage of Romano-Libyan settlement and agricultural activity which dates mainly from the third to the fifth century AD. The archaeological evidence associated with this activity in the Romano-Libyan period is becoming increasingly well known as a result of the Libyan Valleys Survey (Brogan 1971;Jones and Barker 1980;1983;Barker and Jones 1981, 1982Mattingly 1983). In brief, during the first century AD, substantial permanent open farms and floodwater farming systems were built in the Tripolitanian pre-desert, mostly by the indigenous peoples of the area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ULVS XVII: Palaeoecology and Agriculture of an Abandonment Phase at Gasr Mm 10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania

et al. 1987

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This study documents the sediments, pollen, seeds, molluscs, vertebrates and mineral magnetism of deposits found in an abandoned water supply system at gasr Mm 10 in the Wadi Mimoun in the pre-desert of Tripolitania. These new data suggest (1) at or close to an episode of probable abandonment of that gasr, the growth of cereals (and perhaps general agricultural activity) still occurred on the wadi catchment upstream of the gasr, and (2) the vegetation of the adjacent wadi floor was richer in species (which included olive) than occurs today.

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Section: The Decline Of Pre-desert Agriculturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ULVS XVII: Palaeoecology and Agriculture of an Abandonment Phase at Gasr Mm 10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania

et al. 1987

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“…Rural villages are common, but these seem not to have been enclosed within walls, though qsur 79 Mattingly 2003, 151-54. 80 Echallier 1972 81 Morizot 199982 Goodchild 1976cMattingly 1983;Modéran 2003;Tomlin 1979. 83 Goodchild 19531954b.…”

Section: Cyrenaica (Fig 12)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fortified farms and defended villages of Late Roman and Late Antique Africa

Mattingly¹,

Sterry²,

Leitch³

2013

Antiquité Tardive

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Les fermes fortifiées et les autres sites pareillement défendus marquaient les paysages de l'Afrique du Nord au cours de l'Antiquité Tardive. Leur présence a été relevée dans toutes les provinces romaines de l'Afrique du Nord, même dans les zones au-delà des frontières, comme le coeur de la contrée des Garamantes dans le Fezzan (Sud-Ouest de la Libye). Huit types de fortifications sont ici définis afin de servir de base à un réexamen de la diffusion des fortifications rurales publiées à la suite des principales prospections archéologiques conduites dans ces régions. On constate de nettes prédominances régionales (par exemple les villages fortifiés en Numidie, les temples et mausolées convertis en maisons carrées dans la steppe tunisienne et les églises fortifiées en Cyrénaïque). Toutefois, dans presque tous les régions, les sites fortifiés jouent un rôle essentiel dans le hiérarchie des établissements . En Tripolitaine et au Fezzan, par exemple, ces sites fortifiés sont majoritaires. Les constructions le plus précoces sont datées du 2e siècle après J.-C. et leur occupation a continué jusqu'à l'époque islamique, mais, en Libye au moins, le pic des constructions se situe au cours du 4e siècle. Bien que certains sites fortifiés s'inspirent de modèles militaires, on soutient l'hypothèse que loin d'être stimulé par l'armée romaine, ce phénomène de protection doit être interprété dans un contexte de faiblesse de l'autorité centrale et d'essor de l'indépendance régionale.Fortified farms and other fortified sites were a key component of the Late Antique landscapes of North Africa. Their presence has been noted in all the Roman provinces in North Africa and in areas beyond the frontier such as the Garamantian heartlands of Fazzan (south-west Libya). Eight broad morphological types are proposed and are the basis for a review of the distribution of rural fortifications from all major archaeological surveys. There are strong regional preferences (e.g. fortified villages in Numidia, temples and mausolea converted into block houses in the Tunisian steppe and fortified churches in Cyrenaica). However, in almost all areas fortified sites were important elements in the settlement hierarchy and in Tripolitania and Fazzan, for instance, they were the dominant settlement form. The earliest constructions have been dated to the 2nd century AD and their development continued into the Islamic period, but. In Libya at least, there was a peak in construction in the 4th century. Although some of the types of fortified site seem to follow military models, It is suggested that rather than simple emulation of the Roman army, these fortifications should be seen in the context of a weakening central authority and growing regional independence.

