North Africa

2019 ◽  
pp. 626-643
Author(s):  
Alfredo Mederos Martín
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Small Islands ◽  
Main River ◽  
Algerian Coast ◽  
River Valleys ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

The Phoenician presence in modern-day Morocco and Algeria started no later than the beginning of the eighth century bce, with the city of Lixus on the Atlantic and its temple of Melqart, one of the oldest in the Phoenician diaspora. There was a process of intensification during the second half of the seventh century bce, with sites springing up along the main river valleys or on small islands close to the coast, such as Mogador and Rachgoun. These sites were founded to control the agricultural and cattle industries, as well as the trade in exotic goods such as ivory, purple dye, and luxury citron wood. This process continued during the first half of the sixth century bce, when for the first time less important rivers were occupied as ports of call. It is difficult to identify a Carthaginian colonial presence, since a large part of the evidence for a “Punic” presence on the Algerian coast belongs to the period of the Numidian kings, beginning in the third century bce. However, these must have been tributary cities which also obligatorily sent mercenaries to the Carthaginian army.

The Byzantine basilica church at Knossos

1962 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 186-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. C. Frend ◽  
David E. Johnston
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Small Stream ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Westerly Direction ◽  
British Institute ◽  
City Walls ◽  
The City

The Hellenistic and Roman city of Knossos occupied a broad plateau extending northward of the Minoan Palace towards the sea. For nearly a mile from the Palace the fields are studded with the debris of occupation. One of the great Roman town houses was partly excavated before the War by Mr. R. W. Hutchinson and the work has been continued by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Gough, now of the British Institute in Ankara. A splendid series of second- to third-century mosaics has been discovered depicting the Dionysiac cult. The city, however, had a Christian community at least as early as about A.D. 170, for in that period Eusebius records the name of a Bishop Pinytus, who earned a reputation for being a zealous moral reformer, and was regarded as an influential figure among correspondents of Bishop Dionysius of Corinth. In the Patristic period Knossos continued to be an important Christian centre, its bishop being present at the Councils of Ephesus, 431, Chalcedon, 451, and Nicaea, 787. The see of Knossos is also mentioned in lists of sees drawn up in the reign of Justinian, and in the eighth century. Between 731 and 787 it seems to have ranked as Protothronos, or second senior bishop. On the Bulgarian episcopal list of 980 Knossos is still recorded among the Cretan bishoprics.To judge from examples known from North Africa, such as Timgad, Djemila, and Tipasa, the main early Christian centre was likely to be outside the city walls where the cemeteries were located. There would be found the Christian area, and there, too, the earliest centre of worship. At Knossos it seems that a small stream which used to run in an east-westerly direction from the area of Fortetsa, until its course was altered to one slightly farther south when the new hospital was built, marked the boundary between the city and cemetery area.

The Hellenistic and Byzantine Defences of Tocra (Taucheira)

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 35-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Smith ◽  
James Crow
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Outer Wall ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Curtain Wall ◽  
South Side ◽  
Sea Wall ◽  
The City

AbstractThe fortifications of the Hellenistic and Roman city of Tocra are over 2 km long (including the sea-wall) and comprise a curtain wall up to 2 m wide flanked by 31 rectangular towers. Three main structural phases were noted in the survey carried out in 1966 by David Smith: (1) Hellenistic walls of isodomic ashlar, (2) later Hellenistic work of isodomic ashlar with bevelled edges, associated with the indented trace along the south rampart, and (3) an extensive rebuild of plain ashlar blocks including the towers and reconstruction to the East and West Gates, dateable, on the basis of Procopius, to the reign of Justinian. The general significance of the fortifications at Tocra is considered in the second part: these include the Hellenistic indented trace along the south side, later reinforced by towers in the sixth century AD. Also of wider importance was the use of an outer wall or proteichisma, and the pentagonal, pointed towers at the two main gates. Both these elements were unusual in Byzantine North Africa and they are discussed as part of the more general repertory of Byzantine fortifications. The unusual tower adjacent to the West Church is considered in the context of literary accounts. The article concludes by considering how the architecture and magnitude of the fortifications can allow a reassessment of the wider role of the city in the sixth and seventh century defences of Cyrenaica.

Christian Initiation

2018 ◽  
pp. 522-537
Author(s):  
Paul F. Bradshaw
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Stage Structure ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Christian Initiation ◽  
The Third ◽  
The City

The limited evidence for Christian initiation practices in Syria and North Africa in the third century suggests ritual patterns that differed from each other in some ways but followed the three-stage structure of rites of passage outlined by Arnold van Gennep, even if the first and third of the stages were relatively undeveloped at that time. The fourth century saw the elaboration of these together with the temporal contraction of the middle or liminal phase in the rites of Syria and Milan, as well as in the variant practice of the city of Jerusalem.

