Early history of Tunisia

History of Tunisia
ANCIENT HISTORY OF TUNISIA
Early eras
  Berbers: origin, language, society, religion
Punic Era
  Phoenicia, City of Carthage; Berbers; Romans
Roman Era
  Berber kings; Africa Province; Vandals; Byzantines
MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF TUNISIA
Early Islamic Era
  Ifriqiya: Umayyad, Aghlabid; Berbers; Fatimid
Medieval Era
  Berber states: Zirid, Almohad, Hafsid; Ibn Khaldun
Ottoman Era
  Pasha & Dey; Muradid, Husaynid; Modern reform
MODERN HISTORY OF TUNISIA
  French Era
  Protectorate; Independence movement
  Modern Era
  Republic: Bourghiba, Ben Ali; Revolution; Society & Culture

The Early History of Tunisia includes the general background, the last millennia of prehistory and the earliest recorded history of its native Berber people. Modern commentary and reconstructions are presented concerning their ancient livelihood, material culture, religion, and social organization, including tribal confederacies. Evidence comes from various artifacts, inscriptions, and historical writings; a view of the remote past is derived by disciplines studying languages and genetics. Perhaps eight millennia ago, already there were prior peoples established here, among whom the proto-Berbers (coming from the east) mingled and mixed, and from whom the Berber people would spring, during an era of their ethno-genesis.[1][2] Today half or more of modern Tunisians appear to be the descendants of ancient Berber ancestors.[3][4][5]

Contents

Berber background

The people commonly known today as the Berbers were anciently more often known as Libyans. Yet many "Berbers" have for long self-identified as Imazighen or "free people" (etymology uncertain).[6] Mommsen, a widely admired historian of the 19th century, wrote:

"They call themselves in the Riff near Tangier Amâzigh, in the Sahara Imôshagh, and the same name meets us, referred to particular tribes, on several occasions among the Greeks and Romans, thus as Maxyes at the founding of Carthage, as Mazices in the Roman period at different places in the Mauretanian north coast; the similar designation that has remained with the scattered remnants proves that this great people has once had a consciousness, and has permanently retained the impression, of the relationship of its members."

Other names were used by their ancient neighbors: Libyans (by Egyptians and later by Greeks), Nomades (by Greeks), Numidians (by Romans), and later Berbers (by the Arabs); also the self-descriptive Mauri in the west; and Gaetulians in the south.[7][8][9]

Berbers together with their relations and descendants have been the major population group to inhabit the North African regions since about eight kya (thousand years ago).[10][11][12][13] This region includes terrain from the Nile to the Atlantic, encompassing the vast Sahara at whose center rise the mountain heights of Ahaggar and Tibesti. In the west the Mediterranean coastlands are suitable for agriculture and also have for hinterland the Atlas Mountains. This region includes the land now known as the Republic of Tunisia.[14] Yet the most ancient written records concerning the Berbers are those reported by neighboring peoples. When the Berbers enter history during the first millennium BC, their own points of view on situations and events are, unfortunately, not available to us.[15]

Evidence of human habitation in the region, however, stretches back one or two million years.[16] Cavalli-Sforza includes the Berbers in a much larger genetic group, one which also includes S.W. Asians, Iranians, Europeans, Sardinians, Indians, S.E. Indians, and Lapps. Cavalli-Sforza also makes two related observations. The Berbers and those S.W. Asians who speak Semitic idioms together belong to a large and ancient language family (the Afroasiatic). This large language family incorporates in its ranks members from two different genetic groups, i.e., (a) some elements of the one listed by Cavalli-Sforza immediately above, and (b) one called by him the Ethiopian group. This Ethiopian group inhabits lands from the Horn to the Sahel region of Africa.[17][18] In confirmation of Cavalli-Sforza's genetic conclusions, recent demographic study indicates a common Neolithic origin for both the Berber and Semitic populations.[19]

Dating to the Mesolithic era, stone blades and tools, as well as small stone figurines, of the Capsian culture (named after Gafsa, Tunisia) are connected to the prehistoric presence of the Berbers in North Africa. Also connected are some of the monuments built of very large rocks (dolmens), found throughout the western Mediterranean.[20][21] A commonly held view of Berber origins is that Paleo-Mediterranean peoples long occupying the region combined with several other largely Mediterranean groups, two from the east near S.W.Asia and bringing the Berber languages about eight to ten kya, (one traveling west along the coast and the other by way of the Sahel and the Sahara), with a third intermingling earlier from Iberia.[22][23] "At all events, the historic peopling of the Maghrib is certainly the result of a merger, in proportions not yet determined, of three elements: Ibero-Maurusian, Capsian and Neolithic."[24] A widespread opinion is that the Berbers are a mixed ethnic group sharing the related and ancient Berber languages.[25][26]

Saharan rock art, the inscriptions and the paintings that show various design patterns as well as figures of animals and of humans, are attributed to the Berbers and also to black Africans from the south. Dating these art works has proven difficult and unsatisfactory.[27][28] Egyptian influence is considered very unlikely.[29] Some images infer a terrain much better watered. Among the animals depicted, alone or in staged scenes, are large-horned buffalo (the extinct bubalus antiquus), elephants, donkeys, colts, rams, herds of cattle, a lion and lioness with three cubs, leopards or cheetahs, hogs, jackles, rhinoceroses, giraffes, hippopotamus, a hunting dog, and various antelope. Human hunters may wear animal masks and carry their weapons. Herders are shown with elaborate head ornamentation; a few dance. Other human figures drive chariots, or ride camels.[30][31]

By five kya (thousand years ago) a neolithic culture was evolving among the Berbers of northwest Africa, characterized by agriculture and animal domestication, pottery and finely chipped stone implements including arrowheads.[32] Wheat and barley were sown, beans and chick peas cultivated. Ceramic bowls and basins, goblets, large plates, as well as dishes raised by a central column, were in daily use; these domestic items were hung up on the wall. For clothing findings indicates hooded cloaks, and also cloth woven into stripes of different color. Sheep, goats, and cattle measured wealth.[33] From physical evidence unearthed in Tunisia archaeologists present the Berbers as already "farmers with a strong pastoral element in their economy and fairly elaborate cemeteries", well over a thousand years before the Phoenicians arrived to found Carthage.[34]

Prior to written records about them, sedentary rural Berbers apparently lived in semi-independent farming villages, composed of small tribal units under a local leader.[35] Yet seasonally the villagers might have left to find pasture for their herds and flocks. Modern conjecture is that feuding between neighborhood clans at first impeded organized political life among these ancient Berber farmers, so that social coordination did not develop beyond the village level.[36] On the more marginal lands, pastoral Berbers roamed to find grazing for their animals. Tribal authority was strongest among the latter wandering pastoralists, much weaker among the agricultural villagers, and would later attenuate with the advent of cities.[37] By particularly fertile regions, larger villages arose. In the west of the Maghrib, the Berbers reacted to the growing military threat from colonies started by Phoenician traders. Eventually Carthage and its sister city-states would inspire Berber villages to join together in order to marshall large-scale armies, which naturally called forth strong, centralizing leadership. Punic social techniques from the nearby polities were adopted by the Berbers, to be modified for their own use.[38][39] To the east, the Berbero-Libyans had interacted with the Egyptians during the earlier rise of the ancient Nile civilization.

