Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 1 of 152 Carthage and Roman North Africa Hannibal’s army crossing the Alps ALRI History 303 Spring Semester 2011 Instructor: Tom Wukitsch Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 2 of 152 Table of Contents Page 3 Introductory notes 4 I -- Autochthons – prehistory 6 I, a – 1 Aterian Industry 12 2 Capsian culture 13 I. b – Early modern homo sapiens 19 I, c – Species differentiation 22 I, d – Berbers 30 II – Carthage 46 III – Carthage history 61 IV – Punic military forces 66 V – Religion in Carthage 71 VI – Punic Wars 72 VI, a – First Punic War 84 VI, b – Interval between 1st and 2nd Punic Wars – Mercenary War 86 VI, c – Second Punic War 107 VI, d --Third Punic War 112 VII – Jugurtha 116 VIII – Africa as a Roman province 127 IX – Christian North Africa 127 IX, a – Christian Carthage 132 IX, b – Augustine of Hippo 137 IX, c – Vandals 144 IX, d – Reconquest 146 X – Tunisia Archeology Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 3 of 152 Introductory Notes: Spelling: The spelling of personal and place names of the Carthaginians (Phoenicians) is only a matter of convention. Our sources are Greek, Roman, and Semitic and involve transliterations among three alphabets, all of which have changed from their ancient forms. This is further complicated by the fact that modern scholarly research and publication has been carried out in several modern languages (mostly French, Italian, Spanish, English [British and American versions), German, Greek, and Arabic with a smattering of others, e.g., Polish) all of which have their own spelling idiosyncracies. You will, therefore, find variant spellings in the readings, with which you will just have to deal – I have neither the time nor the inclination to make them all the same. Elephants: War elephants were used in the Asia subcontinent long before they were introduced in Mediterranean warfare. The first to use them in the Mediterranean, as far as we know, was Pyrrhus of Epirus, a Greek general and statesman of the Hellenistic era. He was one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. In 281 BC he intervened in southern Italy to help Greek colonies fight off Roman expansion, also fighting the Carthaginians who were expanding their colonies in Sicily also at the expense of Greek colonies. The Romans captured some of his elephants and tried to use them against him, but they abandoned the effort because the elephants were not really manageable. The Carthaginians took the elephant idea and ran with it, incorporating elephants into their armies. In the final analysis, the elephants were more trouble for the Carthaginians than they were worth; the Romans leaned to deal with them, how to panic them into turning back on the Carthaginians, and if necessary how to kill them quite efficiently. Armies: Roman armies -- infantry and cavalry -- at the time of the Punic Wars were citizen armies. Carthaginian armies were almost entirely mercenaries – fore religious and political reasons the Carthaginians never extended citizenship to their cinquerred neighbors. The Roman population advantage proved decisive. Infant sacrifice: The scholarly majority still believes that the Carthaginians sacrificed their kids. Periodically, individual scholars and university departments publish papers that say otherwise, but they are not widely accepted. Many Tunisian scholars and, to a lesser extent, Lebanese scholars say that stories of infant sacrifice were (and are) enemy propaganda. Tenure: The ancient Romans held Carthage longer than the ancient Carthaginians did. Neither holds it now. Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 4 of 152 I – Autochthons – Prehistory 1 HOMO HABILIS ~ NICKNAME: Handyman LIVED: 2.4 to 1.6 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous – nuts, seeds, tubers, fruits, some meat 2 HOMO SAPIEN ~ NICKNAME: Human LIVED: 200,000 years ago to present HABITAT: All DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts, pizza, sushi 3 HOMO FLORESIENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Hobbit LIVED: 95,000 to 13,000 years ago HABITAT: Flores, Indonesia (tropical) DIET: Omnivorous - meat included pygmy stegodon, giant rat 4 HOMO ERECTUS ~ NICKNAME: Erectus LIVED: 1.8 million years to 100,000 years ago HABITAT: Tropical to temperate - Africa, Asia, Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, tubers, fruits, nuts 5 PARANTHROPUS BOISEI ~ NICKNAME: Nutcracker man LIVED: 2.3 to 1.4 million years ago HABITAT: Tropical Africa DIET: Omnivorous - nuts, seeds, leaves, tubers, fruits, maybe some meat Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 5 of 152 6 HOMO HEIDELBERGENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Goliath LIVED: 700,000 to 300,000 years ago HABITAT: Temperate and tropical, Africa and Europe DIET: Omnivorous - meat, vegetables, tubers, nuts 7 HOMO NEANDERTHALENSIS ~ NICKNAME: Neanderthal LIVED: 250,000 to 30,000 years ago HABITAT: Europeand Western Asia DIET: Relied heavily on meat, such as bison, deer and musk ox Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 