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75-455: A number of punic steles were found during excavations at the site of the modern day Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Immaculée-Conception de Sousse . The Phoenician and Punic name for the place was DRMT ( 𐤃‬𐤓‬𐤌𐤕‬ ), "Southern", or ʾDRMT ( 𐤀𐤃‬𐤓‬𐤌𐤕‬ ), "The Southern", which holds similarity to the hebrew word דרום "Darom" (south) or Ha-Dromit ("The southern") . A similar structure appears in

150-448: A Roman colony , its formal name was emended to Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Augusta Frugifera Hadrumetina to honor its imperial sponsor. It was renamed Honoriopolis after the emperor Honorius in the early 5th century, then Hunericopolis after the Vandal king Huneric and Justinianopolis after the first few years of occupation from emperor Justinian I. Hadrumetum controlled

225-697: A church in Sousse 7 meters underground. The church was the Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Immaculée-Conception de Sousse , built between 1865 and 1867 by the French authorities as the first church in Sousse. After war damage was repaired, it was later demolished by the local authorities as part of a renovation of the Old City of Sousse . In 1946, Alexis Truillot, curator of the Sousse Archaeological Museum , took advantage of

300-709: A client state of the Roman empire in 33 BC, after the death of king Bocchus II , then a full Roman province in AD 40, after the death of its last king, Ptolemy of Mauretania , a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty . According to historians of the Middle Ages, the Berbers were divided into two branches, Butr and Baranis (known also as Botr and Barnès), descended from Mazigh ancestors, who were themselves divided into tribes and subtribes. Each region of

375-482: A desire to quickly end conflict in a profitable client kingdom, sought to settle the quarrel by dividing Numidia into two parts. Jugurtha was assigned the western half. However, soon after, conflict broke out again, leading to the Jugurthine War between Rome and Numidia. In antiquity, Mauretania (3rd century BC – 44 BC) was an ancient Mauri Berber kingdom in modern Morocco and part of Algeria. It became

450-560: A more recent intrusion being associated with the Neolithic Revolution . The proto-Berber tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late Bronze - and early Iron ages. Uniparental DNA analysis has established ties between Berbers and other Afroasiatic speakers in Africa. Most of these populations belong to the E1b1b paternal haplogroup, with Berber speakers having among

525-553: A period, the Berbers were in constant revolt, and in 396 there was a great uprising. Thousands of rebels streamed down from the mountains and invaded Punic territory, carrying the serfs of the countryside along with them. The Carthaginians were obliged to withdraw within their walls and were besieged. Yet the Berbers lacked cohesion; and although 200,000 strong at one point, they succumbed to hunger, their leaders were offered bribes, and "they gradually broke up and returned to their homes". Thereafter, "a series of revolts took place among

600-476: A point of view fundamentally foreign to the Berbers. A population of mixed ancestry, Berber and Punic, evolved there, and there would develop recognized niches in which Berbers had proven their utility. For example, the Punic state began to field Berber–Numidian cavalry under their commanders on a regular basis. The Berbers eventually were required to provide soldiers (at first "unlikely" paid "except in booty"), which by

675-641: A renovation of the Old City. The first nine inscriptions were published by Julius Euting in 1872. Further inscriptions were found in 1946 after World War II bomb damage exposed more of the area around the church. The inscriptions are held between the Sousse Archaeological Museum , the Louvre and the Maison méditerranéenne des Sciences de l'homme . Euting bought the steles from Maltese masons at La Goulette ( Tunis ), who discovered them in 1867 during foundation work for

750-596: Is sometimes also used in English. While Berber is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for " barbarian ". Historically, Berbers did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyles use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while

825-552: The Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries CE. This started a process of cultural and linguistic assimilation known as Arabization , which influenced the Berber population. Arabization involved the spread of Arabic language and Arab culture among the Berbers, leading to the adoption of Arabic as the primary language and conversion to Islam . Notably, the Arab migrations to the Maghreb from

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900-852: The Byzantines , the Vandals and the Ottoman Turks . Even after the Arab conquest of North Africa , the Kabyle people still maintained possession of their mountains. According to the Roman historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus , the original people of North Africa are the Gaetulians and the Libyans, they were the prehistoric peoples that crossed to Africa from Iberia , then much later, Hercules and his army crossed from Iberia to North Africa where his army intermarried with

