Farmers and Frontiers. Exploiting and Defending the Countryside of Roman Tripolitania

Abstract

The past two decades have seen dramatic changes of perspective and an explosion of new information in the broad fields covered by this overview. Within the constraints of space allowed it is not possible to cover all aspects or to mention all relevant publications. References to pre-1969 work have been kept to a minimum, except where dramatic revision of older views is now necessary.The traditional picture of the Roman frontier in Tripolitania owes an incalculable debt to the pioneering work of Richard Goodchild. Much of his observation remains of the highest value (accessible particularly through the volume of collected articles (edited by Joyce Reynolds), Goodchild 1976), but in the 40 years since his initial work on the limes Tripolitanus (1949a/b; 1950a/b; Ward-Perkins and Goodchild 1949) the available body of data has increased greatly and the conceptual framework for interpreting it has changed considerably (the scale of the reappraisal may be judged by comparing Brogan and Smith 1957 and 1985). The most controversial aspects of Goodchild's work concern the date of the development of a frontier in Tripolitania and the interpretation of the fortified farms which are so characteristic of the zone: ‘…no traces of a pre-Severan limes have yet been found. In this respect it may be significant that the linear fossata which Baradez has proved to constitute the central feature of the Numidian limes, and which he tentatively dated to the Hadrianic period, have not yet been found in the area of modern Tripolitania … Apart from … the outer fortresses of Gheriat el-Garbia and Bu Ngem … the military works of the limes Tripolitanus seem to have consisted almost exclusively of fortified farmhouses occupied by Libyan limitanei.’ (Goodchild 1950 = 1976, 44).

Rural settlement and economic activity

“…A rare exception is presented by Apuleius in his Apology, in which he describes estates belonging to his wife (Aemilia Pudentilla) in the hinterland of Oea. The problem can only be more fully addressed by the examination of the ample archaeological evidence for rural settlement including villas, farms, and presses (Cowper 1897;Goodchild 1951;1952a;Mattingly 1985;1987b;1988a;1988b;1988c;1989a;Oates 1953;1954).…”

“…Settlement intensified and agricultural settlements flourished. Mattingly suggests that the Gebel Tarhuna-Msellata was a desirable region due to market and investment demands (Mattingly 1985;1989a;. The expansion of settlement reached the marginal lands of the pre-desert area.…”

A road less travelled? The Society for Libyan Studies and the landscape archaeology of Libya's early civilisations

“…A prime focus of the article is to assess the results and significance of this body of work in terms of rural settlement patterns, the nature of indigenous societies, desert lifestyles and economies. In the broader context of North African archaeology I would argue this has been an influential contribution, opening important windows on the lives of ancient Libyan peoples beyond the immediate purview of the Classical cities (see Mattingly 1989, for an earlier review in the Society's 20th Anniversary year; Mattingly and Hitchner 1995, for a broad historiographic and thematic review of the state of the field 25 years ago as a base of comparison).…”