Editing Berbers (section)

=== Antiquity ===
{{further|History of Roman-era Tunisia|Roman Libya|Mauretania Tingitana|Mauri people}}
[[File:Antaeus & Heracles (Nordisk familjebok).jpg|thumb|[[Heracles]] wrestling with the Libyan giant  [[Antaeus]].]]
The great tribes of Berbers in classical antiquity (when they were often known as ancient Libyans)<ref name=Warmington>{{cite book|last=Warmington|first=Brian Herbert|title=Carthage|publisher=Robert Hale|location=London|year=1969|orig-year=1960|edition=2nd|page=46}}</ref>{{efn|Warmington uses "Libyans of Tunisia" (an anachronistic term) on page 46; compare with page 61 (citing Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Polybius).}} were said to be three (roughly, from west to east): the Mauri, the [[Numidians]] near [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]], and the [[Gaetuli]]ans. 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 [[sedentism|sedentary]] populations living in villages, and their peoples both tilled the land and tended herds. The Gaetulians lived to the near south, on the northern margins of the [[Sahara]], and were less settled, with predominantly [[Pastoralism|pastoral]] elements.<ref>[[Sallust]] (86–35), ''Bellum Iugurthinum'' (c. 42 BC), 19–20, translated by S. A. Handford as ''The Jugurthine War'' (Penguin 1963), p. 55f.</ref><ref name="Laroui">{{cite book |last=Laroui |first=Abdallah |author-link=Abdallah Laroui |title=The History of the Maghrib: An Interpretive Essay |date=19 April 2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691635859 |pages=55, 60, 65 |translator-last=Manheim |translator-first=Ralph |orig-year=1977}}</ref>{{r|Brett1996|p=41f}}

For their part, the [[Phoenicia]]ns ([[Semitic languages|Semitic-speaking]] [[Canaan]]ites) 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 the [[History of early Tunisia|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, Lebanon|Tyre]], the mother city.{{r|Warmington|p=37}}

The earliest Phoenician coastal outposts were probably meant merely to resupply and service ships bound for the lucrative metals trade with the Iberians,<ref name=Picard>{{cite book|last1=Picard|first1=Gilbert Charles|last2=Picard|first2=Colette|title=The Life and Death of Carthage: A Survey of Punic History and Culture from Its Birth to Its Final Tragedy|year=1968|publisher=Sidgwick & Jackson|page=15ff}}</ref> and perhaps at first regarded trade with the Berbers as unprofitable.<ref>Cf. Perkins, ''Tunisia'' (1986), p. 15.</ref> 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 the example of Carthage, their [[Early History of Tunisia#Accounts of the Berbers|organized politics]] increased in scope and sophistication.<ref name="Brett1996">{{cite book |last1=Brett |first1=Michael |title=The Berbers |last2=Fentress |first2=E. W. B. |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=1996 |isbn=9780631168522 |pages=24f}}</ref>

[[File:Numidia 220 BC-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.4|Berber kingdoms in Numidia, {{circa|220 BC}} (green: Masaesyli under Syphax; gold: Massyli under [[Gala (King of the Massylii)|Gala]], father of Masinissa; further east: city-state of Carthage).]]

In fact, for a time their numerical and military superiority (the best horse riders of that time) enabled some [[History of early Tunisia#Accounts of the Berbers|Berber kingdoms]] to impose a tribute on Carthage, a condition that continued into the 5th century BC.{{r|Picard|p=64–65}} Also, due to the [[Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt|Berbero-Libyan Meshwesh dynasty]]'s rule of Egypt (945–715 BC),<ref>The 22nd Dynasty. Erik Hornung, ''History of Ancient Egypt. An introduction'' ([1978]; Cornell University 1999) at 128–131.</ref> the Berbers near Carthage commanded significant respect (yet probably appearing more rustic than 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".<ref>Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, ''A History of the Maghrib'' (Cambridge University 1971) at 20.</ref> In this regard, perhaps the legend about [[Dido]], the foundress of Carthage, as related by [[Pompeius Trogus|Trogus]] is apposite. Her refusal to wed the Mauritani chieftain [[Iarbas|Hiarbus]] might be indicative of the complexity of the politics involved.<ref>E.g., Soren, Ben Khader, Slim, ''Carthage. Uncovering the mysteries and splendours of ancient Tunisia'' (New York: Simon & Schuster 1990) at 18–20, observes imperial pretensions.</ref>