975-532: The Carthaginian Empire following Nebuchadnezzar II 's long siege of Tyre in the 580s and 570s   BC. Agathocles of Syracuse captured the town in 310   BC during the Seventh Sicilian War , as part of his failed attempt to move the conflict to Africa. Hadrumetum later provided refuge to Hannibal and other Carthaginian survivors after their 202   BC defeat at Zama , which decided

1050-560: The Donatist doctrine and being a Berber, ascribed to the doctrine matching their culture, as well as their being alienated from the dominant Roman culture of the Catholic church), some perhaps Jewish , and some adhered to their traditional polytheist religion . The Roman-era authors Apuleius and St. Augustine were born in Numidia, as were three popes , one of whom, Pope Victor I , served during

1125-516: The Holocene . In 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the prehistoric sites of Taforalt and Afalou in the Maghreb were also analyzed for ancient DNA . All of the specimens belonged to maternal clades associated with either North Africa or the northern and southern Mediterranean littoral , indicating gene flow between these areas since the Epipaleolithic . The ancient Taforalt individuals carried

1200-598: The Maghreb region of North Africa are collectively known as Berbers or Amazigh in English. Tribal titles such as Barabara and Beraberata appear in Egyptian inscriptions of 1700 and 1300 B.C, and the Berbers were probably intimately related with the Egyptians in very early times. Thus the true ethnical name may have become confused with Barbari , the designation naturally used by classical conquerors. The plural form Imazighen

1275-503: The Old City of Sousse (ancient Hadrumetum ). They were discovered between the Great Mosque of Sousse and the Ribat of Sousse , where the French authorities had chosen to build Sousse's first church, the Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Immaculée-Conception de Sousse , built between 1865 and 1867. After WWII war damage was repaired, the church was later demolished by the local authorities as part of

1350-576: The Roman era . Byzantine authors mention the Mazikes (Amazigh) as tribal people raiding the monasteries of Cyrenaica . Garamantia was a notable Berber kingdom that flourished in the Fezzan area of modern-day Libya in the Sahara desert between 400 BC and 600 AD. Roman-era Cyrenaica became a center of early Christianity . Some pre-Islamic Berbers were Christians (there is a strong correlation between adherence to

1425-613: The Zayyanids , and the Hafsids – continued to rule until the 16th century. From the 16th century onward, the process continued in the absence of Berber dynasties; in Morocco, they were replaced by Arabs claiming descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad . Berbers are divided into several diverse ethnic groups and Berber languages, such as Kabyles , Chaouis and Rifians . Historically, Berbers across

1500-547: The catacombs . It was the second city in Roman Africa after Carthage and the birthplace of Clodius Albinus , who attempted to become emperor in the 190s. At the end of the 3rd century, it became the capital of the new province of Byzacena (modern Sahel, Tunisia ). In 434, it was largely destroyed by the Vandals ; their fervent Arianism produced a number of orthodox martyrs in the remaining community, including SS   Felix and Victorian . A century later, Hadrumetum

1575-403: The early Berbers . Hence, the interactions between Berbers and Phoenicians were often asymmetrical. The Phoenicians worked to keep their cultural cohesion and ethnic solidarity, and continuously refreshed their close connection with Tyre , the mother city. The earliest Phoenician coastal outposts were probably meant merely to resupply and service ships bound for the lucrative metals trade with

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1650-488: The 5th century BC, Carthage expanded its territory, acquiring Cape Bon and the fertile Wadi Majardah , later establishing control over productive farmlands for several hundred kilometres. Appropriation of such wealth in land by the Phoenicians would surely provoke some resistance from the Berbers; although in warfare, too, the technical training, social organization, and weaponry of the Phoenicians would seem to work against

1725-553: The 7th century to the 17th century accelerated this process. Berber tribes remained powerful political forces and founded new ruling dynasties in the 10th and 11th centuries, such as the Zirids , Hammadids , various Zenata principalities in the western Maghreb, and several Taifa kingdoms in al-Andalus , and empires of the Almoravids and Almohads . Their Berber successors – the Marinids ,

