North Africa, Carthage, and Its Religion
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chapter 1 North Africa, Carthage, and Its Religion 1 Roman Africa Let us now rewind six centuries. In spring 146BC, the Romans, in the Third Punic War, exasperated by the war thirsty party led by Cato’s hankering for a ‘final solution’ of the Carthaginian issue embodied in the legendary chorus Carthaginem esse delendam, totally defeated the Carthaginians, the heirs of the biblical Tyre and Sidon. They razed to the ground the capital city, thus ending a chapter in the life of the originally Phoenician colony that had been estab- lished at the end of the ninth century BC.1 The subsequent history of Africa would be connected with Rome, however, this does not mean that many ele- ments of Punic culture, religion, and language were to be lost, as is witnessed six centuries later in passing mentions in Augustine’s works.2 It was the Romans who gave Africa its name. Originally, this name probably designated the area of the river Bagrada or Makara, inhabited by the Libyan tribe of the Afri.3 However, at the latest from the time of the Second Punic War, this referred to a significantly larger area, as indicated by the triumphal addi- tion Africanus gained by the general Publius Cornelius Scipio the Elder. Later, this term designated the whole area of today’s Northern Africa with the excep- tion of Egypt.4 From the point of view of Roman administration, following the conquest of Carthage the gradual spread of administered land, its colonisation and civil wars, Africa Proconsularis became a senatorial province with its capi- tal Carthage in 27BC, neighbouring in the east with the province Cyrenae 1 Regarding the history of Carthage, see especially Serge Lancel, Carthage: a history (Cam- bridge: CUP, 2002); on pp. 1–34 he introduces the issue of the Phoenician colonisation of the western Mediterranean and the dating of Carthage being established based on ancient tradi- tions as well as archaeological findings, and on pp. 409–427 he introduces the destruction of Carthage by the Romans. 2 Twenty-two passages of Augustine’s work, where the language of Berber tribes is mentioned, are studied byW.M.Green, ‘Augustine’s Use of Punic’,in Semitic and Oriental Studies presented to W. Popper (Berkeley—Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1951), 179–190. 3 Werner Vycichl, ‘La peuplade berbère des Afri et l’origine du nom d’Afrique’, Onomastica 19 (1975), 486–488. 4 Werner Huß, John Scheid, and Thomas Leisten, ‘Africa’, in Brill’s New Pauly (2016) http://dx .doi.org/10.1163/1574‑9347_bnp_e106700, accessed 14th January 2017. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004412385_004 14 chapter 1 and in the west with the province Mauretania.5 At the time of its greatest expansion, the Roman Empire administered in Africa a land area of approxi- mately 350,000km2.6 At the end of the third century, Diocletian divided the old province including the area of current Tunisia and western Libya, with its capital Carthage, into three new ones, namely Africa Proconsularis, Africa Byzacena, and Africa Tripolitana. At the same time, he connected them with Numidia with its capital Cirta (currently Constantine) in the land of today’s eastern Algeria (divided into the provinces Numidia Cirtensis, Numidia Mili- tiana), and Mauretania with its capital Caesaria (today Cherchell) in the land of today’s middle and western Algeria and Morocco, administratively divided into the provinces Mauretania Sitifensis and Mauretania Caesariensis, creating one diocese: Africa.7 The safety of the Roman inhabitants and the defence against not particu- larly unusual rebellions was provided by legio III Augusta, since the time of Trajan situated in Lambaesis in the province Numidia Militiana.8 With the exception of the proconsulate Africa, which had its highest representative as a proconsul who was granted administrative as well as military power, the other provinces were managed by a governor holding administrative power insti- tuted by the emperor, while military power was held by the legate of the Third Legion.9 Despite many occurrences of political, social, and religious unrest, the whole diocese of Africa was very important, even being a key area for the Roman Empire due to its geographical position, economic wealth, and its intellectual and spiritual activity.10With the riches of the African fields and olive groves, the saying ‘how much corn Africa reaps’ was apt;11 Africa was ‘the granary of Rome’, supplying Italy and other provinces especially with olive oil and wine, as Quod- vultdeus witnessed to in one of his sermons.12 Thus, the supply of not only the 5 Duncan Fishwick, ‘On the Origins of A. Proconsularis’, AntAfr 29 (1993), 53–62; Decret, Christianisme, 7f. 6 Decret, Christianisme, 9. 7 The administrative state of Africa and Numidia at the time of the Vandal invasion is spec- ified by Claude Lepelley, ‘Quelques aspects de l’administration des provinces romaines d’Afrique avant la conquête vandale’, AnTard 10 (2003), 61–72. 8 Decret, Christianisme, 9. 9 Regarding the state of the Roman administration of the African provinces in late antiquity, see Jonathan Conant, Staying Roman: Conquest and Identity in Africa and the Mediter- ranean, 439–700 (Cambridge—New York: CUP, 2012), 9–12. 10 Huß et al. 11 Hor. S. 2. 3. 87 (ed. Rushton Fairclourgh 160). 12 TB2 5. 4 (CCL 60: 476f.); but also Teresa Clay, ‘Carthage et son commerce dans l’antiquité.