- Herodotus: The Histories, c. 430 B.C., Book IV.
- Strabo: Geography, c. 22 A.D., XVII.iii.1-11.
- Procopius of Caesarea: History of the Wars, c. 550 A.D. Books
III.xxv.3-9; IV.vi.10-14, vii.3, xi.16-20, xiii.26-29
Herodotus: The Histories, c. 430
B.C.,
Book IV.42-43:
For my part I am astonished that men should ever have divided Libya, Asia, and Europe
as they have, for they are exceedingly unequal. Europe extends the entire length of the
other two, and for breadth will not even (as I think) bear to be compared to them. As for
Libya, we know it to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to
Asia. This discovery was first made by Necos, the Egyptian king, who on desisting from the
canal which he had begun between the Nile and the Arabian gulf [i.e., the Red Sea],
sent to sea a number of ships manned by Phoenicians, with orders to make for the Pillars
of Hercules, and return to Egypt through them, and by the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians
took their departure from Egypt by way of the Erythraean sea, and so sailed into the
southern ocean. When autumn came, they went ashore, wherever they might happen to be, and
having sown a tract of land with corn, waited until the grain was fit to cut. Having
reaped it, they again set sail; and thus it came to pass that two whole years went by, and
it was not till the third year that they doubled the Pillars of Hercules, and made good
their voyage home. On their return, they declared - I for my part do not believe them, but
perhaps others may - that in sailing round Libya they had the sun upon their right hand.
In this way was the extent of Libya first discovered.
Next to these Phoenicians the Carthaginians, according to their own accounts, made the
voyage. For Sataspes, son of Teaspes the Achaemenian, did not circumnavigate Libya, though
he was sent to do so; but, fearing the length and desolateness of the journey, he turned
back and left unaccomplished the task which had been set him by his mother. This man had
used violence towards a maiden, the daughter of Zopyrus, son of Megabyzus, and King Xerxes
was about to impale him for the offence, when his mother, who was a sister of Darius,
begged him off, undertaking to punish his crime more heavily than the king himself had
designed. She would force him, she said, to sail round Libya and return to Egypt by the
Arabian gulf. Xerxes gave his consent; and Sataspes went down to Egypt, and there got a
ship and crew, with which he set sail for the Pillars of Hercules. Having passed the
Straits, he doubled the Libyan headland, known as Cape Soloeis, and proceeded southward.
Following this course for many months over a vast stretch of sea, and finding that more
water than he had crossed still lay ever before him, he put about, and came back to Egypt.
Thence proceeding to the court, he made report to Xerxes, that at the farthest point to
which he had reached, the coast was occupied by a dwarfish race, who wore a dress made
from the palm tree. These people, whenever he landed, left their towns and fled away to
the mountains; his men, however, did them no wrong, only entering into their cities and
taking some of their cattle. The reason why he had not sailed quite round Libya was, he
said, because the ship stopped, and would no go any further. Xerxes, however, did not
accept this account for true; and so Sataspes, as he had failed to accomplish the task set
him, was impaled by the king's orders in accordance with the former sentence.
Book IV.168-198:
The Libyans dwell in the order which I will now describe. Beginning on the side of
Egypt, the first Libyans are the Adyrmachidae. These people have, in most points, the same
customs as the Egyptians, but use the costume of the Libyans. Their women wear on each leg
a ring made of bronze; they let their hair grow long, and when they catch any vermin on
their persons, bite it and throw it away. In this they differ from all the other Libyans.
They are also the only tribe with whom the custom obtains of bringing all women about to
become brides before the king, that he may choose such as are agreeable to him. The
Adyrmachidae extend from the borders of Egypt to the harbor called Port Plynus. Next to
the Adyrmachidae are the Gilligammae, who inhabit the country westward as far as the
island of Aphrodisias. Off this tract is the island of Platea, which the Cyrenaeans
colonized. Here too, upon the mainland, are Port Menelaus, and Aziris, where the
Cyrenaeans once lived. The Silphium begins to grow in this region, extending from the
island of Platea on the one side to the mouth of the Syrtis on the other. The customs of
the Gilligammae are like those of the rest of their countrymen.
The Asbystae adjoin the Gilligammae upon the west. They inhabit the regions above
Cyrene, but do not reach to the coast, which belongs to the Cyrenaeans. Four-horse
chariots are in more common use among them than among any other Libyans. In most of their
customs they ape the manners of the Cyrenaeans. Westward of the Asbystae dwell the
Auschisae, who possess the country above Barca, reaching, however, to the sea at the place
called Euesperides. In the middle of their territory is the little tribe of the Cabalians,
which touches the coast near Tauchira, a city of the Barcaeans. Their customs are like
those of the Libyans above Cyrene.