1800-714: The Berber language and traditions best have been, in general, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. Much of Berber culture is still celebrated among the cultural elite in Morocco and Algeria, especially in the Kabylia , the Aurès and the Atlas Mountains . The Kabyles were one of the few peoples in North Africa who remained independent during successive rule by the Carthaginians , the Romans ,

1875-454: The Berber peoples also formed quasi-independent satellite societies along the steppes of the frontier and beyond, where a minority continued as free 'tribal republics'. While benefiting from Punic material culture and political-military institutions, these peripheral Berbers (also called Libyans)—while maintaining their own identity, culture, and traditions—continued to develop their own agricultural skills and village societies, while living with

1950-501: The Berbers continued throughout the life of Carthage. The unequal development of material culture and social organization perhaps fated the relationship to be an uneasy one. A long-term cause of Punic instability, there was no melding of the peoples. It remained a source of stress and a point of weakness for Carthage. Yet there were degrees of convergence on several particulars, discoveries of mutual advantage, occasions of friendship, and family. The Berbers gain historicity gradually during

2025-550: The Berbers who advanced their interests following the Roman victory. Carthage was faulted by her ancient rivals for the "harsh treatment of her subjects" as well as for "greed and cruelty". Her Libyan Berber sharecroppers, for example, were required to pay half of their crops as tribute to the city-state during the emergency of the First Punic War . The normal exaction taken by Carthage was likely "an extremely burdensome" one-quarter. Carthage once famously attempted to reduce

2100-501: The Berbers. Nonetheless, a modern criticism is that the Carthaginians "did themselves a disservice" by failing to promote the common, shared quality of "life in a properly organized city" that inspires loyalty, particularly with regard to the Berbers. Again, the tribute demanded by Carthage was onerous. [T]he most ruinous tribute was imposed and exacted with unsparing rigour from the subject native states, and no slight one either from

2175-530: The Byzantine acropolis and basilica ; the Roman horse track , cisterns , the theater ; and a Punic necropolis . As a major Roman city, Hadrumetum produced a number of Christian saints , including Mavilus during the regional persecutions of Caracalla 's reign and the Bishop Felix and proconsul Victorian during the Vandals ' efforts to forcibly convert their subjects to Arianism . From 255 to 551,

2250-536: The Chaouis identified themselves as "Ishawiyen" instead of Berber/Amazigh. Stéphane Gsell proposed the translation "noble/free" for the term Amazigh based on Leo Africanus 's translation of "awal amazigh" as "noble language" referring to Berber languages , this definition remains disputed and is largely seen as an undue extrapolation. The term Amazigh also has a cognate in the Tuareg "Amajegh", meaning noble. "Mazigh"

2325-843: The Iberians, and perhaps at first regarded trade with the Berbers as unprofitable. However, the Phoenicians eventually established strategic colonial cities in many Berber areas, including sites outside of present-day Tunisia, such as the settlements at Oea , Leptis Magna , Sabratha (in Libya), Volubilis , Chellah , and Mogador (now in Morocco). As in Tunisia, these centres were trading hubs, and later offered support for resource development, such as processing olive oil at Volubilis and Tyrian purple dye at Mogador. For their part, most Berbers maintained their independence as farmers or semi-pastorals, although, due to

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2400-727: The Imazighen were first mentioned in Ancient Egyptian writings . From about 2000 BCE, Berber languages spread westward from the Nile Valley across the northern Sahara into the Maghreb. A series of Berber peoples such as the Mauri , Masaesyli , Massyli , Musulamii , Gaetuli , and Garamantes gave rise to Berber kingdoms, such as Numidia and Mauretania . Other kingdoms appeared in late antiquity, such as Altava , Aurès , Ouarsenis , and Hodna . Berber kingdoms were eventually suppressed by

2475-433: The Libyans [Berbers] from the fourth century onwards". The Berbers had become involuntary 'hosts' to the settlers from the east, and were obliged to accept the dominance of Carthage for centuries. Nonetheless, therein they persisted largely unassimilated, as a separate, submerged entity, as a culture of mostly passive urban and rural poor within the civil structures created by Punic rule. In addition, and most importantly,

