UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
as much as they could at any moment reinforce the aggressive potential
of the nomads. The mere fact of their power was a challenge.
Roman history, throughout four centuries and more particularly in the
late period, provides abundant examples of Saharans from the southern
borders of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, camel-borne nomads such as the
Austurians, the Marmarides and above all the Mazices, causing anxiety
both to coastal Libya and to the Egyptian oases. 42 This is an indication
both of their mobility and of their striking range.
To avert this double peril, the firststep in Roman strategy was to cut
the nomads off from their rear bases by swiftly destroying the strongest
Saharan states. The Nasamones and Garamantes were completely reduced
by the height of the empire. From then on, in the second and third centuries,
all that was needed was to protect the colonized territory by careful
organization of a mighty network of fortresses, glacis and lines of communication,
sited to take the utmost advantage of terrain. This explains
the irregular configuration of the Roman limes which protected all the
provinces of Mediterranean Africa with amazing strategic virtuosity. 43 It
also seemed to afford good hopes that north Saharan nomadism could be
kept under control.
However, pacification proved only temporary. From the fourth century
on the nomads with their camels were knocking at the gates even more
threateningly than before, daily wearing down the resistance of the limes
garrisons.
We know the sequel. In the eviction of Rome, a process which was
due to multifarious causes, the Sahara had played a role.
So, as we have seen, we are not entirely without knowledge of the Sahara
of Antiquity, even though the information we have is incomplete. Several
points are certain. The desiccation of the climate did not kill the desert.
Human activity went on. Languages and writing were consolidated
there. The increasing use of camels eased problems of transport and
communication. The region played its own part in the history of the great
Mediterranean states. Did the same perhaps hold true of tropical Africa?
It is in this context of continued development that the medieval renaissance
undoubtedly had its roots.
42. Literature and epigraphy collected by J. Desanges, 1962, and L.Cracco-Ruggini, 1974.
43. On the question of Roman-Saharan contacts in terms of the limes: for Mauretania,
see P. Salama, 1953, pp. 231-51, and 1955, pp. 329-67; 1976, pp. 579-95; idem. For Numidia:
J. Baradez. For Tripolitania: A. di Vita, pp. 65-98; R. Rebuffat, 1972, pp. 319-39.
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