6 of 152 I, a 1. Aterian Industry The Aterian is the name given to a distinctive stone tool industry made by early modern humans between about 80,000 and 40,000 years ago. The tools are found on sites in northern Africa between the Atlantic coast to the Kharga Oasis and the western edge of the Nile river basin. "The Aterian industry has been recognized as such since 1919 when Reygasse published the type site of Bir-el-Ater near Tebessa in Tunisia. The following year he gave it the specific name"---1946, G. Canton- Thompson, "The Aterian Industry: Its Place And Significance In The Paleolithic World," "The Aterian is one of the most widely distributed Paleolithic industries of North Africa, extending from the Atlantic almost to the Nile Valley and throughout much of the Sahara.".--- 1975, C. Reid Ferring, "The Aterian In North Africa Prehistory," pp. 113-126. "By 30,000 years ago a period of increasing desiccation (drying up) in the Sahara led to the abandonment of most Aterian sites.".---1988, Ian Tattersall, Eric Delson & John Van Couvering, "Encyclopedia of human Evolution and Prehistory," p. 62 "(The Aterian) is distinguished by the use of different kinds of tanged, or stemmed, points, suitable for inserting into handles or attaching as heads of spears, and similar projectiles."--- 1971, J. Desmond Clark, "African Beginnings," p. 29. [Makers of Aterian artifacts are usually assumed to have been Cro-Magnons, i.e., early modern homo sapiens. Some sources, however, say that late Neanderthals also may have made Aterian artifacts.] The Aterian industry is a name given by archaeologists to a type of stone tool manufacturing dating to the middle Palaeolithic in the region around the Atlas Mountains and the north west Sahara. The Aterian Industry was named after the type site called Bir el Ater located in northwestern Africa in the country of Tunisia. The earliest Aterian sites are believed to be well over 40,000 years old. An Aterian kill site called BT-14, located 350 kilometers west of the Nile, produced a carbon date from shell of 44,190 plus or minus 1,380 years. Forty thousand years ago, northern Africa was a green savanna grassland. The Aterian people were spreading out into what is today the Sahara desert. This climatic improvement also brought large numbers of grazing animals. The Aterian site called BT-14 is described as a huge Aterian kill site. Aterian hunters were taking both large and small species such as, white rhinoceros, extinct camel, large bovid, wild ass, gazelle, fox, jackal, warthog, antelopes, ostrich, turtle and birds. Aterian sites end about 30,000 years ago when climate change forced the abandonment of most sites when the grasslands of the Sahara began drying up. Carthage and Roman North Africa Page 7 of 152 The artifacts were created by ancient humans (crania found in relation to the points do not look anatomically modern). They could have been created by a late Homo Ergaster. There is not enough evidence to know for sure. The Aterian culture dates to the late middle Paleolithic period, sometime before 40,000 years ago and came to an end about 30,000 years ago. Aterian points were developed out of the Mousterian stone tool industry characterized by Levallois technology. Large numbers of these points were made over a wide area of North Africa. They were used to hunt many different species of grazing animals such as white rhinoceros, extinct camel, gazelle and antelopes. The Aterian industry developed out of Mousterian stone tool technology. Their blades were produced from cores made with Levallois technology. It's interesting to note that most human fossils associated with Mousterian industries are Neanderthals. But archaic modern humans have been found associated with Mousterian sites from Morocco to Israel. The Aterian people were using Neanderthal stone tool manufacturing techniques but they themselves were probably early modern humans. Discoidal and tortoise cores produced by Levallois technology is a more wasteful process if compared to later core and blade technology that developed during the Aurignacian period. But the older technology, as shown in the archaeological record, worked quite well. Bifacially-worked leaf shaped and tanged projectile points are a common artifact type and so are racloirs and Levallois flakes. Aterian tanged points are one of the oldest types projectile points. The smaller examples are thought to have been used on darts or spears that were thrown by atlatls. The issue has been controversial though. Archaeologist like G. Canton-Thompson suggested, as early as 1946, that Aterian points were used on arrows. But, in recent years, the most accepted device is the atlatl instead of the bow. Archaeologist Michael A. Hoffman wrote in 1984, "----these artifacts (Aterian points) seem at once too big and too bulky to have been used as projectile points on primitive arrows. ----they were probably employed as dart points in spear throwers, certainly not as arrowheads." Aterian points vary considerably in size from a little over an inch (3 cm) to about 8 or 9 inches (20 to 22 cm) long.