2550-530: The Maghreb contained several fully independent tribes (e.g., Sanhaja , Houaras, Zenata , Masmuda , Kutama , Awraba, Barghawata , etc.). The Mauro-Roman Kingdom was an independent Christian Berber kingdom centred in the capital city of Altava (present-day Algeria) which controlled much of the ancient Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis . Berber Christian communities within the Maghreb all but disappeared under Islamic rule. The indigenous Christian population in some Nefzaoua villages persisted until

2625-588: The Massylii, Masinissa, allied himself with Rome, and Syphax, of the Masaesyli, switched his allegiance to the Carthaginian side. At the end of the war, the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to Masinissa. At the time of his death in 148 BC, Masinissa's territory extended from Mauretania to the boundary of Carthaginian territory, and southeast as far as Cyrenaica, so that Numidia entirely surrounded Carthage except towards

2700-565: The Mauri, the Numidians near Carthage , and the Gaetulians . The Mauri inhabited the far west (ancient Mauretania , now Morocco and central Algeria). The Numidians occupied the regions between the Mauri and the city-state of Carthage. Both the Mauri and the Numidians had significant sedentary populations living in villages, and their peoples both tilled the land and tended herds. The Gaetulians lived to

2775-677: The Phoenician name for old Cadiz , which appears as Gadir ("Stronghold") or Agadir ("The Stronghold"). The ancient transcriptions of the name show a great deal of variation. Different Greeks hellenized the name as Adrýmē ( Ἀδρύμη ), Adrýmēs ( Ἀδρύμης ), Adrýmēton ( Ἀδρύμητον ), Adrýmētos ( Ἀδρύμητος ), Adramýtēs ( Ἀδραμύτης ), Adrámētós ( Ἀδράμητος ) and Adrumetum (Ἀδρούμητον). Surviving Roman inscriptions and coinage standardized its latinization as Hadrumetum but it appears in other sources as Adrumetum , Adrumetus , Adrimetum , Hadrymetum , etc. Upon its notional refounding as

2850-546: The Roman province of Mauretania (in modern Algeria and Morocco) to the west, the Roman province of Africa (modern Tunisia) to the east, the Mediterranean to the north, and the Sahara Desert to the south. Its people were the Numidians. The name Numidia was first applied by Polybius and other historians during the third century BC to indicate the territory west of Carthage, including the entire north of Algeria as far as

2925-649: The Tassili n'Ajjer paintings, developed and predominated in the Saharan and Mediterranean region (the Maghreb) of northern Africa between 6000 and 2000 BC (until the classical period). Prehistoric Tifinagh inscriptions were found in the Oran region. During the pre-Roman era, several successive independent states (Massylii) existed before King Masinissa unified the people of Numidia . The areas of North Africa that have retained

3000-715: The arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb . Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages , most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family . They are indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco , Algeria , Libya , and to a lesser extent Tunisia , Mauritania , northern Mali and northern Niger . Smaller Berber communities are also found in Burkina Faso and Egypt 's Siwa Oasis . Descended from Stone Age tribes of North Africa, accounts of

3075-427: The city was the seat of a Christian bishopric . The see was revived in the 17th century as a Catholic titular see . There were nine ancient bishops of Hadrumetum who are still known. 35°49′28″N 10°38′20″E  /  35.82444°N 10.63889°E  / 35.82444; 10.63889 Hadrumetum Punic inscriptions The Hadrumetum Punic inscriptions are Punic votive inscriptions found in

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3150-481: The cognate Phoenician states. ... Hence arose that universal disaffection, or rather that deadly hatred, on the part of her foreign subjects, and even of the Phoenician dependencies, toward Carthage, on which every invader of Africa could safely count as his surest support. ... This was the fundamental, the ineradicable weakness of the Carthaginian Empire ;... The Punic relationship with the majority of

3225-450: The complexity of the politics involved. Eventually, the Phoenician trading stations would evolve into permanent settlements, and later into small towns, which would presumably require a wide variety of goods as well as sources of food, which could be satisfied through trade with the Berbers. Yet, here too, the Phoenicians probably would be drawn into organizing and directing such local trade, and also into managing agricultural production. In