The Nasamonians, a numerous people, are the western neighbors of the Auschisae. In
summer they leave their flocks and herds upon the sea-shore, and go up the country to a
place called Augila, where they gather the dates from the palms, which in those parts grow
thickly, and are of great size, all of them being of the fruit-bearing kind. They also
chase the locusts, and, when caught, dry them in the sun, after which they grind them to
powder, and, sprinkling this upon their milk, so drink it. Each man among them has several
wives, in their intercourse with whom they resemble the Massagetae. The following are
their customs in the swearing of oaths and the practice of augury. The man, as he swears,
lays his hand upon the tomb of some one considered to have been pre-eminently just and
good, and so doing swears by his name. For divination they betake themselves to the
sepulchers of their own ancestors, and, after praying, lie down to sleep upon their
graves; by the dreams which then come to them they guide their conduct. When they pledge
their faith to one another, each gives the other to drink out of his hand; if there be no
liquid to be had, they take up dust from the ground, and put their tongues to it.
On the country of the Nasamonians borders that of the Psylli, who were swept away under
the following circumstances. The south-wind had blown for a long time and dried up all the
tanks in which their water was stored. Now the whole region within the Syrtis is utterly
devoid of springs. Accordingly the Psylli took counsel among themselves, and by common
consent made war upon the southwind---so at least the Libyans say, I do but repeat their
words---they went forth and reached the desert; but there the south-wind rose and buried
them under heaps of sand: whereupon, the Psylli being destroyed, their lands passed to the
Nasamonians.
Above the Nasamonians, towards the south, in the district where the wild beasts abound,
dwell the Garamantians, who avoid all society or intercourse with their fellow-men, have
no weapon of war, and do not know how to defend themselves. These border the Nasamonians
on the south: westward along the sea-shore their neighbors are the Macea, who, by letting
the locks about the crown of their head grow long, while they clip them close everywhere
else, make their hair resemble a crest. In war these people use the skins of ostriches for
shields. The river Cinyps rises among them from the height called "the Hill of the
Graces," and runs from thence through their country to the sea. The Hill of the
Graces is thickly covered with wood, and is thus very unlike the rest of Libya, which is
bare. It is distant two hundred furlongs from the sea. Adjoining the Macae are the
Gindanes, whose women wear on their legs anklets of leather. Each lover that a woman has
gives her one; and she who can show the most is the best esteemed, as she appears to have
been loved by the greatest number of men.
A promontory jutting out into the sea from the country of the Gindanes is inhabited by
the Lotophagi, who live entirely on the fruit of the lotus-tree. The lotus fruit is about
the size of the lentisk berry, and in sweetness resembles the date. The Lotophagi even
succeed in obtaining from it a sort of wine. The sea-coast beyond the Lotophagi is
occupied by the Machlyans, who use the lotus to some extent, though not so much as the
people of whom we last spoke. The Machlyans reach as far as the great river called the
Triton, which empties itself into the great lake Tritonis. Here, in this lake, is an
island called Phla, which it is said the Lacedaemonians were to have colonized, according
to an oracle.
The following is the story as it is commonly told. When Jason had finished building the
Argo at the foot of Mount Pelion, he took on board the usual hecatomb, and moreover a
brazen tripod. Thus equipped, he set sail, intending to coast round the Peloponnese, and
so to reach Delphi. The voyage was prosperous as far as Malea; but at that point a gale of
wind from the north came on suddenly, and carried him out of his course to the coast of
Libya; where, before he discovered the land, he got among the shallows of Lake Tritonis.
As he was turning it in his mind how he should find his way out, Triton (they say)
appeared to him, and offered to show him the channel, and secure him a safe retreat, if he
would give him the tripod. Jason complying, was shown by Triton the passage through the
shallows; after which the god took the tripod, and, carrying it to his own temple, seated
himself upon it, and, filled with prophetic fury, delivered to Jason and his companions a
long prediction. "When a descendant," he said, "of one of the Argo's crew
should seize and carry off the brazen tripod, then by inevitable fate would a hundred
Grecian cities be built around Lake Tritonis." The Libyans of that region, when they
heard the words of this prophecy, took away the tripod and hid it.
The next tribe beyond the Machlyans is the tribe of the Auseans. Both these nations
inhabit the borders of Lake Tritonis, being separated from one another by the river
Triton. Both also wear their hair long, but the Machlyans let it grow at the back of the
head, while the Auseans have it long in front. The Ausean maidens keep year by year a
feast in honor of Minerva, whereat their custom is
to draw up in two bodies, and fight with stones and clubs. They say that these are
rites which have come down to them from their fathers, and that they honor with them their
native goddess, who is the same as the Minerva (Athena) of the Grecians. If any of the
maidens die of the wounds they receive, the Auseans declare that such are false maidens.