Accounts of the Berbers

Meshwesh (mšwš.w)
in hieroglyphs

Egyptian hieroglyphs from early dynasties testify to Libyans, the Berbers of the "western desert".[40] First mentioned as the Tehenou during the pre-dynastic reigns of Scorpion (c. 3050) and of Narmer (on an ivory cylinder), their appearance is later shown in a bas relief of the Fifth Dynasty temple of Sahure. Ramses II (r.1279-1213) placed Libyan contingents in his army.[41] Tombs of the 13th century contain paintings of Libu leaders wearing fine robes, with ostrich feathers in their "dreadlocks", short pointed beards, and tattoos on their shoulders and arms.[42] Evidently, Osorkon the Elder (Akheperre setepenamun), a Berber leader of the Meshwesh tribe, became the first Libyan pharaoh. Several decades later, his nephew Shoshenq I (r.945-924) became Pharaoh of Egypt, and the founder of its Twenty-second Dynasty (945-715).[43][44] In 926 Shoshenq (Shishak of the Bible) successfully campaigned to Jerusalem then under Solomon's heir.[45][46] For several centuries Egypt was governed by a decentralized political system based on the Libyan tribal organization of the Meshwesh. Becoming acculturated, Libyans also eventually served as high priests at centers of Egyptian religion.[47] Hence during the classical era of the Mediterranean, all of the Berber peoples of North Africa were often collectively called Libyans, after the Meshwesh dynasty.[48][49][50]

In the far west, foreigners came to know of some Berbers living in remote deserts as Gaetulians; more familiar coastal Bebers were known as Numidians, and also as the Mauri or Maurisi (later the Moors).[51][52][53] The western Berbers are mentioned in ancient literature (by Herodotus) regarding specific military events during the 5th century BC, i.e., c. 480, as mercenaries of Carthage in Sicily.[54] Thereafter the Berbers more frequently enter into the early light provided by various Greek and Roman historical works. Yet unfortunately, apart from the Punic inscriptions, little Carthaginian literature has survived.[55][56] During these centuries, Berbers of the western regions actively traded and intermingled most frequently with Carthage, founded by Phoenicians; the name Libyphoenicians was coined for the cultural and ethnic mix surrounding the city. Political skills and civic arrangements encountered in Carthage, as well as material culture, were adopted by the Berbers for their own use.[57][58] In the 4th century Berber kingdoms are referenced, e.g., the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus evidently mentions the Libyo-Berber king Aelymas, a neighbor of Carthage, who dealt with Agathocles (361-289), a Greek ruler in Sicily.[59][60]

A bilingual (Punic and Berber) inscription of the 2nd century BC from urban Numidia, specifically from the ancient city of Thugga (modern Dougga, Tunisia), indicates a complex city administration, with the Berber title GLD (cognate to modern Berber Aguellid, or paramount tribal chief) designating the ruling municipal officer. This top position apparently rotated among the selected members of the leading Berber families. Since the Numidian titles of the offices mentioned (GLD, MSSKWI, GZBI, GLDGIML) were not translated into Punic but left in Berber, it suggests an indigenous development.[61][62]

Circa 220 BC, three large kingdoms had arisen among the Berbers (west to east): (1) the Mauri (in modern Morocco) under king Baga; (2) the Masaesyli (in northern Algeria) under Syphax who ruled from two capitals, Siga (near modern Oran) and to the east Cirta (modern Constantine); and (3) the Massyli (south of Cirta, west and south of Carthage) ruled by Gala [Gaia], father of Masinissa. Following the Second Punic War, both Roman and Hellenic states gave Masinissa the great honors befitting an admired King.[64]

In his history of Rome Ab urbe condita, Livy (59-AD 17) provides some indication of the character and career of the Masinissa the Berber king, during the era of the Second Punic War.[65] Livy tells us of Masinissa's early military services to Carthage and of his victory with Carthage over the Masaesyli led by Syphax; next, of his leading cavalry units for Carthage against Rome in Hispania. Masinissa then switches sides to ally with Rome, and personally meets with Scipio Africanus the celebrated Roman general in Hispania. Next follows the death of his father Gala the King of the Massyli, his return home where an usurpation takes over the kingdom of the Massyli, and subsequently his life as a guerilla leader in the mountains of Africa. By persistent struggle Masinissa regains his kingdom; but quickly comes an invasion by Syphax who defeats him and takes over the Massyli kingdom, after which Masinissa escapes into the bush. Later, his forces find the army of Scipio who has landed in Africa; in battle they defeat an army of Carthage. Syphax is captured; Masinissa's envoys meet with the Roman Senate. Hannibal, recalled from Italy to defend Carthage, fights the Battle of Zama (202 BC) against the Roman army under Scipio, with Masinissa leading the cavalry on Scipio's right wing. Following victory, Masinissa is restored to his Massyli kingdom, then called Numidia, where he will rule for fifty years.[66][67]

Ancient Berber religion

The religion of the ancient Berbers, of course, is difficult to uncover sufficiently to satisfy the imagination. Burial sites provide early indication of religious beliefs; more than sixty thousand tombs are located in the Fezzan alone.[70] The construction of many tombs indicates their continuing use for ceremonies and sacrifices.[71] A grand tomb for a Berber king, traditionally assigned to Masinissa (238-149) but perhaps rather to his father Gala, still stands: the Medracen in eastern Algeria. Architecture for the elegant tower tomb of his contemporary Syphax shows some Greek or Punic influence.[72] Much information about Berber beliefs comes from classical literature. Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425) mentions that Libyans of the Nasamone tribe, after prayers, slept on the graves of their ancestors in order to induce dreams for divination. The ancestor chosen being regarded the best in life for uprightness and valor, hence a tomb imbued with spiritual power. Oaths also were taken on the graves of the just.[73][74] In this regard, the Numidian king Masinissa was widely worshipped after his death.[75]

Early Berbers beliefs and practices are often characterized as a religion of nature. Procreative power was symbolized by the bull, the lion, the ram. Fish carvings represented the phallus, a sea shell the female sex, which objects could become charms.[76][77] The supernatural could reside in the waters, in trees, or come to rest in unusual stones (to which the Berbers would apply oils); such power might inhabit the winds (the Sirocco being formidable across North Africa).[78] Herodotus writes that the Libyans sacrificed to the sun and moon.[79] The moon (Ayyur) was conceived as being masculine.[80][81]

Later many other supernatural entities became identified and personalized as gods, perhaps influenced by Egyptian or Punic practice; yet the Berbers seemed to be "drawn more to the sacred than to the gods."[82] Early worship sites might be in grottoes, on mountains, in clefts and cavities, along roadways, with the "altars casually made of turf, the vessels used still of clay with the deity himself nowhere", according to the Berber author Apuleius (born c. 125 CE), commenting on the local worship of earlier times.[83] Often only a little more than the names of the Berber deities are known, e.g., Bonchar, a leading god.[84] Julian Baldick, culling literature covering many eras and regions, provides the names and rôles of many Berber deities and spirits.[85][86]

The Berbero-Libyans came to adopt elements from ancient Egyptian religion. Herodotus writes of the divine oracle, sourced in the Egyptian god Ammon, located among the Libyans at the oasis of Siwa.[87] The god of the Siwa oracle, however, may be a Libyan deity.[88] Later, Berber beliefs would influence the religion of Carthage, the city-state founded by Phoenicians.[89] George Aaron Barton suggested that the prominent goddess of Carthage Tanit originally was a Berbero-Libyan deity whom the newly arriving Phoenicians sought to propitiate by their worship.[90][91] Later archeological finds show a Tanit from Phoenicia.[92][93][94] From linguistic evidence Barton concluded that before developing into an agricultural deity, Tanit probably began as a goddess of fertility, symbolized by a tree bearing fruit.[95] The Phoenician goddess Ashtart was supplanted by Tanit at Carthage.[96]

Berber tribal affiliations

The grand tribal identities of Berber antiquity were said to be the Mauri, the Numidians, and the Gaetulians. The Mauri inhabited the far west (ancient Mauritania, now Morocco and central Algeria). The Numidians were located between the Mauri and the city-state of Carthage. Both had large sedentary populations. The Gaetulians were less settled, with large pastoral elements, and lived in the near south on the margins of the Sahara.[97][98][99] The medieval historian of the Maghrib, Ibn Khaldun, is credited or blamed for theorizing a causative dynamic to the different tribal confederacies over time.[100][101] Issues concerning tribal social-economies and their influence have generated a large literature, which critics say is overblown. Abdallah Laroui discounts the impact of tribes, declaring the subject a form of obfuscation which cloaks suspect colonial ideologies. While Berber tribal society has made an impact on culture and government, their continuance was chiefly due to strong foreign interference which usurped the primary domain of the government institutions, and derailed their natural political development. Rather than there being a predisposition for tribal structures, the Berber's survival strategy in the face of foreign occupation was to figuratively retreat into their own way of life through their enduring tribal networks.[102] On the other hand, as it is accepted and understood, tribal societies in the Middle East have continued over millennia and from time to time flourish.[103]