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 the 5th century BC, Carthage expanded its territory, acquiring [[Cape Bon]] and the fertile [[Wadi Majardah]],<ref>The [[Wadi Majardah]] was anciently called the ''Bagradas''. Lancel, ''Carthage'' (1992, 1995), p. 270.</ref> later establishing control over productive farmlands for several hundred kilometres.<ref>B. H. Warmington, "The Carthaginian Period" at 246–260, 248–249, in ''General History of Africa, volume II. Ancient Civilizations of Africa'' (UNESCO 1981, 1990), edited by G. Mokhtar.</ref> 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 the tribal Berbers. This social-cultural interaction in early Carthage has been summarily described:

{{Blockquote|text=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]].{{r|Warmington|p=86}}}}

For a period, the Berbers were in constant revolt, and in 396 there was a great uprising.

{{Blockquote|text=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".{{r|Picard|p=125, 172}} Thereafter, "a series of revolts took place among the Libyans [Berbers] from the fourth century onwards".{{r|Warmington|p=81}}

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,{{Citation needed|reason=Clearly Berbers co-existed with Phoenicians at the time, there is no evidence of this conclusion|date=March 2019}} as a separate, submerged entity, as a culture of mostly passive urban and rural poor within the civil structures created by Punic rule.<ref>Cf., Richard Miles, ''Carthage must be destroyed'' (NY: Viking 2010), p. 80.</ref> In addition, and most importantly, the Berber peoples also formed quasi-independent satellite societies along the [[steppe]]s 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 the newcomers from the east in an asymmetric symbiosis.{{efn|"Pro-Berber" viewpoints (contrary to prevailing "Punicophilia" literature) are presented by Abdullah Laroui in his ''L'Histoire du [[Maghreb]]: Un essai de synthèse''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Laroui|first=Abdullah|title=L'Histoire du Maghreb: Un essai de synthèse|language=fr|location=Paris|publisher=Librairie François Maspero|year=1970}}</ref>{{r|Laroui|p=42–44}}}}<ref>Cf., ''Le Berbère, lumière de l'Occident'' (Nouvelles Editions, 1984).</ref>

As the centuries passed, a society of Punic people of Phoenician descent but born in Africa, called {{lang|phn|Libyphoenicians}} emerged there. This term later came to be applied also to Berbers acculturated to urban Phoenician culture.{{r|Warmington|p=65, 84–86}} Yet the whole notion of a Berber apprenticeship to the Punic civilization has been called an exaggeration sustained by a point of view fundamentally foreign to the Berbers.{{r|Laroui|p=52, 58}} 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 the fourth century BC became "the largest single element in the Carthaginian army".{{r|Warmington|p=86|q=the largest single element in the Carthaginian army}}

[[File:Massinissa-Numidie.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Masinissa]] ({{circa|240|148}}), King of [[Numidia]], [[Berber script|Berber]] and Roman script]]

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.{{Citation needed|reason=No evidence suggesting that the Berbers where of any lower social class|date=March 2019}} 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 the invading Greeks.{{r|Picard|p=172}}{{efn|The Picards, however, remark that the resulting Greek defeat showed "how strong was the hold of Carthage over her African territory".}} During the long [[Second Punic War]] (218–201 BC) with Rome (see below), the [[Berber kings of Roman-era Tunisia|Berber King]] Masinissa ({{circa|240|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 the Berbers who advanced their interests following the Roman victory.<ref>The [[History of Roman era Tunisia|Romans]] also met with instances of "disloyalty" by Berber leaders, witness their long war against [[Jugurtha]] ({{circa|160|104}} BC), the [[Berber kings of Roman-era Tunisia|Berber King of Numidia]]. [[Sallust]] (86–{{circa|35 BC}}), ''The Jugurthine War'' (Penguin 1963), translated by Handford.</ref>