Before the fight is suffered to begin, they have another ceremony. One of the virgins, the
loveliest of the number, is selected from the rest; a Corinthian helmet and a complete
suit of Greek armor are publicly put upon her; and, thus adorned, she is made to mount
into a chariot, and led around the whole lake in a procession. What arms they used for the
adornment of their damsels before the Greeks came to live in their country, I cannot say.
I imagine they dressed them in Egyptian armor, for I maintain that both the shield and the
helmet came into Greece from Egypt. The Auseans declare that Minerva is the daughter of
Neptune and the Lake Tritonis---they say she quarreled with her father, and applied to
Jupiter, who consented to let her be his child; and so she became his adopted daughter.
These people do not marry or live in families, but dwell together like the gregarious
beasts. When their children are full-grown, they are brought before the assembly of the
men, which is held every third month, and assigned to those whom they most resemble.
Such are the tribes of wandering Libyans dwelling upon the sea-coast. Above them inland
is the wild-beast tract: and beyond that, a ridge of sand, reaching from Egyptian Thebes
to the Pillars of Hercules. Throughout this ridge, at the distance of about ten days'
journey from one another, heaps of salt in large lumps lie upon hills. At the top of every
hill there gushes forth from the middle of the salt a stream of water, which is both cold
and sweet. Around dwell men who are the last inhabitants of Libya on the side of the
desert, living, as they do, more inland than the wild-beast district. Of these nations the
first is that of the Ammonians, who dwell at a distance of ten days' from Thebes [Waset],
and have a temple derived from that of the Theban Jupiter. For at Thebes likewise, as I
mentioned above, the image of Jupiter has a face like that of a ram. The Ammonians have
another spring besides that which rises from the salt. The water of this stream is
lukewarm at early dawn; at the time when the market fills it is much cooler; by noon it
has grown quite cold; at this time, therefore, they water their gardens. As the afternoon
advances the coldness goes off, till, about sunset, the water is once more lukewarm; still
the heat increases, and at midnight it boils furiously. After this time it again begins to
cool, and grows less and less hot till morning comes. This spring is called "the
Fountain of the Sun." Next to the Ammonians, at the distance of ten days' journey
along the ridge of sand, there is a second salt-hill like the Ammonian, and a second
spring. The country round is inhabited, and the place bears the name of Augila. Hither it
is that the Nasamonians come to gather in the dates.
Ten days' journey from Augila there is again a salt-hill and a spring; palms of the
fruitful kind grow here abundantly, as they do also at the other salt-hills. This region
is inhabited by a nation called the Garamantians, a very powerful people, who cover the
salt with mold, and then sow their crops. From thence is the shortest road to the
Lutophagi, a journey of thirty days. In the Garamantian country are found the oxen which,
as they graze, walk backwards. This they do because their horns curve outwards in front of
their heads, so that it is not possible for them when grazing to move forwards, since in
that case their horns would become fixed in the ground. Only herein do they differ from
other oxen, and further in the thickness and hardness of their hides. The Garamantians
have four-horse chariots, in which they chase the Troglodyte Ethiopians, who of all the
nations whereof any account has reached our ears are by far the swiftest of foot. The
Troglodytes feed on serpents, lizards, and other similar reptiles. Their language is
unlike that of any other people; it sounds like the screeching of bats.
At the distance of ten days' journey from the Garamantians there is again another
salt-hill and spring of water; around which dwell a people, called the Atarantians, who
alone of all known nations are destitute of names. The title of Atarantians is borne by
the whole race in common; but the men have no particular names of their own. The
Atarantians, when the sun rises high in the heaven, curse him, and load him with
reproaches, because (they say) he burns and wastes both their country and themselves. Once
more at the distance of ten days' there is a salt-hill, a spring, and an inhabited tract.
Near the salt is a mountain called Atlas, very taper and round; so lofty, moreover, that
the top (it is said) cannot be seen, the clouds never quitting it either summer or winter.
The natives call this mountain "the Pillar of Heaven"; and they themselves take
their name from it, being called Atlantes. They are reported not to eat any living thing,
and never to have any dreams.
As far as the Atlantes the names of the nations inhabiting the sandy ridge are known to
me; but beyond them my knowledge fails. The ridge itself extends as far as the Pillars of
Hercules, and even further than these; and throughout the whole distance, at the end of
every ten days' there is a salt-mine, with people dwelling round it who all of them build
their houses with blocks of the salt. No rain falls in these parts of Libya; if it were
otherwise, the walls of these houses could not stand. The salt quarried is of two colors,
white and purple. Beyond the ridge, southwards, in the direction of the interior, the
country is a desert, with no springs, no beasts, no rain, no wood, and altogether
destitute of moisture.