Berber tribal identities survived undiminished during the long period of dominance by the city-state of Carthage. Under centuries of Roman rule also tribal ways were maintained. The sustaining social customs would include: communal self-defense and group liability, marriage alliances, collective religious practices, reciprocal gift-giving, family working relationships and wealth.[104][105] Abdallah Laroui summarizes the abiding results under foreign rule (here, by Carthage and by Rome) as: Social (assimilated, nonassimilated, free); Geographical (city, country, desert); Economic (commerce, agriculture, nomadism); and, Linguistic (e.g., Latin, Punico-Berber, Berber).[106]

During the initial centuries of the Islamic era, it was said that the Berbers tribes were divided into two blocs, the Butr (Zanata and allies) and the Baranis (Sanhaja, Masmuda, and others).[107] The etymology is unclear, perhaps deriving from tribal customs for clothing ("abtar" and "burnous"), or perhaps words coined to distinguish the nomad (Butr) from the farmer (Baranis). The Arabs drew most of their early recruits from the Butr.[108] Later, legends arose which spoke of an obscure, ancient invasion of North Africa by the Himyarite Arabs of Yemen, from which a prehistoric ancestry was evidently fabricated: Berber descent from two brothers, Burnus and Abtar, who were sons of Barr, the grandson of Canaan[109] (Canaan being the grandson of Noah through his son Ham).[110] Both Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) and Ibn Hazm (994-1064) as well as Berber genealogists held that the Himyarite Arab ancestry was totally unacceptable.[111][112] This legendary ancestry, however, played a rôle in the long Arabization process that continued for centuries among the Berber peoples.[113][114]

In their medieval Islamic history the Berbers may be divided into three major tribal groups: the Zanata, the Sanhaja, and the Masmuda. These tribal divisions are mentioned by Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406).[115] The Zanata early on allied more closely with the Arabs and consequently became more Arabized, although Znatiya Berber is still spoken in small islands across Algeria and in northern Morocco (the Rif and north Middle Atlas). The Sanhaja are also widely dispersed throughout the Maghrib, among which are: the sedentary Kabyle on the coast west of modern Algiers, the nomadic Zanaga of southern Morocco (the south Anti-Atlas) and the western Sahara to Senegal, and the Tuareg (al-Tawarik), the well-known camel breeding nomads of the central Sahara. The descendants of the Masmuda are sedentary Berbers of Morocco, in the High Atlas, and from Rabat inland to Azru and Khanifra, the most populous of the modern Berber regions.[116][117][118]

Medieval events in Ifriqiya and al-Maghrib often have tribal assoiciations. Linked to the Kabyle Sanhaja were the Kutama tribes, whose support worked to establish the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171, only until 1049 in Ifriqiya); their vassals and later successors in Ifriqiya the Zirids (973-1160) were also Sanhaja.[119] The Almoravids (1056–1147) first began far south of Morocco, among the Lamtuna Sanhaja.[118] From the Masmuda came Ibn Tumart and the Almohad movement (1130–1269), later supported by the Sanhaja. Accordingly, it was from among the Masmuda that the Hafsid dynasty (1227-1574) of Tunis originated.[117][120][121]

Berber language history

Twenty or so Berber languages[122][123][124] (also called Tamazight) are spoken in North Africa. Berber speakers were once predominate over all this large area, but as a result of Arabization and later local migrations, today Berber languages are reduced to several large regions (in Morocco, Algeria, and the central Sahara) or remain as smaller language islands.[125][126] Several linguists characterize the Berber spoken as one language with many dialect variations, spread out in discrete regions, without ongoing standardization.[127] The Berber languages may be classified as follows (with some more widely known languages or language groups shown in italics).[128][129] Ethnic historical correspondence is suggested by the designation |Tribe|.[130]

Nota Bene: The classification and nomenclature of Berber languages lack complete consensus.[132]

The Libyan Berbers developed their own writing system, evidently derived from Phoenician,[133] as early as the 4th century BC.[134][135] It was a boustrophic script, i.e., written left to right then right to left on alternating lines, or up and down in columns.[136] Most of these early inscriptions were funerary and short in length. Several longer texts exist, taken from Thugga, modern Dougga, Tunisia. Both are bilingual, being written in Punic with its letters and in Berber with its letters. One throws some light on the governing institutions of the Berbers in the 2nd century BC.[137] The other text begins: "This temple the citizens of Thugga built for King Masinissa... ."[138] Today the script descendent from the ancient Libyan remains in use; it is called Tifinagh.[139]

Berber, however, no longer is widely spoken in present day Tunisia; e.g., centuries ago many of its Zenata Berbers became Arabized.[140] Today in Tunisia the small minority that speaks Berber may be heard on Jerba island, around the salt lakes region, and near the desert, as well as along the mountainous border with Algeria (across this frontier to the west lies a large region where the Zenati Berber languages and dialects predominate).[141][142] In contrast, use of Berber is relatively common in Morocco,[143] and also in Algeria,[144] and in the remote central Sahara.[145][146] Berber poetry endures,[147] as well as a traditional Berber literature.[148][149]

Taken together these Berber languages constitute one of the five branches[150][151][152] of Afroasiatic,[153][154][155][156][157][158] a pivotal world language family, which stretches from Mesopotamia and Arabia across the Nile river and the Horn of Africa to the Atlas Mountains and Lake Chad. The other four branches of Afroasiatic are: Ancient Egyptian, Semitic (which includes Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, and Amharic), Cushitic (around the Horn and the lower Red Sea),[159] and Chadic (e.g., Hausa). The Afroasiatic language family has great diversity among its member idioms and a corresponding antiquity in time depth,[160][161] both as to the results of analyses in historical linguistics and as regards the seniority of its written records, composed using the oldest of writing systems.[162][163][164] The combination of linguistic studies with other information about prehistory taken from archaeology and the biological sciences has been adumbrated.[165][166] Earlier academic speculation as to the prehistoric homeland of Afroasiatic and its geographic spread centered on a source in southwest Asia,[167][168][169] but more recent work in the various related disciplines has focused on Africa.[170][171][172][173]

The conjecture proposed by the well-regarded linguist and historian Igor M. Diakonoff may be summarized. From a prehistoric homeland near Darfur, which was better watered,[174][175] the "Egyptians" were the first to break from the proto Afroasiatic communities, before ten kya (thousand years ago). These proto Egyptian language speakers headed north. At about the same time, the Chadic branch left, traveling west. About eight kya the speakers of the proto Cushitic languages broke off and journeyed east. During the next millennium or so, the remaining proto Semitic and Berber speakers ("Semito-Libyan") eventually went their divergent ways. The Semites passed by the then marshlands of the lower Nile and crossed into Asia (evidently the Semitic speakers anciently present in Ethiopia remained in Africa or later crossed back to Africa from Arabia). Meanwhile, the peoples who spoke proto Berbero-Libyan spread out westward across North Africa, along the Mediterranean coast and into a Sahara region then better watered, traveling in a centuries-long migration until reaching the Atlantic and its offshore islands.[176][177][178][179] Later, Diakonoff revised his proposed prehistory, moving the Afroasiatic homeland north toward the lower Nile, then a land of lakes and marshes. This change reflects several linguistic analyses showing that common Semitic then shared very little "cultural" lexicon with the common Afroasiatic.[180] Hence the proto Semitic speakers probably left the common Afroasiatic community earlier, by ten kya (thousand years ago), starting from an area nearby a more fruitful Sinai. Accordingly, he situates the related Berbero-Libyan speakers of that era by the coast, to the west of the lower Nile.[181][182][183]

Sea traders from the east

The historical era opens with the advent of traders coming by sea from the eastern Mediterranean. Eventually they were followed by a stream of colonists, landing and settling along the coasts of Africa and Iberia, and on the islands of the western seas.