The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno

1981 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderick J. McIntosh ◽  
Susan Keech McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Site Survey ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Inland Niger Delta ◽  
Rice Fish ◽  
The City

The dates and circumstances of early references to Jenne have led historians to conclude that the city originated relatively late in time. It is widely believed that the city developed simultaneously with Timbuktu in the mid-thirteenth century as an artifact of trans-Saharan trade. Persistent oral traditions of the foundation of Jenne in the eighth century are generally discounted.Recent archaeological excavations at the ancestral site of Jenne-jeno have established that iron-using and manufacturing peoples were occupying the site in the third century B.C. The settlement proceeded to grow rapidly during the first millennium a.d., reaching its apogee between a.d. 750 and 1100, at which time the settlement exceeded 33 hectares (82 acres) in size. The archaeological data are supported by the results of site survey within a 1,100-square-kilometre region of Jenne's traditional hinterland. During the late first millennium a.d., several nearby settlements comparable in size to Jenne-jeno existed, and the density of rural settlements may have been as great as ten times the density of villages in the hinterland today.Evidence from excavation and survey indicates that Jenne participated in inter-regional exchange relations far earlier than previously admitted. The stone and iron in the initial levels at Jenne-jeno were imported from outside the Inland Delta; levels dated to c.a.d. 400 yield copper, presumably from distant Saharan sources. The importance of the abundant staple products of Jenne's rural hinterland, including rice, fish and fish oil, is examined in a reassessment of the extent of inter-regional commerce and the emergence of urbanism during the first millennium a.d. Jenne-jeno may have been a principal participant in the founding of commercial centres on the Saharan contact zone of the Bend of the Niger, rather than a product of the luxury trade serviced by those centres.

scholarly journals The distribution of Salvinia natans (L.) All. in the Odra and the Oława River valleys in Wrocław area (Poland)

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-14
Author(s):  
Mirosława Pietryka ◽  
Dorota Richter ◽  
Magda Podlaska
Keyword(s):  
Plant Communities ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Ecological Value ◽  
Aquatic Fern ◽  
Main River ◽  
Salvinia Natans ◽  
River Valleys ◽  
The City ◽  
Artificial Water

Abstract The data presented in this paper concern the occurrence of Salvinia natans (L.) All. in Wrocław area. Field research was conducted in the vegetation season (June-September) between 2013 and 2017 in water bodies (natural and artificial), in the main river beds of the Oława and the Odra Rivers and in the Odra canals in Wrocław. The study provided 32 S. natans locations in the city area. The studied species occurred in various plant communities accompanied by numerous species which were also under protection, increasing the ecological value of the habitats. Additionally, a stable S. natans site was confirmed by the study in a location where aquatic fern had previously been recorded in Wrocław. The research indicates numerous populations of the species along the Odra and the Oława and in many old river beds and artificial water bodies in Wrocław and the results confirm the visible trend of a growing number of S. natans sites in all of Poland.

Rome, the Arabs, and Iconoclasm

2021 ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Edward J. Watts
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Christian Worship ◽  
Iconoclastic Controversy

By the early seventh century a combination of Persian invasions and, ultimately, Arab conquests removed the Roman Empire from the Middle East and North Africa. Although the emperor Heraclius sparked a brief but dramatic Roman resurgence in the early 630s, these traumatic losses pushed Romans to reintroduce the rhetoric of decline and renewal. Instead of focusing on the traditional, pagan Roman past as Romans had done in earlier centuries, their seventh- and eighth-century counterparts thought about how the empire’s Christian religious practices had fallen away from the ideals that had once made Rome a powerful Christian empire. One result was the Iconoclastic controversy, an argument between Romans who embraced the role of icons in Christian worship and others who wanted to suppress their use. Both sides claimed that the religious practices for which their opponents advocated had broken with the traditions that had once made the empire strong.