Thus from Egypt as far as Lake Tritonis Libya is inhabited by wandering tribes, whose
drink is milk and their food the flesh of animals. Cow's flesh, however, none of these
tribes ever taste, but abstain from it for the same reason as the Egyptians, neither do
they any of them breed swine. Even at Cyrene, the women think it wrong to eat the flesh of
the cow, honoring in this Isis, the Egyptian goddess, whom they worship both with fasts
and festivals. The Barcaean women abstain, not from cow's flesh only, but also from the
flesh of swine. West of Lake Tritonis the Libyans are no longer wanderers, nor do they
practice the same customs as the wandering people, or treat their children in the same
way. For the wandering Libyans, many of them at any rate, if not all---concerning which I
cannot speak with certainty---when their children come to the age of four years, burn the
veins at the top of their heads with a flock from the fleece of a sheep: others burn the
veins about the temples. This they do to prevent them from being plagued in their after
lives by a flow of rheum from the head; and such they declare is the reason why they are
so much more healthy than other men. Certainly the Libyans are the healthiest men that I
know; but whether this is what makes them so, or not, I cannot positively say---the
healthiest certainly they are. If when the children are being burnt convulsions come on,
there is a remedy of which they have made discovery. It is to sprinkle goat's water upon
the child, who thus treated, is sure to recover. In all this I only repeat what is said by
the Libyans.
The rites which the wandering Libyans use in sacrificing are the following. They begin
with the ear of the victim, which they cut off and throw over their house: this done, they
kill the animal by twisting the neck. They sacrifice to the Sun and Moon, but not to any
other god. This worship is common to all the Libyans. The inhabitants of the parts about
Lake Tritonis worship in addition Triton, Neptune, and Minerva, the last especially. The
dress wherewith Minerva's statues are adorned, and her Aegis, were derived by the Greeks
from the women of Libya. For, except that the garments of the Libyan women are of leather,
and their fringes made of leathern thongs instead of serpents, in all else the dress of
both is exactly alike. The name too itself shows that the mode of dressing the
Pallas-statues came from Libya. For the Libyan women wear over their dress stripped of the
hair, fringed at their edges, and colored with vermilion; and from these goat-skins the
Greeks get their word Aegis (goat-harness). I think for my part that the loud cries
uttered in our sacred rites came also from thence; for the Libyan women are greatly given
to such cries and utter them very sweetly. Likewise the Greeks learnt from the Libyans to
yoke four horses to a chariot.
All the wandering tribes bury their dead according to the fashion of the Greeks, except
the Nasamonians. They bury them sitting, and are right careful when the sick man is at the
point of giving up the ghost, to make him sit and not let him die lying down. The
dwellings of these people are made of the stems of the asphodel, and of rushes wattled
together. They can be carried from place to place. Such are the customs of the
afore-mentioned tribes.
Westward of the river Triton and adjoining upon the Auseans, are other Libyans who till
the ground, and live in houses: these people are named the Maxyans. They let the hair grow
long on the right side of their heads, and shave it close on the left; they besmear their
bodies with red paint; and they say that they are descended from the men of Troy. Their
country and the remainder of Libya towards the west is far fuller of wild beasts and of
wood than the country of the wandering people. For the eastern side of Libya, where the
wanderers dwell, is low and sandy, as far as the river Triton; but westward of that the
land of the husbandmen is very hilly, and abounds with forests and wild beasts. For this
is the tract in which the huge serpents are found, and the lions, the elephants, the
bears, the aspics, and the horned asses. Here too are the dog-faced creatures, and the
creatures without heads, whom the Libyans declare to have their eyes in their breasts; and
also the wild men, and wild women, and many other far less fabulous beasts.
Among the wanderers are none of these, but quite other animals; as antelopes, gazelles,
buffaloes, and asses, not of the horned sort, but of a kind which does not need to drink;
also oryxes, whose horns are used for the curved sides of citherns, and whose size is
about that of the ox; foxes, hyaenas porcupines, wild rams, dictyes, jackals, panthers,
boryes, land-crocodiles about three cubits in length, very like lizards, ostriches, and
little snakes, each with a single horn. All these animals are found here, and likewise
those belonging to other countries, except the stag and the wild boar; but neither stag
nor wild-boar are found in any part of Libya. There are, however, three sorts of mice in
these parts; the first are called two-footed; the next, zegeries, which is a Libyan word
meaning "hills"; and the third, urchins. Weasels also are found in the Silphium
region, much like the Tartessian. So many, therefore, are the animals belonging to the
land of the wandering Libyans, in so far at least as my researches have been able to
reach.
Next to the Maxyan Libyans are the Zavecians, whose wives drive their chariots to
battle. On them border the Gyzantians; in whose country a vast deal of honey is made by
bees; very much more, however, by the skill of men. The people all paint themselves red,
and eat monkeys, whereof there is inexhaustible store in the hills. Off their coast, as
the Carthaginians report, lies an island, by name Cyraunis, the length of which is two
hundred furlongs, its breadth not great, and which is soon reached from the mainland.