Carthage was faulted by her ancient rivals for the "harsh treatment of her subjects" as well as for "greed and cruelty".{{r|Warmington|p=83}}{{efn|Warmington page 83, citing [[Plutarch]] (46–120 CE), ''[[Moralia]]'' 799D.}}<ref>Charles-Picard, ''Daily life in Carthage'' (Paris: Hachette 1958; London: Geo. Allen & Unwin 1961), p. 123. The ''Khamessat'' contract "gave the landowner four-fifths of the income".</ref> 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.{{r|Warmington|p=80}} Carthage once famously attempted to reduce the number of its Libyan and foreign soldiers, leading to the [[Mercenary War]] (240–237 BC).{{r|Picard|p=203–209}}<ref>[[Polybius]] (203–120), [[The Histories (Polybius)|The Histories]] at I, 72.</ref><ref>The Mercenary revolt occurred after the First Punic War (see below).</ref> 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 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.{{r|Warmington|p=86–87}} Again, the tribute demanded by Carthage was onerous.<ref name="Smith 1878">[[R. Bosworth Smith]], ''Carthage and the Carthaginians'' (London: Longmans, Green 1878, 1908) at 45–46</ref>

<blockquote>[T]he most ruinous tribute was imposed and exacted with unsparing rigour from the subject native states, and no slight one either from 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&nbsp;...<ref name="Smith 1878"/>
</blockquote>

The Punic relationship with the majority of 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.<ref>Compare the contradictions described in Brett & Fentress, ''The Berbers'' (1996) at 24–25 (Berber adoption of elements of Punic culture), 49–50 (Berber persistence in their traditional belief).</ref>
[[File:Basilique Saint-Augustin Annaba 04.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] was the bishop of [[Hippo Regius]] in [[Roman North Africa]]]] 
The Berbers gain historicity gradually during the [[Libya in the Roman era|Roman era]]. Byzantine authors mention the {{lang|la|Mazikes}} (Amazigh) as tribal people raiding the monasteries of [[Cyrenaica]]. [[Garamantes|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 [[Early African Church|Christians]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/maghreb.htm|title=The Last Christians of North-West Africa: Some Lessons For Orthodox Today|first=Andrew |last=Phillips|access-date=2 May 2015}}</ref> (there is a strong correlation between adherence to the [[Donatism|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),<ref name="Berbers">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1624_story_of_africa/page66.shtml "The Berbers"], BBC World Service | The Story of Africa</ref> some perhaps [[Berber Jews|Jewish]], and some adhered to their [[Traditional Berber religion|traditional polytheist religion]]. The Roman-era authors [[Apuleius]] and [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]] were born in Numidia, as were three [[pope]]s, one of whom, [[Pope Victor I]], served during the reign of Roman emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who was a North African of Roman/Punic ancestry (perhaps with some Berber blood).<ref>"Berbers:&nbsp;... The best known of them were the Roman author Apuleius, the Roman emperor Septimius Severus, and St. Augustine", ''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'', 2005, v.3, p.569</ref>

==== Numidia ====
{{Main|Numidia|Jugurthine War}}
[[File:East Numidia.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|A map of [[Numidia]]]]
Numidia (202{{snd}}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 the Roman province of Mauretania (in modern Algeria and Morocco) to the west, the Roman [[Africa (Roman province)|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 {{lang|la|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 the river Mulucha ([[Muluya]]), about {{convert|100|mi|km|order=flip}} 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 (King of the Massylii)|Gala]], were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli, under King Syphax, were allied with Rome.

In 206 BC, the new king of 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 the sea.<ref>[[Appian]], ''The Punic Wars'', 106</ref>

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 (king of Numidia)|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 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.

[[File:Lusius Quietus on Column of Trajan.jpg|thumb|Mauretanian cavalry under [[Lusius Quietus]] fighting in the [[Trajan's Dacian Wars|Dacian wars]], from the [[Column of Trajan]] ]]

==== Mauretania ====
{{main|Mauretania}}
In antiquity, Mauretania (3rd century BC{{snd}}44 BC) was an ancient Mauri Berber kingdom in modern Morocco and part of Algeria. It became 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]].