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The Austuriani or Austoriani were a Berber people who lived along the frontier of the Roman Empire in Africa in the desert region south of the Gaetulii in the border of modern day Algeria and Libya. They appear as raiders and enemies of the Romans from Roman sources between the fourth and sixth centuries. These polytheistic nomads worshipped Agurzil, the bull-god of war, emblem of the Laguatans, "son of the god Ammon and a fierce heifer". He was worshipped by all the berber peoples of Libya. Ghirza seems to be his main place of worship.

History

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Austuriani first appear in the historical record in the years 363–365, when they devastated the Roman province of Tripolitania with "more violence than usual", according to Ammianus Marcellinus.[1] These attacks were a response to the execution of the Austurian leader Stachao, who had been arrested by the Romans for spying.[2] The regions around Lepcis and Oea were especially hard hit.[3] The devastation mainly affected the countryside and involved the destruction of fields and orchards.[4] A slightly earlier inscription from Lepcis referring to the "arrogance of the barbarians" may have the Austuriani in mind.[5]

Their depredations lasted years. According to Philostorgius, the Auxourianoi lived between the Libyans and the Afri. Later in the century, they raided as far west as Africa Proconsularis and as far east as Egypt in league with the Mazices. The Austuriani may be behind the mysterious "Saturiani" against whom the praetorian prefect of Africa was ordered to take action by a constitutio dated 20 July 399.[3]

An inscription at Lepcis made between 408 and 423 honours Flavius Ortygius, military commander of Tripolitania, for suppressing the "furor of the Austuriani", suggesting a particularly serious raid.[6] The only other source for the raids of this period are the letters and sermons of Synesius of Cyrene. He mentions them in eighteen of his surviving letters and in his two sermons called Catastasis ('Downfall').[4] He records that the "Ausuriani" were a persistent threat to Cyrenaica between 404 and 411, ravaging the countryside, interfering with the port of Phycus and even besieging the cities.[7] From 406 to 409, he organized a militia to repel them, during which time his own villa was ravaged.[8] They gave men no quarter and enslaved women.[4] During major fighting in 411, he reports that they used camels and expresses concern that they would invade Egypt.[3] In one letter, he praises the general Anysius for a victory he achieved over one thousand Ausuriani that year in a tight defile with a unit of just forty Unnigardae.[9] In both letters and sermons, Synesius appeals for more troops. He asks Anysius to procure more Unnigardae.[10] His Catastasis has been interpreted as an indirect appeal to the praetorian prefect Anthemius for reinforcements.[11]

The "Ausoriani" were still raiding Cyrenaica shortly before 449, as recorded by Priscus.[3]

In the sixth-century epic Iohannis, the poet Corippus mentions a camel-riding people called the Austur who lived near the Syrtes during the time of John Troglita's campaigns (546–547). They were probably a remnant of the Austuriani.[3] Their leader is Ierna, a priest of Gurzil and rex Marmaridum (king of the Marmarides).[12] Corippus describes their fighting tactics thus:

The warlike Austur, wary of joining an uncertain battle in the open field, creates walls and ditches by tying camels together, and places his mixed flock in a tight protective crown, so that he can entangle the attacking enemies and crush them when they get lost. Then, springing forward, the savage Ilaguas kills the troops that are trapped in these ramparts, and safely takes possession of the field … They use the ram as a machine in their unspeakable wars and set up their tents in good order, having arranged their standards.[13]

Identity

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The Austuriani are sometimes regarded as a tribe, but were more probably a tribal confederacy, a latent alliance that could be "activated" in time of need.[2]

The relationship between the Austuriani and the Laguatan is a matter of debate.[14] David Mattingly argues that they are the same tribal confederacy under different names at different periods.[15] The Austur were originally just the dominant tribe of the confederacy.[16] Yves Modéran rejects this thesis, pointing out that Corippus places the Austur and Ilaguas side by side as distinct contemporaries.[17]