Vines and olive trees cover the whole of it, and there is in the island a lake, from which
the young maidens of the country draw up gold-dust, by dipping into the mud birds'
feathers smeared with pitch. If this be true, I know not; I but write what is said. It may
be even so, however; since I myself have seen pitch drawn up out of the water from a lake
in Zacynthus. At the place I speak of there are a number of lakes; but one is larger than
the rest, being seventy feet every way, and two fathoms in depth. Here they let down a
pole into the water, with a bunch of myrtle tied to one end, and when they raise it again,
there is pitch sticking to the myrtle, which in smell is like to bitumen, but in all else
is better than the pitch of Pieria. This they pour into a trench dug by the lake's side;
and when a good deal has thus been got together, they draw it off and put it up in jars.
Whatever falls into the lake passes underground, and comes up in the sea, which is no less
than four furlongs distant. So then what is said of the island off the Libyan coast is not
without likelihood.
The Carthaginians also relate the following: There is a country in Libya, and a nation,
beyond the Pillars of Hercules, which they are wont to visit, where they no sooner arrive
but forthwith they unlade their wares, and, having disposed them after an orderly fashion
along the beach, leave them, and, returning aboard their ships, raise a great smoke. The
natives, when they see the smoke, come down to the shore, and, laying out to view so much
gold as they think the worth of the wares, withdraw to a distance. The Carthaginians upon
this come ashore and look. If they think the gold enough, they take it and go their way;
but if it does not seem to them sufficient, they go aboard ship once more, and wait
patiently. Then the others approach and add to their gold, till the Carthaginians are
content. Neither party deals unfairly by the other: for they themselves never touch the
gold till it comes up to the worth of their goods, nor do the natives ever carry off the
goods till the gold is taken away.
These be the Libyan tribes whereof I am able to give the names; and most of these cared
little then, and indeed care little now, for the king of the Medes. One thing more also I
can add concerning this region, namely, that, so far as our knowledge reaches, four
nations, and no more, inhabit it; and two of these nations are indigenous, while two are
not. The two indigenous are the Libyans and Ethiopians, who dwell respectively in the
north and the south of Libya. The Phoenicians and the Greek are in-comers. It seems to me
that Libya is not to compare for goodness of soil with either Asia or Europe, except the
Cinyps region, which is named after the river that waters it. This piece of land is equal
to any country in the world for cereal crops, and is in nothing like the rest of Libya.
For the soil here is black, and springs of water abound; so that there is nothing to fear
from drought; nor do heavy rains (and it rains in that part of Libya) do any harm when
they soak the ground. The returns of the harvest come up to the measure which prevails in
Babylonia. The soil is likewise good in the country of the Euesperites; for there the land
brings forth in the best years a hundred-fold. But the Cinyps region yields three
hundred-fold.
The country of the Cyrenaeans, which is the highest tract within the part of Libya
inhabited by the wandering tribes, has three seasons that deserve remark. First the crops
along the sea-coast begin to ripen, and are ready for the harvest and the vintage; after
they have been gathered in, the crops of the middle tract above the coast region (the
hill-country, as they call it) need harvesting; while about the time when this middle crop
is housed, the fruits ripen and are fit for cutting in the highest tract of all. So that
the produce of the first tract has been all eaten and drunk by the time that the last
harvest comes in. And the harvest-time of the Cyrenaeans continues thus for eight full
months. So much concerning these matters.
Strabo: Geography, c. 22 A.D.
XVII.iii.1-11.
The writers who have divided the habitable world according to continents divide it
unequally. Africa wants so much of being a third part of the habitable world that, even if
it were united to Europe, it would not be equal to Asia; perhaps it is even less than
Europe; in resources it is very much inferior, for a great part of the inland and maritime
country is desert. It is spotted over with small habitable parts, which are scattered
about, and mostly belonging to nomad tribes. Besides the desert state of the country, its
being a nursery of wild beasts is a hindrance to settlement in parts which could be
inhabited. It comprises also a large part of the torrid zone. All the sea coast in our
quarter, situated between the Nile and the Pillars (of Hercules), particularly that which
belonged to the Carthaginians, is fertile and inhabited. And even in this tract, some
spots destitute of water intervene, as those about the Syrtes, the Marmaridae, and the
Catabathmus.