3300-582: The elegant Libyan pharaohs on the Nile). Correspondingly, in early Carthage, careful attention was given to securing the most favourable treaties with the Berber chieftains, "which included intermarriage between them and the Punic aristocracy". In this regard, perhaps the legend about Dido , the foundress of Carthage, as related by Trogus is apposite. Her refusal to wed the Mauritani chieftain Hiarbus might be indicative of

3375-553: The example of Carthage, their organized politics increased in scope and sophistication. In fact, for a time their numerical and military superiority (the best horse riders of that time) enabled some Berber kingdoms to impose a tribute on Carthage, a condition that continued into the 5th century BC. Also, due to the Berbero-Libyan Meshwesh dynasty 's rule of Egypt (945–715 BC), the Berbers near Carthage commanded significant respect (yet probably appearing more rustic than

3450-511: The excavations carried out at the church, following the destruction in the war, to attempt a survey of the site. Nine further Punic stelae were found, including three with inscriptions. [REDACTED] Media related to Hadrumetum inscriptions at Wikimedia Commons Berbers Berbers , or the Berber peoples , also known as Amazigh or Imazighen , are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate

3525-530: The fourth century BC became "the largest single element in the Carthaginian army". Yet in times of stress at Carthage, when a foreign force might be pushing against the city-state, some Berbers would see it as an opportunity to advance their interests, given their otherwise low status in Punic society. Thus, when the Greeks under Agathocles (361–289 BC) of Sicily landed at Cape Bon and threatened Carthage (in 310 BC), there were Berbers, under Ailymas, who went over to

3600-516: The head of " Neptune " or the Sun. During the civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar , G. Considius Longus secured Hadrumetum for the Optimates with forces equivalent to two legions . Despite being reinforced by Gn. Calpurnius Piso 's Berber cavalry and footmen from Clupea , however, he was obliged to allow Caesar to land nearby on 28 December 47   BC. According to Suetonius , this landing

3675-399: The highest frequencies of this lineage. Additionally, genomic analysis found that Berber and other Maghreb communities have a high frequency of an ancestral component that originated in the Near East. This Maghrebi element peaks among Tunisian Berbers. This ancestry is related to the Coptic/Ethio-Somali component, which diverged from these and other West Eurasian-affiliated components before

3750-516: The invading Greeks. During the long Second Punic War (218–201 BC) with Rome (see below), the Berber King Masinissa ( c.  240  – c.  148 BC) joined with the invading Roman general Scipio, resulting in the war-ending defeat of Carthage at Zama, despite the presence of their renowned general Hannibal; on the other hand, the Berber King Syphax (d. 202 BC) had supported Carthage. The Romans, too, read these cues, so that they cultivated their Berber alliances and, subsequently, favored

3825-415: The line of its military harbor; both had been mostly artificial and have silted up since antiquity. Louis Carton and Abbé   Leynaud rediscovered the Christian catacombs in 1904; the tunnels extend for miles through small subterranean galleries filled with Roman and Byzantine sarcophagi and inscriptions. In addition to the Punic walls, Roman harbors, and Byzantine catacombs, there are ruins of

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3900-496: The local populace and settled the region permanently, the Medes of his army that married the Libyans formed the Maur people, while the other part of his Army formed the Nomadas or as they are today known as the Numidians which later on united all of Berber tribes of North Africa under the rule of Massinissa . According to the Al-Fiḥrist , the Barber (i.e. Berbers) comprised one of seven principal races in Africa. The medieval Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), recounting

3975-573: The maternal haplogroups K1 , T2 and X2 , the latter of which were common mtDNA lineages in Neolithic Europe and Anatolia . These ancient individuals likewise bore the Berber-associated Maghrebi genomic component. This altogether indicates that the late-Neolithic Kehf el Baroud inhabitants were ancestral to contemporary populations in the area, but also likely experienced gene flow from Europe . The late-Neolithic Kehf el Baroud inhabitants were modelled as being of about 50% local North African ancestry and 50% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. It