The sudden appearance of the Austuriani in the written sources corresponds with changes in settlement patterns detectable in the archaeology of Tripolitania, "where open farms had disappeared almost entirely by the fourth century".[18] These changes, including increased tension and violence between city and country, have been linked to migrations. On this theory, they were "neo-Berbers", new tribal formations produced by the migration of eastern tribes from Egypt and Cyrenaica westward.[19] More often today, the Austuriani are recognized as the product of local social transformation, given the association of the name with the same space over two centuries.[18]

The Austurians are known by Greco-Latin authors of the Late Empire under various names such as Auxurians in Philostorgius, Ausurians in Synese, Austuriani in Ammianus Marcellinus, or Urcilians, Austoriani, Astur, Austur, Auxuriani. The spelling "Austurani" or Austurians is the most frequent. The Austurians are mentioned in the texts along with another people: the Laguatans. According to the work of Yves Modéran, it seems that these two populations are, in fact, two sister tribes from the same people. Known since the middle of the third century, it was especially during the following two centuries that the Austurians acquired their fame. They are described as nomadic looters and camel breeders. It was during this period that camel bones became more frequent than horse bones in archaeological sites, which may be correlated with an accentuation of the desert climate.[20]

The Austurians are identified as a group descended from the Nasamon people, who have been well known from Greco-Latin sources since Herodotus (5th century BC). These nomads who settled on the banks of the Greater Sirte frequently disturbed Roman authority (in 19 BC, 6 AD and finally in 80 AD). At this time, they seemed to be definitively defeated; there is even talk of annihilation. However, it seems plausible that the Nasamon people broke up and that some of their groups retreated to the oases of Augila.[21]

It was from this moment that the Laguatans and Austurians gradually intensified their raids on the Roman provinces of Cyrenaica and Africa [22] perhaps as early as the end of the thirdcentury. The provinces of Tripoli and Leptis Magna [23] were ravaged around 360.

At the beginning of the sixth century, under the reign of Justinian I, Laguatans and Austurians appeared at the head of a large gathering of various tribes of Tripolitania, integrated as federated in the Limes area or within the province itself. The Greek historian Procopius and the Romano-African poet Corippus then echoed the devastation committed by these nomads who played an important role in the various uprisings of the Mauri at the time of the Eastern Roman Empire.

Notes

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  1. ^ Mattingly 1983, p. 97; Desanges 1990.
  2. ^ a b Mattingly 1983, p. 97.
  3. ^ a b c d e Desanges 1990.
  4. ^ a b c Mattingly 1983, p. 98.
  5. ^ Modéran 2003, p. 271n.
  6. ^ Reynolds 1977.
  7. ^ Fitzgerald 1926, p. 51; Liebeschuetz 1986, p. 191; Mattingly 1983, p. 98.
  8. ^ Bregman 1982, p. 61; Liebeschuetz 1986, p. 191.
  9. ^ Fitzgerald 1926, p. 51. The letter, no. 78, is at p. 168.
  10. ^ Fitzgerald 1926, p. 51.
  11. ^ Bregman 1982, p. 168.
  12. ^ Merrills 2023, p. 156.
  13. ^ Merrills 2023, p. 197, citing book II, lines 91–98, 100–101.
  14. ^ Merrills 2023, p. 146.
  15. ^ Mattingly 1983, p. 96.
  16. ^ Mattingly 1983, p. 100.
  17. ^ Modéran 2003, p. 272.
  18. ^ a b Merrills 2023, p. 147.
  19. ^ Mattingly 1983, p. 101.
  20. ^ Yves Modéran, Les Maures et l'Afrique romaine au 8th century, éd. des Écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome 2003, ISBN 9782728306404.
  21. ^ Yves Modéran, op. cit. 2003
  22. ^ Histoire du Bas-Empire, commençant à Constantin-le-Grand, Charles Le Beau, 1819
  23. ^ Histoire de l'Afrique Septentrionale (Berbérie) depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la conquête française, Ernest Mercier, 1830

Bibliography

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