The shape of Africa is that of a right-angled triangle, if we imagine its figure to be
drawn on a plane surface. Its base is the coast opposite to us, extending from Egypt and
the Nile to Mauretania and the Pillars; at right angles to this is a side formed by the
Nile to Ethiopia, which side we continue to the ocean; the hypotenuse of the right angle
is the whole tract of sea-coast lying between Ethiopia and Mauretania. . . .Here dwell a
people called by the Greeks Maurusii, and by the Romans and the natives Mauretanii, a
populous and flourishing African nation, situated opposite to Spain, on the other side of
the strait, at the Pillars of Hercules, which we have frequently mentioned before. On
proceeding beyond the strait at the Pillars, with Africa on the left hand, we come to a
mountain which the Greeks call Atlas, and the barbarians Dyris. Thence projects into the
sea a point formed by the foot of the mountain towards the west of Mauretania, and called
the Coteis [modern Cape Espartel]. Near it is a small town, a little above the sea, which
the barbarians call "Trinx"; Artemidorus, "Lynx"; and Eratosthenes,
"Lixus" [modern Tangiers]. It lies on the side of the strait opposite to Gades
[modern Cádiz], from which it is separated by a passage of 800 stadia, the width
of the strait at the Pillars between both places. To the south, near Lixus and the Coteis,
is a bay called Emporicus [situated between modern Salee and el-Harâch], having upon it
Phoenician mercantile settlements. The whole coast continuous with this bay abounds with
them. Subtracting these bays, and the projections of land in the triangular figure which I
have described, the continent may rather be considered as increasing in magnitude in the
direction of south and east. The mountain which extends through the middle of Mauretania,
from the Coteis to the Syrtes, is itself inhabited, as well as others running parallel to
it, first by the Mauretanii, but deep in the interior of the country by the largest of the
African tribes, called Gaetuli.
Historians, beginning with the voyage of Ophelas (Apellas?), have invented a great
number of fables respecting the sea-coast of Africa beyond the Pillars. We have mentioned
them before, and mention them now, requesting our readers to pardon the introduction of
marvelous stories, whenever we may be compelled to relate anything of the kind, being
unwilling to pass them over entirely in silence, and so in a manner to mutilate our
account of the country. It is said that the Sinus Emporicus (or merchants' bay) was a cave
which admits the sea at high tide to the distance even of seven stadia, and in
front of this bay was a low and level tract with an altar of Hercules upon it, which, they
say, is not covered by the tide. This I, of course, consider to be one of the fictitious
stories. Like this is the tale that on other bays in the succeeding coast there were
ancient settlements of Tyrians, now abandoned, which consisted of not less than three
hundred cities, and were destroyed by the Pharusii and the Nigritae. These people, they
say, are distant thirty days' journey from Lixus.
Writers in general are agreed that Mauretania is a fertile country, except a small part
which is desert, and is supplied with water by rivers and lakes. It has forests of trees
of vast size, and the soil produces everything. It is this country which furnishes the
Romans with tables formed of one piece of wood, of the largest dimensions, and most
beautifully variegated. The rivers are said to contain crocodiles and other kinds of
animals similar to those in the Nile. Some suppose that even the sources of the Nile are
near the extremities of Mauretania. In a certain river leeches are bred seven cubits in
length, with gills, pierced through with holes, through which they respire. This country
is also said to produce a vine, the girth of which two men can scarcely compass, and
bearing bunches of grapes of about a cubit in size. All plants and pot-herbs are tall, as
the arum and dracontium [snake-weed]; the stalks of the staphylinus [parsnip?], the
hippomarathum [fennel], and the scolymus [artichoke] are twelve cubits in height, and four
palms in thickness. The country is the fruitful nurse of large serpents, elephants,
antelopes, buffaloes, and similar animals; of lions also and panthers. It produces weasels
(jerboas?) equal in size and similar to cats, except that their noses are more prominent,
and multitudes of apes, of which Poseidonius relates that when he was sailing from Gades
to Italy, and approached the coast of Africa, he saw a forest low upon the sea-shore full
of these animals, some on the trees, others on the ground, and some giving suck to their
young. He was amused also with seeing some with large dugs, some bald, others with
ruptures and exhibiting to view various effects of disease.
Above Mauretania, on the exterior sea (the Atlantic), is the country of the western
Ethiopians, as they are called, which for the most part is badly inhabited. Iphicrates
says that camel-leopards are bred here, and elephants, and the animals called rhizeis [the
rhinoceros], which in shape are like bulls, but in manner of living, in size, and strength
in fighting resemble elephants He speaks also of large serpents, and says that even grass
grows upon their backs; that lions attack the young of the elephants and that when they
have wounded them, they fly on the approach of the dams; that the latter, when they see
their young besmeared with blood, kill them; and that the lions return to the dead bodies,
and devour them; that Bogus king of the Mauretanii, during his expedition against the
western Ethiopians, sent, as a present to his wife, canes similar to the Indian canes,
each joint of which contained eight choenices [about six quarts], and asparagus of
similar magnitude.