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“…Late Roman sources indicate that this period saw the emergence of new tribal groupings, like the Austuriani who invaded Tripolitania in 363 and besieged Lepcis in 365, and the Laguatan, who fought a series of campaigns against the Byzantines between 544 and 548 (Ammianus Marcellinus 28.6.1Á15; Procopius, Wars, 3.8. 15Á29;4.21.2Á4.28.52;Corippus, Johannis;Mattingly 1983Mattingly , 1995Mattingly , 173Á176, 1996. By contrast, the Garamantes do not feature large in these late sources, a very different situation from the first century AD, when the Garamantes had sided with Tacfarinas against Rome in 15Á17 and with Oea against Lepcis Magna in 68Á69, even besieging the latter city.…”

Section: Things Fall Apartmentioning

confidence: 99%

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

Wilson

2012

Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa

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This paper examines the evidence for Saharan trade in the Roman period in the light of recent fieldwork in the Libyan Sahara by the Fazzan Project and the Desert Migrations Project and by the Italian Mission in the Acacus. The results of these projects suggest that trade between the Roman world and the communities of the Sahara was substantially greater than believed a few years ago and highlight the transformative effect that contact with the ancient Mediterranean had on Saharan society, especially on the Garamantes of Fazzan. But this paper also argues that in focusing chiefly on trans-Saharan commerce, much previous research has misunderstood the nature and importance of Saharan trade in antiquity. Relatively few types of goods were traded all the way across the Sahara from south to north or vice-versa in the Roman period. Rather, we should be thinking principally in terms of a network of interdependent sub-systems, of short-, medium-and long-distance exchange; the trans-Saharan traffic was only one part of this network. Moreover, Saharan trade * and especially the shortand medium-distance subsystems * also provoked transformations in the frontier zones of Roman North Africa. The abundant evidence of Roman imports to Fazzan discovered by British fieldwork there also calls into question the universal assumption that trans-Saharan trade in the medieval and modern periods exceeded the scale of trans-Saharan trade in antiquity; this is based on no good evidence at all and may be entirely false. Comparison with better documented periods suggests that the Roman world was capable of absorbing a trans-Saharan slave traffic at least as large as that of the medieval period and the evidence of Roman imports points to a substantial trade, of which slaves were probably a major component, via the central routes across the Sahara. Saharan trade in antiquity was organised around a set of drivers that were very different from those of the medieval trans-Saharan trade, with a key role played by the development of a substantial agriculturally-based trading state within the Sahara itself, the Garamantes. The collapse of Saharan trade in late antiquity is related to the decline of Garamantian authority and is linked in part to the emergence of new tribal conglomerations in the frontier zones between the fourth and sixth centuries AD.Cet article examine les données relatives au commerce trans-saharien pendant la période romaine à la lumière de travaux récents effectués dans le Sahara libyen par Le Projet Fazzan, le Desert Migrations Project, et la mission italienne dans l'Acacus. Les résultats de ces projets indiquent que les échanges entre le monde romain et les communautés du Sahara étaient de nettement plus grande envergure qu'on ne le supposait il y a quelques années. Ils illuminent par ailleurs le rôle *

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The Laguatan: A Libyan Tribal Confederation in the Late Roman Empire

Cited by 51 publications

References 17 publications

ULVS XVII: Palaeoecology and Agriculture of an Abandonment Phase at Gasr Mm 10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania

ULVS XVII: Palaeoecology and Agriculture of an Abandonment Phase at Gasr Mm 10, Wadi Mimoun, Tripolitania

Fortified farms and defended villages of Late Roman and Late Antique Africa

Saharan trade in the Roman period: short-, medium- and long-distance trade networks

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