Technological innovations following economic development in the eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and along the Nile, increased the demand for various metals not found locally in sufficient quantity. Phoenician traders recognized the relative abundance and low cost of the needed metals among the goods offered for trade by local merchants in Hispania, which spurred trade.[184] In the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, much of this Mediterranean commerce, as well as the corresponding trading settlements located at coastal stops along the way to the west, were directed by the kings, e.g., Hiram of Tyre (969-936).[185]

By three thousand years ago the Levant and Hellas had enjoyed remarkable prosperity, resulting in population growth in excess of their economic base. On the other hand, political instability from time to time caused disruption of normal business and resulted in short term economic distress. City-states started organizing their youth to migrate in groups to locations where the land was less densely settled. Importantly, the number of colonists coming from Greece was much larger than those coming from Phoenicia.[186] To these migrants lands in the western Mediterranean presented an opportunity and could be reached relatively easily by ship, without marching through foreign territory. Colonists sailed westward following in the wake of their commercial traders. The Greeks arrived later, coming to (what is now) southern France, southern Italy including Sicily, and Libya. Earlier the Phoenicians had settled in (what is now) Sardinia, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Sicily, and of course, Tunisia.[187]

This history continues with History of Punic era Tunisia.

Reference notes

  1. ^ Camps, Gabriel (1996). Les Berbères. Edisud. pp. 11–14. 
  2. ^ Brett and Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 14–15.. 
  3. ^ Gerard et al.: North African Berber and Arab Influences in the Western Mediterranean Revealed by Y-Chromosome DNA Haplotypes 2006.
  4. ^ See also authorities cited here below. This ethic origin is sometimes called Arabized Berber.
  5. ^ See History of Tunisia preview, for information on the Tunisian geography and climate.
  6. ^ Brett, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 5–6. 
  7. ^ Theodor Mommsen, Römanische Geschichte, volume 5 (Leipzig 1885, 5th ed. 1904), translated as The Provinces of the Roman Empire (London: R. Bentley 1886; London: Macmillan 1909; reprint: Barnes and Noble, New York 1996) at II: 303, 304. By ancient Mauretania Mommsen here would be refetring to present-day Morocco.
  8. ^ Greeks regularly called people whose speech they could not recognize "barbarians".
  9. ^ Ancient Egyptians also knew of a Berber tribe called Meshwesh. See below section entitled, "Accounts of the Berbers".
  10. ^ Camps, Gabriel (1996). Les Berbères. Edisud. pp. 11–14, 65.  Camps posits a new influx around 6000 B.C. that joined a pre-existing population (an archeologist, Camps founded the Institut d'Etudes Berberes at the Univesité de Aix-en-Provence).
  11. ^ Brett, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 5, 12–13.  Brett and Fentress refer to Gabriel Camps at 7, 12, 15-16.
  12. ^ Professor Jamil Abun-Nasr mentions the arrival of the Libou (Libyans) up to 5000 years ago, in his A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge University 1971) at 7.
  13. ^ McBurney, C. B. M. (1960). The Stone Age in North Africa. Pelican. pp. 84. 
  14. ^ Image of Ksar Ouled Soltane, at right margin.
  15. ^ Laroui, Abdallah (1970, 1977). L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthesis (translated as: The History of the Maghrib). Librairie François Maspero; Princeton Univ.. pp. 3–26.  Professor Laroui here laments that until well into the period of ancient history the story of the indigenous people was told by their antagonists, because the Berbers themselves then left no writings. Thus the ancient point of view of the Berbers is little known; rather they appear as "pure object and can be seen only through the eyes of foreign conquerors". Laroui (1970, 1977) at 10. In this regard, Laroui criticizes several French historians, including Gabriel Camps cited above, not for their research results, but because Laroui finds they continue to portray the Berbers as marginalized in terms of their history. Ibid., at 15-25, 23-25, 60n43.
  16. ^ L. Balout, "The prehistory of North Africa" 241-250, at 241, in General History of Africa, volume I, Methodology and African Prehistory Abridged Edition. (University of California/UNESCO 1989).
  17. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, & Alberto Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes (Princeton University 1994) at 99. Notwithstanding this genetic distinction, there is evidently some overlap. It is suggested that the Tuareg Berbers are genetically linked to the "Ethiopian" Beja (ancient Blemmyes) of the Red Sea hills area of the Sudan; in coming west into the central Sahara, the Tuareg may have adopted Berber speech. Ibid. at 172-173.
  18. ^ See below, "Berber language history" for discussion regarding Afroasiatic.
  19. ^ "Our analyses suggest that contemporary Berber populations possess the genetic signature of a past migration of pastoralists from the Middle East and that they share a dairying origin with Europeans and Asians, but not with sub-Saharan Africans". Sean Myles, Nourdine Bouzekri, Eden Haverfield, Mohamed Cherkaoui, Jean-Michel Dugoujon, Ryk Ward, "Genetic Evidence in support of a shared Eurasian-North African dairying origin" in Human Genetics (Berlin & Heidelberg: Springer 2005) 117/1: 34-42, "Abstract" at 34. SpringerLink - Journal Article
  20. ^ Brent, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 10–13, 17–22, map of dolmen regions at 17.  The dolmens are found both north and south of the Mediterranean Sea.
  21. ^ The Capsian culture was preceded by the Ibero-Maurusian in North Africa. J.Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" at 236-245, 236-238, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  22. ^ Abdallah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton 1977) at 17, 60 (re S.W.Asians, referencing the earlier work of Gsell).
  23. ^ Camps, Gabriel (1996). Les Berbères. Edisud. pp. 11–14, 65.  Camps has an influx at eight kya (thousand years ago), with an earlier Iberian prospering at twelve kya.
  24. ^ J. Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" 236-245, at 237, in General History of Africa, v.II Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990).
  25. ^ Mário Curtis Giordani, História da África. Anterior aos descobrimentos (Petrópolis, Brasil: Editora Vozes 1985) at 42-43, 77-78. Giordani references Bousquet, Les Berbères (Paris 1961).
  26. ^ Also see infra, "Berber language history" re Afroasiatic, in particular Diakonoff's discussion about prehistoric populations.
  27. ^ Lloyd Cabot Briggs, Tribes of the Sahara (Harvard Univ. & Oxford Univ. 1960) at 38-40.
  28. ^ P. Salama, "The Sahara in Classical Antiquity" at 286-295, 291, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  29. ^ Julian Baldick, Black God (Syracuse University 1997) at 67.
  30. ^ C.B.M.McBurney, The Stone Age of Northern Africa (Pelican 1960) at 258-266.
  31. ^ J.Ki-Zerbo, "African prehistoric art" at 284-296, 286, in General History of Africa, volume I, Methodology and African Prehistory (UNESCO 1989), Abridged Edition.
  32. ^ Lloyd Cabot Briggs, Tribes of the Sahara (Harvard Univ. & Oxford Univ. 1960) at 34-36.
  33. ^ J. Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" 236-245, at 241-243, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  34. ^ Brett, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 16. .
  35. ^ Soren, Ben Khader, Slim, Carthage (Simon and Schuster 1990) at 44-45.
  36. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 33-34 (villages and clans), at 135 (semi-pastoral).
  37. ^ Cf., Abdallah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton 1977) at 64.
  38. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 24-25 (adaptation of Punic political skills).
  39. ^ Abdallah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton 1977) at 61-62 (Phoenician pressure).
  40. ^ The Palermo Stone (named for the Museo Archeologico Regionale in Palermo, where much of it is kept), also called the Libyan Stone, contains a list of the earliest pharaohs up to the Fifth dynasty of Egypt (2487-2348) as well as about fifty prior rulers. Some consider these fifty earlier rulers to be Libyan Berbers, from whom the pharaohs derived. Helene F. Hagan, "Book Review" of Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996), at paragraph "a".