On sailing into the interior sea, from Lynx, there are Zelis [modern Arzila], a city,
and Tingis [modern Tangiers], then the monuments of the Seven Brothers [the Septem-Fratres
of Pliny], and the mountain lying below, of the name of Abyle [modern Jebel-el-Mina or
Ximiera, near Ceuta], abounding with wild animals and trees of a great size. They say that
the length of the strait at the pillars is 120 stadia, and the least breadth at
Elephas [Gibraltar] 60 stadia. On sailing further along the coast, we find cities
and many rivers, as far as the river Molochath [the modern Moulouya], which is the
boundary between the territories of the Mauretanii and of the Masaesyli. Near the river is
a large promontory, and Metagonium [modern Mostaganem in Algeria], a place without water
and barren. The mountain extends along the coast, from the Coteis nearly to this place.
Its length from the Coteis to the borders of the Masaesylii is 5000 stadia.
Metagonium is nearly opposite to Nova Carthago [modern Cartagena]. Timosthenes is mistaken
in saying that it is opposite to Massillia [modern Marseilles]. The passage across from
Novo Carthago to Metagonium is 3000 stadia, but the voyage along the coast to
Massillia is above 6000 stadia.
Although the Mauretanii inhabit a country, the greatest part of which is very fertile,
yet the people in general continue even to this time to live like nomads. They bestow care
to improve their looks by plaiting their hair, trimming their beards, by wearing golden
ornaments, cleaning their teeth, and paring their nails; and you would rarely see them
touch one another as they walk, lest they should disturb the arrangement of their hair.
They fight for the most part on horseback, with a javelin; and ride on the bareback of the
horse, with bridles made of rushes. They have also swords. The foot soldiers present
against the enemy, as shields, the skins of elephants. They wear the skins of lions,
panthers, and bears, and sleep in them. These tribes, and the Masaesylii next to them, and
for the most part the Africans in general, wear the same dress and arms, and resemble one
another in other respects; they ride horses which are small, but spirited and tractable,
so as to be guided by a switch. They have collars made of cotton or of hair, from which
hangs a leading-rein. Some follow, like dogs, without being led. They have a small shield
of leather, and small lances with broad heads. Their tunics are loose, with wide borders;
their cloak is a skin, as I have said before, which serves also as a breastplate.
The Pharusii and Nigrites, who live above these people, near the western Ethiopians,
use bows and arrows, like the Ethiopians. They have chariots also, armed with scythes. The
Pharusii rarely have any intercourse with the Mauretanii in passing through the desert
country, as they carry skins filled with water, fastened under the bellies of their
horses. Sometimes, indeed, they come to Cirta [modern Constantine], passing through places
abounding with marshes and lakes. Some of them are said to live like the Troglodytae, in
caves dug in the ground. It is said that rain falls there frequently in summer, but that
during the winter drought prevails. Some of the barbarians in that quarter wear the skins
of serpents and fishes, and use them as coverings for their beds. Some say that the
Mauretanii are Indians, who accompanied Hercules hither. A little before my time, the
kings Bogus and Bocchus, allies of the Romans, possessed this country; after their death,
Juba succeeded to the kingdom, having received it from Augustus Caesar, in addition to his
paternal dominions. He was the son of Juba who fought, in conjunction with Scipio, against
divine Caesar. Juba died lately, and was succeeded by his son Ptolemy, whose mother was
the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra.
Next to Mauretania is the country of the Masaesylii, beginning from the river Molocath,
and ending at the promontory which is called Tretum [modern Ebba-Ras], the boundary of the
country of the Masaesylii and of the Masylies. From Metagonium to Tretum are 6000 stadia; according to others, the distance is less. Upon the sea-coast are many cities and rivers,
and a country which is very fertile. It will be sufficient to mention the most renowned.
The city of Siga [probably modern Tafna], the royal seat of Syphax, is at the distance of
1000 stadia from the above-mentioned boundaries. It is now razed. After Syphax, the
country was in the possession of Masanasses, then of Micipsa, next of his successors, and
in our time of Juba, the father of the Juba who died lately. Zama, which was Juba's
palace, was destroyed by the Romans. At the distance of 600 stadia from Siga is
Theon-limen (port of the gods); next are some other obscure places. Deep in the interior
of the country are mountainous and desert tracts scattered here and there, some of which
are inhabited and occupied by Gaetuli extending to the Syrtes. But the parts near the sea
are fertile plains, in which are numerous cities, rivers, and lakes.
Poseidonius says, but I do not know whether truly, that Africa is traversed by few, and
those small rivers; yet he speaks of the same rivers, namely those between Lynx and
Carthage, which Artemidorus describes as numerous and large. This may be asserted with
more truth of the interior of the country, and he himself assigns the reason of it,
namely, that in the northern parts of Africa (and the same is said of Ethiopia) there is
no rain; in consequence therefore of the drought, pestilence frequently ensues, the lakes
are filled with mud only, and locusts appear in clouds. . . .