VOTIVE OFFERINGS FROM THE SANCTUARY OF ARTEMIS ORTHIA, SPARTA, IN LIVERPOOL COLLECTIONS

2014 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 159-173
Author(s):  
Georgina Muskett
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Museums ◽  
Terracotta Figurines ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
Votive Offerings

Two museums in the city of Liverpool have material from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Sparta: the Garstang Museum of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology at the University of Liverpool, and World Museum, part of National Museums Liverpool.The artefacts from the Artemis Orthia sanctuary which are now in the collections in Liverpool represent all periods of the use of the sanctuary, between the eighth century bc and the third century ad. They comprise lead figurines and miniature vessels, both characteristic of Laconian sites, as well as other types of pottery and terracotta figurines. Large and more extravagant offerings, such as items made from ivory or bronze, are not represented. However, the range of artefacts, particularly lead figurines, is impressive, and complements the material from the sanctuary which has already been published, primarily in the volume edited by Dawkins and published in 1929. In addition, the collections include a few objects of exceptional interest, mentioned in the article with further details in the Appendix. A full listing of votive offerings from the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Liverpool collections complements the article.

scholarly journals Porphyreon through the Ages. The Fading Archaeological Heritage of the Lebanese Coast

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariusz Gwiazda
Keyword(s):  
Eighth Century ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Archaeological Heritage ◽  
The One ◽  
The City ◽  
Lebanese Coast ◽  
Initial Research ◽  
Coastal Settlement

Ancient Porphyreon (Jiyeh/Nebi Younis) was a large rural settlement located on the coast of modern-day Lebanon, near the Phoenician city of Sidon. This article presents the initial research results of the stratigraphic data, extending from at least the eighth century BC to the seventh century AD, and how Phoenician village functioned. Analysis proves that it played a significant role in the local economy—on the one hand, providing for the city of Sidon and, on the other, mediating the exchange of goods with rural settlements, scattered across the mountainous hinterland. Uncovering the mysteries of this coastal settlement is extremely important, especially in light of the increasing threat to the archaeological heritage of Lebanon.

scholarly journals O Gênero Epistolar na Antiguidade: a importância das Cartas de Cipriano para a História do Cristianismo Norte Africano (século III d.C.) * The Epistolary Genre in Antiquity: the importance of Letters of Cyprian for North African History of Christianity...

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
CAROLLINE DA SILVA SOARES
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Third Century ◽  
North African ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Christianity ◽  
The City

<p><strong>Resumo: </strong>Ao nos debruçarmos nos estudos acerca do cristianismo antigo percebemos que algumas análises ainda se pautam numa leitura teológica e doutrinal e tendem a deixar de lado os aspectos político-administrativos e disciplinares da organização das comunidades cristãs, bem como o cotidiano dos cristãos nas <em>ciuitates</em> greco-romanas. As epístolas de Cipriano, bispo de Cartago entre os anos 249 e 258, nos dão importantes informações acerca da constituição das comunidades cristãs africanas e do cotidiano dos cristãos cartagineses de meados do século III d. C., sobretudo durante o período das perseguições dos imperadores Décio e Valeriano. Nosso objetivo nesse artigo é discutir as informações contidas nas epístolas de Cipriano como fontes primordiais para a percepção do processo de desenvolvimento do cristianismo no norte da África, especificamente na cidade de Cartago durante o século III, momento no qual a crença cristã ainda é considerada uma <em>religio illicita</em>.</p><p><strong>Palavras-chave: </strong>Cristianismo – Cipriano – Cartas – Cristãos – Norte da África.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Abstract: </strong>By examining studies about ancient Christianity we realize that some analyzes are still in a guided reading theological and doctrinal, and tend to leave out the political and administrative aspects of the organization and discipline of the Christian communities, as well as the daily life of Christians at <em>ciuitates </em>Greco- Roman. The Epistles of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage between the years 249 and 258 , provides important information about the formation of the African Christian communities and the daily lives of Christians Carthaginians from the mid- third century A.D., especially during the period of the persecutions of the emperors Decius and Valerian. Our goal in this article is to argue the information contained in the epistles of Cyprian as main sources for the perception of the development of Christianity in North Africa, specifically in the city of Carthage during the third century, at which Christian belief is yet considered a <em>religio illicita.</em></p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Christianity – Cyprian – Letters – Christians – North Africa.</p>

Recent Excavations at Lepcis Magna

1995 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 101-104
Author(s):  
H. M. Walda
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
African City ◽  
The Third ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
The City

Lepcis Magna is one of the best examples of an African city during the Roman period. Its importance lies in its location in relation to the Mediterranean and the well-watered hinterland of Tripolitania and its resources. The key factor in the development of the city was its position, sheltered by a promontory, at the mouth of Wadi Lebda. It displays the processes of growth which other Roman town-plans have made familiar: a nuclear chessboard with divergent though mostly rectilinear enlargements. Lepcis became more important than the other two ports of Oea and Sabratha.Wealthy private citizens contributed greatly toward the buildings of the first century. In the second century the Libyan S. Severus became Emperor at a time when a lively and independent culture was growing up in the western part of North Africa. Lepcis attained its greatest architectural glories under S. Severus and his two sons. With the decline of seaborne trade that followed the serious economic crises at the end of the third century, raids by the tribes of the interior became bolder and more ruthless.

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