The ''Limes Tripolitanus'' was a frontier zone of defence of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, built in the south of what is now

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and the northwest of

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. It was primarily intended as a protection for the tripolitanian cities of

Leptis Magna Leptis or Lepcis Magna, also known by #Names, other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was a prominent city of the Carthaginian Empire and Roman Libya at the mouth of the Wadi Lebda in the Mediterranean. Established as a Punic people, Puni ...

Sabratha Sabratha (; also ''Sabratah'', ''Siburata''), in the Zawiya DistrictOea Oea (; ) was an ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC and later became a Roman–Berber colony. As part of the Roman Africa Nova province, Oea and surrounding Tripolitania wer ...

Roman Libya The area of North Africa which has been known as Libya since 1911 was under Ancient Rome, Roman domination between 146 BC and 672 AD (though the region was briefly taken by the Vandals in 430 AD, and then recaptured by the Byzantine Empire, Byzant ...

History

The ''Limes Tripolitanus'' was built after

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. It was related mainly to the

Garamantes The Garamantes (; ) were ancient peoples, who may have descended from Berbers, Berber tribes, Toubous, Toubou tribes, and Saharan Pastoral period, pastoralists that settled in the Fezzan region by at least 1000 BC and established a civilization t ...

menace. Septimius Flaccus in 50 AD launched a military expedition that reached the actual

Fezzan Fezzan ( , ; ; ; ) is the southwestern region of modern Libya. It is largely desert, but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys (wadis) in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise in ...

and further south. Wadi buzra

The Romans did not conquer the Garamantes so much as they seduced them with the benefits of trade and discouraged them with the threat of war. The last Garamantian foray to the coast was in AD 69, when they joined with the people of

Oea Oea (; ) was an ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC and later became a Roman–Berber colony. As part of the Roman Africa Nova province, Oea and surrounding Tripolitania wer ...

(modern Tripoli) in battle against

. The Romans, in order to defend the main Roman cities of Tripolitania (

Sabratha Sabratha (; also ''Sabratah'', ''Siburata''), in the Zawiya DistrictSahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

, which convinced the Garamantes that their advantage in desert warfare no longer held. After that the Garamantes started to become a

client state A client state in the context of international relations is a State (polity), state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, ...

of the Roman Empire, but nomads always endangered the fertile area of coastal Tripolitania. Because of this Romans created the Limes Tripolitanus The first fort on the limes was built at Thiges, to protect from nomad attacks in 75 AD. The limes was expanded under

emperors The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/ grand empress dowager), or a woman who rule ...

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

and

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

, in particular under the legatus Quintus Anicius Faustus in 197-201 AD. Indeed, Anicius Faustus was appointed '' legatus'' of the Legio III ''Augusta'' and built several defensive forts of the Limes Tripolitanus in Tripolitania, among which Garbia and Golaia (actual Bu Ngem) in order to protect the province from the raids of nomadic tribes. He fulfilled his task quickly and successfully. As a consequence the Roman city of Gaerisa (actual Ghirza), situated away from the coast and south of Leptis Magna, developed quickly in a rich agricultural area Ghirza became a "boom town" after 200 AD, when the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (born in Leptis Magna) had organized the ''Limes Tripolitanus''. Former soldiers were settled in this area, and the arid land was developed. Dams and cisterns were built in the Wadi Ghirza (then not dry like today) to regulate the flash floods. These structures are still visible: there is among the ruins of Gaerisa a temple, which may have been dedicated to the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

semi-god " Gurzil", and the name of the town itself may even be related to his name. The farmers produced cereals, figs, vines, olives, pulses, almonds, dates, and perhaps melons. Ghirza consisted of some forty buildings, including six fortified farms (Centenaria), two of which were quite large. It was abandoned in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. With

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

the limes was partially abandoned and the defence of the area was delegated to the Limitanei. The Limes survived as an effective protection until

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times (Emperor

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

restructured the Limes in 533 AD). Nomad warriors of the Banu Hillal tribe captured the centenaria/castra of the Limes in the 11th century and the agricultural production fell to nearly nothing within a few decades: even Leptis Magna and Sabratha were abandoned and only Oea survived, which was from now on known as Tripoli.

Current situation

today, very substantial remains survive, e.g., the limes castles at Abu Nujaym (ancient Golaia) and Al Qaryah al Gharbīyah, the frontier village Gaerisa, and about 2,000 fortified farms ('' Centenaria'') like Qaryat. Tunisia has several sites attached to the limes. In 2012, some of these sites were presented to UNESCO in order to register them as World Heritage.Frontières de l'Empire romain : Limes du Sud tunisien
UNESCO. The south gate tower of the ''clausura'' at Wadi Skiffa ( Tataouine Governorate).

Tebaga Clausura

The Tebaga Wall is a 17 kilometers-long fortification line built along the Tebaga Gap or ''Clausura'' between the range of Jebel Tebaga and the hills of the Matma Mountains. Michael Mackensen: ''Kastelle und Militärposten des späten 2 und 3 Jahrhunderts am "Limes Tripolitanus"'', 2010

Forts (castrum)

Ghadames Ghadames or Ghadamis ( Ghadamsi: ⵄⴰⴷⴻⵎⴻⵙ / ''Ɛadēməs'' �adeːməs , ) is an oasis town in the Nalut District of the Tripolitania region in northwestern Libya. Ghadamès, known as 'the pearl of the desert', stands in an oa ...

() * Mizda () * Bani Waled () * Abu Nujaym () * Qaryat ()

References

Sources

* Bacchielli, L. "La Tripolitania" in ''Storia Einaudi dei Greci e dei Romani (Geografia del mondo tardo-antico)''. Einaudi, Milan, 2008. * Graeme Barker e.a., ''Farming the desert. The UNESCO Libyan Valleys Archaeological Survey'' (1996 Paris and Tripoli) * Margot Klee, ''Grenzen des Imperiums. Leben am römischen Limes'' (2006 Stuttgart) * Jona Lendering, 'Sherds from the Desert. The Bu Njem Ostraca' in:
Ancient Warfare
' 1/2 (2007) * David Mattingly, ''Roman Tripolitania'' (1995 London) * Erwin Ruprechtsberger, ''Die römische Limeszone in Tripolitanien und der Kyrenaika, Tunesien - Libyen'' (1993 Aalen)

External links

* * * *{{cite web , url= http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/jod/Picts/salama2.html , title= Detailed map showing the Limes Tripolitanus at Tunisia-Libya border , publisher= Georgetown University , access-date= October 3, 2011 Roman frontiers Roman Tripolitania Africa (Roman province) Roman fortifications in Tunisia Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Libya Fortifications in Libya Roman fortifications in Africa Roman fortifications in Roman Africa