  41. ^ J. Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" 236-245, at 238-240, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (University of California/UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  42. ^ Brent, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 22, illustration at 23. 
  43. ^ Erik Hornung, Grunzüge der äegyptischen Geschichte (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche 1978), translated as History of Ancient Egypt (Cornell Univ. 1999) at xv, 52-54; xvii-xviii, 128-133. In 818 the ruling Bubastid house split, both of its Berber Meshwesh branches continuing to rule, one later called the 23rd Dynasty. Hornung (1978, 1999) at 131.
  44. ^ Almost two millennia later a Fatimid Berber army would again occupy Egypt from the west, and establish a dynasty there. See History of early Islamic Tunisia#Fatimids: Shi'a Caliphate.
  45. ^ 2nd Chronicles 12:2-9.
  46. ^ Erik Hornung, History of Ancient Egypt (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche 1978; Cornell University 1999) at 129.
  47. ^ Erik Hornung, History of Ancient Egypt (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche 1978; Cornell University 1999) at 129, 131
  48. ^ Welch, Galbraith (1949). North African Prelude. Wm. Morrow. pp. 39. 
  49. ^ Abun-Nasr (1971). A History of the Maghrib. Cambridge University. pp. 7. 
  50. ^ Cf., Herodotus (c.484-c.425), The Histories IV, 167-201 (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 328-337; and per the Garamantes of the Libyan desert (the Fezzan) at 329, 332.
  51. ^ Strabo (c. 63-A.D. 24). Geographica. pp. XVIII, 3, ii. ; cited by René Basset, Moorish Literature (Collier 1901) at iii.
  52. ^ Cf., Abdallah Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (Paris 1970; Princeton 1977) at 65.
  53. ^ Yet the names Mauri and Moor have been used by ancient and medieval authors to designate also black Africans coming from south of the Sahara. Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience (Harvard University 1970) at 11-14.
  54. ^ According to Herodotus (c. 490-425), The Histories at VII, 167; translated by Audrey de Selincourt, revised by A.R.Burn (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 499.
  55. ^ B.H.Warmington, "The Carthiginian Period" 246-260, at 246 (no literature of Carthage remains), 248 (Mago of Carthage began to employ Berbers as mercenaries in the sixth century), in General History of Africa, volume III. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990).
  56. ^ Carthage's long and frequent interaction with the Berber peoples surrounding them, are not known to us from their accounts because we do not possess the writings of Carthage. Serge Lancel, Carthage. A History (Oxford: Blackwell 1992, 1995) at 358-360.
  57. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 34.
  58. ^ Gabriel Camps, Les Berbères (Edisud 1996) at 19-21.
  59. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 25, 287.
  60. ^ Diodorus Siculus (first century B.C.E., historian of Sicily [Siculus]), his Bibliothecae Historicae at xx, 17.1, 18.3; cited by Ilevbare, Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers (1981) at 14.
  61. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 37-40 (Berber urban offices).
  62. ^ These municipal titles are given using letters that represent only the consonant sounds, i.e., without indicating the vowel sounds, which is characteristic of the Phoenician and other Semitic scripts (e.g., Aramaic). Hebrew and Arabic modernly indicate the vowel sounds by the addition of "diacritical points" usually placed above the letters. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet. An account of the origin and development of letters (London 1883, reprint Madras 1991) at I: 159-161.
  63. ^ Livy (59-A.D.17), Ab urbe condita at XXIV, 48; Livy here translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, edited by Betty Radice, as The War with Hannibal (Penguin 1965, 1972) at 290, where the modern footnote makes Masinissa ten years older than his age in Livy's text, giving him a birth date of circa 240 B.C..
  64. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 24-27 (kingdoms).
  65. ^ Livy, Ab urbe condita at XXIX, 29; translated as The War with Hannibal (Penguin 1965, 1972) at 604. Livy writes: "Since Masinissa was by far the greatest of all the kings of his time and rendered much the most valuable service to Rome, I feel that it is worth while to digress a little in order to tell [his] story... ."
  66. ^ Livy, The War with Hannibal (Penguin 1965, 1972) at 290-291, 340 (with Carthage against Syphax, and against Rome in Spain), 455 (his nephew captured and released by Scipio), 519, 543-545 (Masinissa and Scipio), 604-612 (from his father's death to Scipio's early victory), 632, 640 (Syphax captured, the Roman Senate), 661-663 (the Battle of Zama).
  67. ^ See History of Roman era Tunisia#Rome and the Berber kingdoms.
  68. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 127, 129.
  69. ^ Cf. Mohammed Chafik, "Elements lexicaux Berberes pouvant apporter un eclairage dans la recherche des origines prehistoriques des pyramides" in Revue Tifinagh ##11-12: 89-98 (1997).
  70. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 23.
  71. ^ Gabriel Camps, Monuments et rites funéraires protohistoriques (Paris: Arts & Métiers Graphiques 1961), cited in Baldick, Black God. Afroasiatic roots of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions (1997) at 68-69; and generally his chapter 3 "North Africa" at 67-91.
  72. ^ Tomb of Syphax is at Siga near Oran. Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 27-31.
  73. ^ Herodotus (c.484-c.425), The Histories IV, 172-174 (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 329 (divination).
  74. ^ J.A.Ilevbare, Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers. A Study of Social Evolution in Ancient North Africa (Ibadan Univ. 1981) at 118, 122-123, referencing also Tertullian (160-c.230) of Carthage, his Apologia at 5.1.
  75. ^ Masinissa was venerated not so much as divine but "because they recognized his greatness and his merit which had an element of the divine." Ilevbare, Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers (1981) at 124, citing the third century Roman Christian author (probably of North Africa) Minucius Felix, Octavius at 21.9.
  76. ^ J.Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" at 236-245, 243, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  77. ^ Cf. Baldick, Black God (1997) at 72, 78, 79, 81. Here Baldick mentions instances where a limited sexual license has been allowed annually on a calendar day determined by the season and the stars or phase of the moon.
  78. ^ Baldick, Black God (1997) at 70, 72, 73.
  79. ^ Herodotus (c.484-c.425), Istoreia, IV 188, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt, revised by A.R.Burn, as The Histories (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 333-334 (sun and moon).
  80. ^ Julian Baldick, Black God: Afroasiatic Roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Religions (London: I.B.Tauris 1997) at 20 (Semitic moon god, sun goddess), 70 (sun and moon worshipped by Berbers), 74 (another Berber moon god, Ieru), 89-91 (Berber religion within the Afroasiatic). See below Berber language history regarding Afroasiatic.
  81. ^ Cf., Brian Doe, Southern Arabia (New York: McGraw-Hill 1971) at 25 (moon god ['LMQH], sun goddess Dhat Hamym).
  82. ^ J.Desanges, "The proto-Berbers" at 236-245, 243-245, 245, in General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  83. ^ Ilevbare, Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers (1981) at 121, quoting the Roman-era Berber writer Apuleius, his Apologia 25, 13.
  84. ^ There is a third century AD relief from ancient Vaga (now Béja, Tunisia), with Latin inscription, which shows seven Berber gods (the Dii Mauri or Mauran gods) seated on a bench: Bonchar in the center with a staff (master of the pantheon), to his right sits the goddess Vihina with an infant at her feet (childbirth?), to her right is Macurgum holding a scroll and a serpent entwined staff (health?), to Bonchar's left is Varsissima (without attributes), and to her left is Matilam evidently presiding over the sacrifice of a boar; at the ends are Macurtan holding a bucket and Iunam (possibly the moon). Aicha Ben Abad Ben Khader and David Soren, Carthage: A Mosaid of Ancient Tunisia (American Museum of Natural History 1987) at 139-140.