4050-450: The maternal haplogroups U6a and M1 , all of which are frequent among present-day communities in the Maghreb. These ancient individuals also bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. Additionally, fossils excavated at the Kelif el Boroud site near Rabat were found to carry the broadly-distributed paternal haplogroup T-M184 as well as

4125-467: The money he was carrying and the town went over to Caesar. Hadrumetum was one of the most important communities in Roman North Africa because of the fertility of its hinterland (modern Tunisia's Sahel ), which made it an important source of Rome's grain supply . It quarreled with its neighbor Thysdrus over the temple of a goddess equated to Minerva , which stood on their shared border. Under Augustus , Hadrumetum's coins bore his face obverse and

4200-415: The mouth of a small river on the Gulf of Hammamet ( Latin : Sinus Neapolitanus ), an inlet of the Mediterranean along the Tunisian coast. In the 9th century   BC, Tyrians established Hadrumetum as a trading post and waypoint along their trade routes to Italy and the Strait of Gibraltar . Its establishment preceded Carthage 's but, like other western Phoenician colonies , it became part of

4275-433: The mtDNA haplogroups U6 , H , JT , and V , which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period. Human fossils excavated at the Ifri n'Amr ou Moussa site in Morocco have been radiocarbon dated to the Early Neolithic period, c.  5,000 BC. Ancient DNA analysis of these specimens indicates that they carried paternal haplotypes related to the E1b1b1b1a (E-M81) subclade and

4350-405: The name (and often face) of Africa's proconsul reverse ; after Augustus, the mint was closed. Hadrumetum revolted while Vespasian was proconsul of Africa . It nonetheless continued to prosper; Trajan gave it the rank of a Roman colony , giving its residents Roman citizenship . A breathtaking legacy of intricate mosaics survives from this era, together with many early Christian objects from

4425-469: The near south, on the northern margins of the Sahara , and were less settled, with predominantly pastoral elements. For their part, the Phoenicians ( Semitic-speaking Canaanites ) came from perhaps the most advanced multicultural sphere then existing, the western coast of the Fertile Crescent region of West Asia . Accordingly, the material culture of Phoenicia was likely more functional and efficient, and their knowledge more advanced, than that of

4500-409: The newcomers from the east in an asymmetric symbiosis. As the centuries passed, a society of Punic people of Phoenician descent but born in Africa, called Libyphoenicians emerged there. This term later came to be applied also to Berbers acculturated to urban Phoenician culture. Yet the whole notion of a Berber apprenticeship to the Punic civilization has been called an exaggeration sustained by

4575-416: The number of its Libyan and foreign soldiers, leading to the Mercenary War (240–237 BC). The city-state also seemed to reward those leaders known to deal ruthlessly with its subject peoples, hence the frequent Berber insurrections. Moderns fault Carthage for failure "to bind her subjects to herself, as Rome did [her Italians]", yet Rome and the Italians held far more in common perhaps than did Carthage and

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4650-410: The oral traditions prevalent in his day, sets down two popular opinions as to the origin of the Berbers: according to one opinion, they are descended from Canaan, son of Ham , and have for ancestors Berber, son of Temla, son of Mazîgh, son of Canaan, son of Ham, a son of Noah; alternatively, Abou-Bekr Mohammed es-Souli (947 CE) held that they are descended from Berber, the son of Keloudjm ( Casluhim ),

4725-491: The outcome of the Second Punic War . The total length of the Punic fortifications was apparently 6,410 meters (21,030 ft); some ruins survive. During the Third Punic War , the government of Hadrumetum supported the Romans against Carthage and, after Carthage's destruction in 146   BC , it received additional territory and the status of a free city in thanks. During this period, it chose its own shufets ( Latin : duumvir ) and minted its own bronze coins with

4800-400: The region did not see themselves as a single cultural or linguistic unit, nor was there a greater "Berber community", due to their differing cultures. They also did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to their own groups and communities. They started being referred to collectively as Berbers after the Arab conquests of the 7th century and this distinction

4875-402: The reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus , who was a North African of Roman/Punic ancestry (perhaps with some Berber blood). Numidia (202 – 46 BC) was an ancient Berber kingdom in modern Algeria and part of Tunisia. It later alternated between being a Roman province and being a Roman client state . The kingdom was located on the eastern border of modern Algeria, bordered by