Somewhere there, also, are copper mines; and a spring of asphalt; scorpions of enormous
size, both with and without wings, are said to be found there, as well as tarantulas,
remarkable for their size and numbers. Lizards also are mentioned of two cubits in length.
At the base of the mountains precious stones are said to be found, as those called
Lychnitis (the ruby) and the Carchedonius (the carbuncle?). In the plains are found great
quantities of oyster and mussel shells. There is also a tree called melilotus, from which
a wine is made. Some obtain two crops from the ground and have two harvests, one in the
spring, the other in the summer. The straw is five cubits in height, and of the thickness
of a little finger; the produce is 250-fold. They do not sow in the spring, but
bush-harrow the ground with bundles of the paliurus, and find the seed-grain sufficient
which falls from the sheaves during harvest to produce the summer crop.
Procopius of
Caesarea: History of the Wars, c. 550 CE
Books III.xxv.3-9; IV.vi.10-14, vii.3, xi.16-20, xiii.26-29
For all those who ruled over the Mauretanii in Mauretania and Numidia and Byzacium sent
envoys to Belisarius saying that they were slaves of the emperor and promised to fight
with him. There were some also who even furnished their children as hostages and requested
that the symbols of office be sent with them from him according to the ancient custom. For
it was a law among the Mauretanii that no one should be a ruler over them, even if he was
hostile to the Romans, until the emperor of the Romans should give him the tokens of the
office. And though they had already received them from the Vandals, they did not consider
that the Vandals held the office securely. Now these symbols are a staff of silver covered
with gold, and a silver cap---not covering the whole head, but like a crown and held in
place on all sides by bands of silver---a kind of white cloak gathered by a golden brooch
on the right shoulder in the form of a Thessalian cape, and a white tunic with embroidery,
and a gilded boot. And Belisarius sent these things to them, and presented each one of
them with much money. However, they did not come to fight along with him, nor, on the
other hand, did they dare give their support to the Vandals, but standing out of the way
of both contestants, they waited to see what would be the outcome of the war. . . .
The Mauretanii live in stuffy huts both in winter and in summer and at every other
time, never removing from them either because of snow or the heat of the sun or any other
discomfort whatever due to nature. And they sleep on the ground, the prosperous among
them, if it should so happen, spreading a fleece under themselves. Moreover, it is not
customary among them to change their clothing with the seasons, but they wear a thick
cloak and a rough shirt at all times. And they have neither bread nor wine nor any other
good thing, but they take grain, either wheat or barley, and, without boiling it or
grinding it to flour or barley-meal, they eat it in a manner not a whit different from
that of animals. . . .A certain Mauretanian woman had managed somehow to crush a little
grain, and making of it a very tiny cake, threw it into the hot ashes on the hearth. For
thus it is the custom among the Mauretanii to bake their loaves. . . .
Now there are lofty mountains there, and a level space near the foothills of the
mountains, where the Mauretanii had made preparations for the battle and arranged their
fighting order as follows. They formed a circle of their camels, just as, in the previous
narrative, I have said Cabaon did, making the front about twelve deep. And they placed the
women with the children within the circle; for among the Mauretanii it is customary to
take also a few women, with their children, to battle, and these make the stockades and
huts for them and tend the horses skillfully, and have charge of the camels and the food;
they also sharpen the iron weapons and take upon themselves many of the tasks in
connection with the preparation for battle; and the men themselves took their stand on
foot in between the legs of the camels, having shields and swords and small spears which
they are accustomed to hurl like javelins. And some of them with their horses remained
quietly among the mountains. . . .
And there are fortresses also on the mountain [called "Clypea" by the
Romans], which are neglected, by reason of the fact that they do not seem necessary to the
inhabitants. For since the time when the Mauretanii wrested Aurasium from the Vandals, not
a single enemy had until now ever come there or so much as caused the barbarians to be
afraid that they would come, but even the populous city of Tamougadis [Timgad], situated
against the mountain on the east at the beginning of the plain, was emptied of its
population by the Mauretanii and razed to the ground, in order that the enemy should not
only not be able to camp there, but should not even have the city as an excuse for coming
near the mountains. And the Mauretanii of that place held also the land to the west of
Aurasium, a tract both extensive and fertile. And beyond these dwelt other nations of the
Mauretanii, who were ruled by Ortaïas, who had come, as was stated above, as an ally of
Solomon and the Romans. And I have heard this man say that beyond the country which he
ruled there was no habitation of men, but desert land extending to a great distance, and
that beyond that there are men, not black-skinned like the Mauretanii, but very white in
body and fair-haired.