  85. ^ Baldick, Black God: Afroasiatic Roots of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Religions (London: I.B.Tauris 1997) at chapter 3, "North Africa". From Tertullian: Varsutina, chief goddess of Mauri (at 72); from inscriptions: the god Baccax, object of pilgrimages (at 73-74), Ieru, moon god (74), Lilleu, male personification of rain water (74); from a Byzantine source: Gurzil, bull god with stone idol (74-75), Sinifere, war god (74), Mastiman, infernal deity, to whom human sacrifices made (74); late medieval Canary Islands: the god Eraoranzan, worshipped by men (77), the goddess Moneyba, venerated by women (74), Idafe, worshipped as a tall thin rock (77); spirits from modern sources: Imbarken, Saharan spirits who controlled the winds (79), Tenunbia, female being represented by dolls, used to invoke the rain (79), Anzar, male personification of rain (89). Also mentioned are Amun-Re of Egypt (67), Tanit of Carthage (at 71, 74, 79), or those given Roman names (Caelestis at 74, 79), or Arabic names (e.g., the devils Shamarikh at 75).
  86. ^ J.A.Ilevbare from inscriptions gives the Berber names of many gods in his Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers (1981) at 120. At specified places: Bocax, Auliswa, Mona, Mathamos, Draco, Lilleus, Abaddir; and five gods together near Theveste: Masiden, Thililva, Suggan, Iesdan, and Masiddica. Sinifere, a war god (compared to Mars). Mastina, who received human sacrifice (compared to Jupiter). Gurzil, personified as a "magical" bull let loose in battle, hence a war god.
  87. ^ The Libyan oracle was sister to the divine oracle of Dodona in Greece, according to Herodotus (c.484-c.425), in his The Histories II, 55-56 (Penguin 1954, 1972) at 153-154.
  88. ^ J.A.Ilevbare in his Carthage, Rome, and the Berbers (Ibadan Univ. 1981) at 117-118, states that there was a Libyan god Ammon concerned with divination whose oracle was at the Siwa oasis, this god being apart from the Egyptian god of Thebes also called Ammon or Amun. His sources include Oric Bates, The Eastern Libyans (London: 1914; reprint Cass 1970) at 189-191.
  89. ^ Soren, Ben Khader, Slim, Carthage (New York: Simon and Schuster 1990) at 26-27 (fusion with Tanit), 243-244.
  90. ^ George Aaron Barton, Semitic and Hamitic Origins. Social and Religious (Philadelphia: Univ.of Pennsylvania 1934) at 303-306, 305.
  91. ^ "The name is apparently Libyan" in reference to the goddess Tanit: B.H.Warmington, "The Carthaginian Period" at 246-260, 254, in General History of Africa, volume II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990).
  92. ^ Glenn E. Markoe, Phoenicians (Univ.of California 2000) at 118, where Markoe notes, "The discovery at Sarepta of an inscribed ivory plaque dedicated to Tanit-Astarte... [affirms] the mainland origin of the former goddess, whose cult achieved enormous popularity at Carthage and the Punic west, beginning in the fifth century B.C." The Sarepta site (located on the Phoenician coast between Tyre and Sidon) was explored by archeologists in the 1970s; the plaque is said to date to eighth century B.C. The goddess Astarte was a major deity at Tyre.
  93. ^ Cf., Picard, "The Life and Death of Carthage" (1968-1969) at 151-152.
  94. ^ Cf., E. A. Wallis Budge, Osiris. The Egyptian Religion of Resurrection (London: P.L.Warner 1911; reprint University Books 1961) at II: 276-277; Budge quotes a text dating to the "New Empire" [Budge's term, the New Kingdom is dated 1550-1070] which praises the Egyptian goddess Isis: "She of many names. ... She who filleth the Tuat with good things. She who is greatly feared in the Tuat. The great goddess in the Tuat with Osiris in her name Tanit." Here the Tuat would be the region where "spirits departed after the death of their bodies." Budge, ibid. at II: 155. It may have a remote relation to the Berber oasis of Tuat (In Salah) located in south central Algeria.
  95. ^ Barton, Semitic and Hamitic Origins (1934) at 305.
  96. ^ See History of Punic era Tunisia#Punic religion.
  97. ^ Sallust (86-35), Bellum Iugurthinum (c.42 B.C.), 19-20, translated by S.A.Handford as The Jugurthine War (Penguin 1963) at 55-56.
  98. ^ Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 55, 60, 65.
  99. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1989) at 41-42.
  100. ^ Cf., Steven C. Caton, "Anthropological Theories of Tribe and State Formation in the Middle East: Ideology and the Semiotics of Power" in Khoury and Kostiner, Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East (Univ.of California 1990) at 74-108, 85-90.
  101. ^ See subsection on Ibn Khaldun, in Hafsid dynasty section of History of medieval Tunisia.
  102. ^ Laroui, The History of the Maghrib (1970, 1977) at 64-66.
  103. ^ Philip S. Khoury and Joseph Kostiner, "Introduction: Tribes and the Complexities of State Formation in the Middle East" at 1-22, in Khoury and Kostiner, Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East (Univ.of California 1990) at 1-22.
  104. ^ Ernest Gellner, "Tribalism and State in the Middle East" in Anthropology and Politics. Revolutions in the Sacred Grove (Oxford: Blackwell 1995) at 180-201, 180-185.
  105. ^ Generally, Marshall D. Sahlins, Tribesmen (Prentice-Hall 1968).
  106. ^ Abdallah Laroui, L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthèse (Paris: Librairie François 1970), translated by Ralph Manheim as The History of the Maghrib (Princeton Univ. 1977) at 64.
  107. ^ H. Mones, "The conquest of North Africa and Berber resistance" at 118-129, 118, in General History of Africa, Volume III, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century (UNESCO 1992).
  108. ^ Singular of Baranis is Burnus, from which burnous, understood as a long garment. "Abtar" signifies cut short, hence a short tunic. Brent and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 131. E.F.Gautier is cited for the conjecture per farmers and nomads.
  109. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 131.
  110. ^ Book of Genesis, at 10:1 & 6. The Hebrew Bible apparently does not list Barr as a descendant of Ham. Chapter 10 of the Book of Genesis is known as The Table of Nations.
  111. ^ H.T.Norris, Saharan Myth and Saga (Oxford Univ. 1972) at 26, 30, citing René Basset (1900 & 1901). Yet Norris also notes that E.F.Gautier (1942) found an echo in the 6th century Byzantine historian Procopius of the Himyarite myth, and conjectured an ancient Canaanite Völkerwanderungen, finding common cultural symbols. Norris (1972) at 30.
  112. ^ H.T.Norris, The Berbers in Arabic Literature (Beirut: Librairie du Liban 1982), "Berber Lineages" at 32-43.
  113. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 120-126, 130, 131-132; cf., 135 ff.
  114. ^ See History of early Islamic Tunisia#Berber rôle.
  115. ^ Abun-Nasr remarks that "[T]hese divisions do not seem to coincide entirely either with the ethnic groupings or distinctions of dialect." Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (1971) at 8.
  116. ^ For Masmuda descendent population, cf., Grimes (ed.), Ethnologue (12th ed. 1992) at 307.
  117. ^ a b Generally, Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, A History of the Maghrib (Cambridge Univ. 1971) at 8-9.
  118. ^ a b Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 131-132.
  119. ^ Perkins, Tunisia (1986) at 34 (Fatamid), 36 (Zirid).
  120. ^ H. Mones, "The conquest of North Africa and Berber resistance" at 118-129, 118-120, in General History of Africa, Volume III, Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century (UNESCO 1992).
  121. ^ Brett and Fentress, The Berbers (1996) at 130-132, 134-135.
  122. ^ Basset, André (1952, 1969). La langue berbère. Oxford Univ.. 
  123. ^ Joseph R. Applegate, "The Berber Languages" at 96-118, in Afroasiatic. A Survey edited by Carleton T. Hodge (The Hague: Mouton 1971).
  124. ^ David L. Appleyard, "Berber Overview" at 23-26, in Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, edited by M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (Muenchen: LINCOM 2003).
  125. ^ a b Cf., Joseph R. Applegate, "The Berber Languages" at 96-118, 96-97, in Afroasiatic. A Survey (1971).
  126. ^ Yet modern Arab dialects of the interior are "heavily infused with Berber words, particularly place-names taken from Berber terms for flora, fauna, and tools." LaVerle Berry and Robert Rinehart, "The Society and its Environment" 71-143, at 88, in Tunisia. A country study (Washington, D.C: American Universtiy, 3rd. ed., 1987).
