UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
ranean countries; from the firsthalf of the third century, they decorated
beautiful cylindrical amphoras and biconic vases with applied ornamentation
in the form of raised figures inspired mainly by the games of the
amphitheatre: they fashioned high-quality lamps, and statuettes which were
placed in tombs or private shrines. The fourth century saw the widespread
production of yet another type of pottery known to specialists as 'light
sigillate D'. Foreign imports in the primordial economic sector constituted
by the pottery industry soon disappeared, even in the Mauretanian
provinces, and sales of African manufactures and raw materials (oil,
earthenware, purple-dyed cloth, glass-ware, wooden ware, the produce
of quarries, such as Numidian marble), to which must of course be added
corn, as well as slaves, timber, wild beasts for the amphitheatre games,
must have greatly exceeded those of imported products, which consisted
probably of finished goods, and particularly those made of metal.
Africa has thus succeeded in breaking free from its economic dependence,
and its foreign trade regained some of the importance of Punic times. Port
facilities were extended to keep pace with the development of the exportable
resources of the hinterland and to handle the quantities of grain and
oil to be shipped to Italy; the main dealings were with Ostia, the harbour
which was Rome's outlet to the sea; on the site of Ostia have been found,
among the scholae (offices) of the shipping corporations, no fewer than
nine buildings which belonged to the African corporations of Mauretania
Caesariensis, Musluvium, Hippo Diarrhytus, Carthage, Curubis, Missus,
Gummi, Sullectum and Sabratha. These domini navium or navicularii, who
formed corporations, were collectively responsible for the transport of
commodities to Italy; 35 they were granted special privileges as early as
the reign of Claudius, and they were organized, up to the time of
Septimius Severus, according to the principle of free association. Soon,
however, state control was introduced in this fieldas in the other sectors
of the economy, especially as the victualling of Rome was a far too
important matter to be left to purely private enterprise; the navicularii
were accordingly considered to be performing a public service. The trade
with Italy remained, however, in African hands. As regards commerce with
the East, which was a flourishingbusiness in Carthaginian times, it was
in the hands of Eastern merchants under the empire and in the fourth
century they were still visiting African ports to conduct their negotiations.
While we do not know exactly what kind of products were unloaded by
these merchants, who were called Syrians, it is not difficult to imagine
the diversity and abundance of the cargo of their return journey, judging
from the large numbers of gold coins bearing the effigy of the Eastern
emperors which have been unearthed, and which they must have left in
Africa to balance their accounts. Lastly, the trans-Saharan trade must
be considered, but it will be dealt with below in the context of the
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35. G. Calza, pp. 178fr