a comparative study of a Roman frontier province. - Historia Antigua

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CHAPTER 4:
THE TRIBAL BACKGROUND II
4: 1 NOMADS AND FARMERS
1. Compare Herodotus, IV, 183 and Pliny, VIII, 178, on the backwards
grazing cattle of the Garamantes. Mela I, 23; I, 47 and Pliny, V, 26,
V, 44-45 show up a corruption to Herodotus' text where he described
the timorous neighbours of the Garamantes, the Gamphasantes (incorrectly
as Garamantes in the surviving manuscript).
2. Fentress 1979,18-19; Lassare 1977,349-51; Trousset 1982b, 97-110,
discuss the problems.
3. For descriptions of recent semi-nomadic practices see, unesco 1963
(especially, Bataillon 1963,113-21; Cauneille 1963,101-112 and
Sarel-Sternberg 1963,123-33); Johnson 1969, passim. For North Africa
in general see Despois 1958,217-75; Clarke 1955,157-67; 1959,95-108;
Lawless 1972,125-37; 1976,451-64.
4. Johnson 1969,15-19, argues that the classification problem is largely
one of semantics and believes the terms semi-nomadism and transhumance
are inapplicable in a North African context. Transhumance has become
so thoroughly adopted as a convenient term outside the alpine region,
where it was coined, that one can argue, contra Johnson, that its
original application is now meaningless. In a North African context it
can be used to describe the pastoral migrations of tribes which possess
fixed bases, often villages and which show a -tendency towards sedentari-
sation. Without more detailed information on the ancient tribes,
Johnson's proposed classification system is impossible to use in the
historical
field.
5. See Chapter 1: 2 and Chapter 3: 1, note 5.
6. Lawless 1972,125-37, Lassere 1977,349-51; Garnsey 1978,232-52; Shaw
1978; Whittaker 1978a, 332-37,344-50; Fentress 1979,18-60,191-200;
Trousset 1980a, 931-43; 1981,21-25; Barker 1981,131-45.
7. Trousset 1980a, 931-35.
8. Johnson 1969,11-12; 1973,29-91; Lawless 1972,125-37.
9. Whittaker 1978a, 232-37,344-50; Trousset 1980a, 935.
10. St. Augustine, Letters 46-47, referred to the entry of barbarians into
the Roman provinces as crop-watchers. A well-known inscription from
Mactar, CIL 8.11814, details the surprisingly successful career of a
man who started off as a landless labourer, migrating northwards,
following the harvest each year.
11. Trousset 1980a, 931-34, gives detailed references to the origins of this
theory, as also Chapter 1: 2, above.
12. Diodorus Sic., III, 49,1-3.
13. Camps 1960,72-77; Fentress 1979,66-67; Berthier 1981, Plates 8-9.
14. One need only compare the accounts written on the Garamantes since the
1930's to appreciate the advances made; Pace, Sergi and Caputo 1951,
passim; Daniels 1970a, passim; 1971a, 261-85.
15. Fentress 1979,18-60,191-200, especially 19-21. For the origins of
agriculture in Berber North Africa, see Camps 1960,58-91.
16. Polybius, XXXVII, 3; Diodorus Siculus, IV, 17,4-5; XXXII, 16,4;
Strabo, XXVII, 3,15. Fentress 1979,20-21 and Camps 1960,209-13
have pointed out the fallacy of these accounts.
17. Camps 1960,200 details the grain exports of Massinissa to the Romans.
For example, in 200 B. C. he exported 200,000 bushels of both wheat and
barley -a total of 36,016 hectolitres.
18. Sallust, BJ, XC, 1. The practice is also attested by Caesar, BAf, XX.
19. See, for instance, the maps published by Demougeot 1960; Trousset 1974;
Lassere 1977; Whittaker 1978a.
20. Garnsey 1978,232; Lawless 1972,128-34. Scylax (109) referred to an
annual migration made by the Macae from the coast inland, which sounds
like transhumance rather than semi-nomadism.