  127. ^ David L. Appleyard, "Berber Overview" at 23-26, 23, in Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, edited by M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (Muenchen: LINCOM 2003), citing André Basset, La langue Berbère (London 1961), and Wolf (1981). Dialects are said to number in the hundreds, if not thousands.
  128. ^ Schema by Alexander Militarev, as presented in Merritt Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford Univ. 1987) at 92, 93.
  129. ^ In substantial accord with Militarev's classification of Berber is I. M. Diakonoff, Afrasian Languages (1988) at 19-20.
  130. ^ Refer to the discussion on Berber ethnic identities at the end of the prior section Berber background. In general long-standing tribal loyalties can compare to the composite language classifications, yet any match will not always correspond due to changing tribal alliances over time, episodic adoptations of a region's majority speech by newly-arrived or minority tribal groups, and otherwise. It is notorious that the attempt to connect a language and an ethnic identity will be a hit-and-miss proposition.
  131. ^ Algeria, Libya, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
  132. ^ The language map above right (by Davius Sanctex of Spanish provenance) links to another which divides the Moroccan into thirds. Another map at Berber languages by Agurzil (revised by Ayadho) differs at the margins. The two classification schemata presented there, one by Maarten Kossmann (1999), and another by Ethnologue based on Aikhenvald and Militarev (1991), also differ somewhat. Another complicating factor is the dialect continua between adjacent oral cultures; at their borders, such neighboring speech regions of related idioms may blend and merge.
  133. ^ Its modern name Tifinagh, more accurately in French Tifinar, derives in the Afroasiatic morphology of Semitic triliteral roots from FNR which signifies the Phoenician people. P. Salama, "The Sahara in cassical antiqity" 286-295, at 289-290, in General History of Africa, volume II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa (UNESCO 1990) Abridged Edition. Many alphabets seem to derive via the Pheonician.
  134. ^ David Diringer, Writing (London: Thames and Hudson 1962) at 124, 132, 141.
  135. ^ Brent and Fentress (1996). The Berbers. pp. 37.  A chart shows the Berber letters and sound values of ancient Libyan and modern Tifinagh. Brent and Fentress (1996) at 220.
  136. ^ Joseph R. Applegate, "The Berber Language" at 96-118, 115, in Hodge (ed.), Afroasiatic. A Survey (1971). Boustrophic writing was more common in the ancient world.
  137. ^ Over 150 words, the text dates from the era of the Berber King Masinissa. Brent and Fentress (1996). The Berbers. pp. 39–40. 
  138. ^ Steven Roger Fischer, A History of Writing (London: Reaktion 2001) at 92. The text is over 50 words and dates from the Second Punic War, 218-201. Fischer also reports a Celt-Iberian coin from Spain of the first century B.C. inscribed with Libyan letters. Ibid. at 93.
  139. ^ The Tuareg of the central Sahara use Tifinagh for writing their language Tamachek. In Algeria it is also widely written by the Kabyle for their language. Brent and Fentress (1996). The Berbers. pp. 37.  Until recently, its most frequent modern usage seemed to be within the family, e.g., domestic messages, personal and household ornament, magic symbolism, love letters and other notes of intimacy. Lately, public use of Tifinagh in Berber regions has been markedly increasing. Fischer, A History of Writing (2001) at 93. Brent & Fentress (1996) at 208-209, 212. Currently on the agenda in various Berber communities are considerations to expand the language's use, making its application more comprehensive. Ibid. (1996) at 281. Evidently, a variant of Tifinagh now enjoys official status in Morocco.
  140. ^ Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1971). A History of the Maghrib. Cambridge University. pp. 8–9, 10. 
  141. ^ Berry and Rhinehart, "The Society and its Environment" at 84-85, 86, in Tunisia. A Country Study (3rd ed., 1986).
  142. ^ Berber speakers are indicated at the extreme south of Tunisia (near the Ghadames oasis) on the map of Agurzil (found at the top of the Berber languages page).
  143. ^ Barbara F. Grimes, editor, Ethnologue (Dallas 12th ed. 1990) at 305-307, indicates 5,700,000 speakers of Berber out of a total Morrocan population of 26,250,000, or about 22%.
  144. ^ Grimes, ed., Ethnologue (12th ed. 1990) at 153-155, states that 14% speak Berber out of a total Algerian population of 25,700,000, or about 3,600,000.
  145. ^ Generally, see Joseph R. Applegate, "The Berber Languages" 96-118, at 96-97, in Afroasiatic. A Survey edited by Carleton T. Hodge (The Hague: Mouton 1971).
  146. ^ David L. Appleyard, "Berber Overview" at 23-26, 23, in Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, edited by M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (Muenchen: LINCOM 2003). Today Berber speakers said to total about 12 million.
  147. ^ E.g., the poet Muhammad Awzal (1670-1748). Awzal wrote Berber using a Maghribi variant of the Arabic script.
  148. ^ René Basset, Moorish Literature (New York: P.F.Collier & Son 1901) contains Berber ballads, tales, stories, folk-lore, and traditions.
  149. ^ Leo Frobenius and Douglas C. Fox, African Genesis (Berkeley: Turtle Island Foundation 1983) at 45-105, contains Berber Kabyl legends and folk tales, originally published by Leo Frobenius in Volksmärchen und Volksdichtungen Afrikas (Jena: Eugen Diederichs Verlag 1921-1924).
  150. ^ Within Afroasiatic, Ehret and Bender each classify the Berber languages with Ancient Egyptian and the Semitic languages in a Northern Afroasiatic group; two other linguists, Fleming and Newman, classify it with Chadic; others, e.g., Hetzron, are noncommittal. Merritt Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages. Volume 1: Classification (Stanford Univ. 1987) at 90-91.
  151. ^ Within Afroasiatic, Diakonoff supports a Berbero-Libyan and Semitic proximity. I. M. Diakonoff, Semito-Hamitic Languages (Moscow: Nauka 1965) at 102, 104; and his Afrasian Languages (Moscow: Nauka 1988) at 24, but see per Chadic and Egyptian at 20.
  152. ^ Although in some Afroasiatic branches the connections are loose, Semitic and Berber each are "close-knit" branches "whose internal unity cannot be questioned." Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford Univ. 1987) at 89. Of course, Ancient Egyptian is a branch with a single member language.
  153. ^ Robert Hetzron, "Afroasiatic Languages" at 645-653, in Bernard Comrie, The World's Major Languages (Oxford Univ. 1990). Hetzron discusses the Berber languages within Afroasiatic at 648.
  154. ^ M. Lionel Bender, "Afrasian Overview" at 1-6, in Selected Comparative-Historical Afrasian Linguistic Studies in memory of Igor M. Diakonoff, edited by M. Lionel Bender, Gabor Takacs, and David L. Appleyard (Muenchen: LINCOM 2003).
  155. ^ Greenberg, Joseph (1966). The Languages of Africa. Indiana University. pp. 42, 50. 
  156. ^ Crystal, David (1987). Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. pp. 316. 
  157. ^ Carleton T. Hodge, "Afroasiatic: An Overview" at 9-26, in Hodge (ed.), Afroasiatic. A Survey (1971).
  158. ^ Marcel Cohen, Essai comparatif sur le vocabulaire et la phonétique du chamio-sémitique (Paris: Champion 1947).
  159. ^ A new branch has been proposed, Omotic, composed of languages until then considered within the Cushitic branch. M. Lionel Bender, Omotic. A New Afroasiatic Language Family (Univ. of Southern Illinois 1975).
  160. ^ I. M. Diakonoff, Afrasian Languages (1988) at 16, referencing "the much earlier date of the break-up of the Afrasian proto-language, as compared with the Proto-Indo-European."
  161. ^ Regarding Berber, Cavalli-Sforza refers to possible dates up to seventeen kya for the Berber ancestor's split from Indo-European language speakers. Cavalli-Sforza, Menozzi, & Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes (Princeton Univ. 1994) at 103, apparently citing A.B. Dolgopolsky, "The Indo-European homeland and lexical contacts of Proto-Indo-European with other languages" in Mediterranean Language Review 3: 7-31 (Harrassowitz 1988).
  162. ^ Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (c.3000) were probably developed shortly after cuneiform (c.3100), and are the oldest Afroasiatic writings known. I. J. Gelb, A Study of Writing (Univ.of Chicago 1952, 2nd ed. 1963) at 60.
