Roman Africa

[Horatius]

Not across the interior. Along the coast or the nile certainly, but the romans regarded the interior of the sahara as inpenetrable and horses/oxen/donkeys weren't up to the job. In roman times the desert was well in evidence, and whilst I accept your point about grassland, these areas were found on the periphery, not the center. The only reason nomads were able to survive on the arid border was the presence of oases, these are in short supply as you get further in. There's no historical record of trans-saharan trade that I'm aware of, and what trade existed with more southerly parts of africa was either by ship of egyptian barge.

 

Addendum - The only trade routes that I've found go around the sahara, not across it. There wasn't much to trade on the southern edge and I don't think the romans were aware of anyone living down there. The inhabitants of what is now Chad traded east with a christian nubian kingdom called Alwa, somewhere in the sudan area during the late empire/byzantine era. There is however mention of roman exploratory missions into the desert but apparently all they found were 'troglodytes' (presumably cave dwelling tribesmen) whom they had a confrontation with. Also, dromedarii are recorded in egypt around 150AD, but apart from a few agricultural animals introduced by the romans from the middle east they were not widespread in north africa until later periods. The Roman World by John Wacher has a chapter on roman north africa and egypt, although it emphasises strategic concerns.

I was always interested in Romans in Africa and found out that Romans did occupy Ghadames which they renamed Cydamus. This oasis in Libya was on an ancient overland route through the Sahara I believe there probably was cross Saharan trade here although maybe just indirectly http://www.caravanserai-tours.com/ghadames.htm ,apparently it was occupied even in Byzantine times so it must have had some value. What I was really interested in were the adventures of the XXII Legion and their campaigns against Nubia and journey to Yemen (Arabia Felix). I could never find anything except sketchy info on this although they had a part in the conquest of Kush supposedly. If anyone has any information on this I would love to see it. I wonder what the contact with Ethiopia was and if they ever went south into Kenya.

Edited August 11, 2007 by Horatius

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve, guys & Ladies!

 

This outstanding material comes from the article"Trans-Saharan Trade and the West African Discovery of the Mediterranean World" by Pekka Masonen (University of Tampere), published in "Ethnic encounter and culture change", Sabour and Vik

Edited August 11, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Kosmo]

"The Myth of Transsaharan Trade during the Roman Era", an article by John T. Swanson (available on JStore), strongly opposes any transsaharian trade.

He claims that a limited trade in some gems called carbunacle was carried between the Garamantes of Fezzan and roman Tripolitania. As Fezzan it's in Northern Sahara we could not speak of Transsaharian trade.

I agree with it as there is almost no evidence of mediterranean objects, art or technology South of Sahara before muslims arrival. And this puts in question also the famous theory of carthaginian trade on the african West coast.

This does not means that that human contact was broken. The way the excelent article above tells the story it's convincing with the mention that most roman objects and other evidence presented are from Sahara and not the regions South of it.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

Here are two very carefully analized documents about Hanno's Voyage:

 

the first one by Livio Catullo Stecchini

 

and the second (in fact, a series of 4 articles) by the omnipresent Jona Lendering.