4950-410: The river Mulucha ( Muluya ), about 160 kilometres (100 mi) west of Oran. The Numidians were conceived of as two great groups: the Massylii in eastern Numidia, and the Masaesyli in the west. During the first part of the Second Punic War, the eastern Massylii, under King Gala , were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli, under King Syphax, were allied with Rome. In 206 BC, the new king of

5025-493: The same population as modern Berbers. The Maghreb region in northwestern Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers from at least 10,000 BC. Cave paintings , which have been dated to twelve millennia before present, have been found in the Tassili n'Ajjer region of southeastern Algeria. Other rock art has been discovered at Tadrart Acacus in the Libyan desert. A Neolithic society, marked by domestication and subsistence agriculture and richly depicted in

5100-559: The sea. Masinissa was succeeded by his son Micipsa . When Micipsa died in 118 BC, he was succeeded jointly by his two sons Hiempsal I and Adherbal and Masinissa's illegitimate grandson, Jugurtha , of Berber origin, who was very popular among the Numidians. Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarreled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led to open war with Adherbal. After Jugurtha defeated him in open battle, Adherbal fled to Rome for help. The Roman officials, allegedly due to bribes but perhaps more likely out of

5175-445: The son of Mesraim , the son of Ham. They belong to a powerful, formidable, brave and numerous people; a true people like so many others the world has seen – like the Arabs, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans. The men who belong to this family of peoples have inhabited the Maghreb since the beginning. As of about 5000 BC, the populations of North Africa were descended primarily from the Iberomaurusian and Capsian cultures, with

5250-519: The tribal Berbers. This social-cultural interaction in early Carthage has been summarily described: Lack of contemporary written records makes the drawing of conclusions here uncertain, which can only be based on inference and reasonable conjecture about matters of social nuance. Yet it appears that the Phoenicians generally did not interact with the Berbers as economic equals, but employed their agricultural labour, and their household services, whether by hire or indenture; many became sharecroppers . For

5325-426: Was retaken and rebuilt by the Byzantines during the Vandal War . It was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century. The ruins of Hadrumetum stood in the village of Hammeim, 10 kilometers (6 mi) from the later Sousse , which grew up to include them in its outskirts. Under colonial rule , the French engineer A. Daux rediscovered the jetties and moles of the Roman town's commercial harbor and

5400-569: Was revived by French colonial administrators in the 19th century. Today, the term "Berber" is viewed as pejorative by many who prefer the term "Amazigh". Since the late 20th century, a trans-national movement – known as Berberism or the Berber Culture Movement – has emerged among various parts of the Berber populations of North Africa to promote a collective Amazigh ethnic identity and to militate for greater linguistic rights and cultural recognition. The indigenous populations of

5475-706: Was suggested that EEF ancestry had entered North Africa through Cardial Ware colonists from Iberia sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC. They were found to be closely related to the Guanches of the Canary Islands . The authors of the study suggested that the Berbers of Morocco carried a substantial amount of EEF ancestry before the establishment of Roman colonies in Berber Africa . The great tribes of Berbers in classical antiquity (when they were often known as ancient Libyans) were said to be three (roughly, from west to east):

5550-425: Was the occasion of the famously deft recovery, when Caesar tripped while coming ashore but dealt with the poor omen by grabbing handfuls of dirt and proclaiming "I have you now, Africa!" ( Latin : teneo te Africa ) Caesar's attempts to negotiate with Longus were rejected but the campaign subsequently led to his victory over Metellus Scipio and Juba at Thapsus , after which Longus was killed by his own men for

5625-590: Was used as a tribal surname in Roman Mauretania Caesariensis . Abraham Isaac Laredo proposes that the term Amazigh could be derived from "Mezeg", which is the name of Dedan of Sheba in the Targum . Ibn Khaldun says the Berbers were descendants of Barbar, the son of Tamalla, son of Mazigh, son of Canaan , son of Ham , son of Noah . The Numidian , Mauri , and Libu populations of antiquity are typically understood to refer to approximately

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