  163. ^ The inventors of the first writing system, cuneiform, were the Sumerians who spoke a non-Afroasiatic language in Mesopotamia; yet several centuries later it was adopted there by the Akkadians who spoke a Semitic language. Geoffrey Sampson, Writing Systems. A linguistic introduction (Stanford Univ. 1985) at 46-47, 56.
  164. ^ Afroasiatic language speakers of the Proto-Canaanite group, with help from a secondary syllabary developed by the Egyptians, are credited with the invention of the alphabet. John F. Healey, The Early Alphabet (British Museum 1990) at 16-18.
  165. ^ Patrick J. Munson, "Africa's Prehistoric Past" at 62-82, 78-81 (subtitled: 'Correlations of Archaeology and African Languages'), in Africa, edited by Phyllis M. Martin and Patrick O'Meara (Indiana Univ. 1977). Perhaps the cultural antecedents of Afroasiatic may be traced back twenty kya (thousands of years ago). Ibid., at 81.
  166. ^ Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi, & Alberto Piazza, The History and Geography of Human Genes (Princeton Univ. 1994), who compare their research results with population groups connected with language families derived from linguistics (although with the caveat that language speakers and genetic groups are distinct categories). "Comparison with linguistic classifications" at 96-105. A brief outline of Afroasiatic is given at 165. Three book reviews appear in Mother Tongue at Issue 24: 9-29 (1995).
  167. ^ Cf., Holger Pedersen, The Discovery of Language. Linguistic Science in the 19th Century (Harvard Univ. 1931, reprint Midland Book 1962) at 116-124. Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) first proposed the term Semitic; later Hamitic was named after another son of Noah in the tenth chapter of Genesis. Ibid. (1962) at 118. Hence Hamito-Semitic, the prior name for Afroasiatic.
  168. ^ Afroasiatic had been termed Hamito-Semitic because of the erroneous view that besides the Semitic branch, the other four groups were undifferentiated and related, i.e., the so-called Hamitic branch (Ancient Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Hausa). Merritt Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages. Volume 1: Classification (Stanford Univ. 1987) at 85-95, 88.
  169. ^ It had long been suggested that there were linguistically five equal and independent branches of this language family. Eventually this was sufficiently demonstrated by Greenberg, and the term Afroasiatic was coined. Joseph Greenberg, The Languages of Africa (Indiana Univ. 1963, 3rd ed. 1970) at 49-51. Although an obvious advance in language classification, the new name was misleading in that only a small fraction of Asia and less than half of Africa speaks or spoke an Afroasiatic language. Yet it does straddle the two continents.
  170. ^ Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff, Afrasian Languages (Moscow: Nauka Publishers 1988) at 21-24; and his earlier Semito-Hamitic Languages (Moscow: Nauka 1965) at 102-105, followed by three Maps. Diakonoff situates the homeland in the southeast Sahara, between Tibesti and Darfur, when it was well watered during the Mesolithic period, i.e., before nine kya (thousand years ago). Ibid. (1988) at 23. The contraction Afrasian was invented to avoid the misleading geographical implications of Afroasiatic.
  171. ^ M. Lionel Bender, Omotic (1975) at 220-225, with Map. Bender discusses and differs with Diakonoff (1965). Bender situates the Afroasiatic homeland in or around the upper Nile. Ibid. at 220-221, 225. Bender mentions that language homelands are generally proximous to the area of the most diverse linguistic phenomena. Ibid. at 223. The upper Nile is between the complex branches of Chadic and Cushitic (and the proposed Omotic), and is also nearby the many ancient varieties of Semitic spoken in Ethiopia. Cf., Bender, "Upside-Down Afrasian" in Afrikanistisches Arbeitspapiere 50: 19-34 (1997).
  172. ^ Carleton T. Hodge, "Afroasiatic: The Horizon and Beyond", in The Jewish Quarterly Review, LXXIV: 137-158 (1983) at 152. He favors the Central Nile, citing Diakonoff, "Earliest Semites in Asia" in AOF 8: 23-74 (1981), and the Munson article in the book Africa (Indiana Univ. 1977).
  173. ^ Brett, Michael; Elizabeth Fentress (1996). The Berbers. Blackwell. pp. 14–15. 
  174. ^ At about this time the surface water level of Lake Chad to the west was 12 meters higher than it is today. R. Said, "Chronological framework: African pluvial and glacial epics" at 146-166, 148, in General History of Africa, volume I, Methodology and African Prehistory (UNESCO 1990), Abridged Edition.
  175. ^ A drying out of the Sahara during the fourth and third millennium B.C.E. (6 kya to 4 kya) is accounted for and described by the Sahara Pump Theory, in its most recent cycle.
  176. ^ I. M. Diakonoff, Afrasian Languages (Moscow: Nauka Publishers 1988) at 23-24.
  177. ^ As opposed to Diakonoff, Alexander Militarev links Afroasiatic with the Natufian culture in prehistoric Levant, and thus also locates the Afroasiatic homeland there. Cf., Diakonoff (1988) on Militarev at 24-25; and, Gabor Takacs, "Marginal Remarks on the Classification of Ancient Egyptian within Afro-Asiatic and its Position among African Languages" in Folia Orientalia 35: 175-196 (1999) at 186, discussing Militarev.
  178. ^ Cf., Stéphane Gsell, Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord (Paris: Librairie Hachette 1914-1928), e.g., I: 275-308.
  179. ^ Guanche (said to be extinct), spoken in the Canary Islands is classified as a Berber language. Merritt Ruhlen, A Guide to the World's Languages (Stanford Univ. 1987) at 92, 93.
  180. ^ I. M. Diakonoff, Journal of Semitic Studies (1998) at v.43: 209, 210, 212, cites a series of studies by Pelio Fronzaroli, Studi sul lessico comune semitico (Rome 1964-1969), which discusses (1) parts of the body, (2) exterior phenomena, (3) religion and mythology, (4) wild nature, and (5) domesticated nature; Diakonoff also cites Vladimir E. Orel and Olga V. Stolbova, Hamito-Semitic Etymological Dictionary: Materials for Reconstruction (Leiden: E.J.Brill 1994), which he warns to use with caution; and, Diakonoff's own "Earliest Semites in Asia: Agricultural and Animal Husbandry, According to Linguistic Data (8th-4th Millennia B.C.)" in Altorientalische Forschunden (Berlin 1981) 8: 23-74. He states, "Of the hundreds of CS [Common Semitic] cultural terms collected... hardly any prove to be Common Afroasiatic!" Journal of Semitic Studies (1998) at 43: 213.
  181. ^ I. M. Diankonoff, "The Earliest Semitic Community. Linguistic Data" in Journal of Semitic Studies XLIII/2: 209-219 (1998), at 213, 216-219. Diakonoff at 219 mentions the Jericho culture (ten-nine kya) as being Semitic.
  182. ^ This revision by Diakonoff would seem to imply that the varieties of Semitic languages anciently spoken in Ethiopia arrived back in the Horn of Africa via south Arabia.
  183. ^ The speculation may be entertained that the Semitic-speakers in crossing Sinai encountered in the Natufian (pre-eleven kya) a more advanced material and spiritual culture, yet that their own Semitic language proved the better able in understanding, communicating, and negotiating the novel social situations arising (if not also during an aftermath of conquest). The ensuing complexity and protracted merger of these two prehistoric human groups eventuated in their speaking common Semitic yet with a lexicon derived from Natufian material and spiritual culture. If such a counter-intuitive syncretism is accepted, Diakonoff's 1988 conjecture might remain viable. The apparent fragility of the various conjectures illustrates the degree of cognitive fog covering these prehistoric landscapes.
  184. ^ Cf., B.H.Warmington, "The Cathaginian period" at 246-247, in General History of Africa, vol. II (UNESCO 1990).
  185. ^ Yuri B. Tsirkin, "Phoenician and Greek Colonization" at 347-365, 351, in Igor M. Diakonoff, editor, Early Antiquity (Univ.of Chicago 1991), translated from Rannyaya Drevnost (Moskva: Nauka 1982, 1989).
  186. ^ B.H.Warmington, "The Carthaginian period" at 246-260, 247, in General History of Africa, vol. II (UNESCO 1990), Abr. Ed.
  187. ^ Cf., Yuri B. Tsirkin, "Phoenician and Greek Colonization" at 347-365, in Igor M. Diakonoff, editor, Early Antiquity (Univ.of Chicago 1991), translated from Rannyaya Drevnost (Moskva: Nauka 1982, 1989).

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