Search

This paper proposes a broad chronological framework for the engravings of the Wadi al-Hayat that is based on environmental parameters rather than stylistic observations. During the Holocene, the climate of the central Sahara changed from savanna to desert. This environmental background informed the experience of the engravers and underpinned the weathering of rock surfaces. To establish a link between images and climatic sequence, 2,466 individual animal engravings were analyzed with regard to the depicted species, patina and the location of the panel in relation to the dated shorelines of the al-Hayat palaeolake. Based on their patina, engravings are grouped into a broad, four-stage chronological sequence. The chronological relevance of this framework is tested in three different ways. The dates and sequence of the introduction of domestic animals match their depiction across the four engraving groups. The habitats of the depicted wild animals reflect a dramatic change from savanna to desert that is consistent with climatic records and the physical process of the patina formation. In addition, Early and Middle Pastoral engravings are shown to be in locations that correspond to the high lake levels of the African Humid period. Late Pastoral and Garamantian engravings are also recorded in areas that only became accessible once the palaeolake had dried up. Although the proposed methodology cannot provide precise dates for individual engravings, it can be used to establish a broad chronological framework that allows us to place the rock art within its archaeological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent article on the "Great chiefs of the Libu" in the Western Delta, Jan Moje tried to show that there were two local rulers called Ni-ma-teped (A/B) and two Tjer-pa-hati (I/II), attested on five donation stelae. If one of those stelae is ascribed to Shoshenq IV rather than to Shoshenq V, three stelae mention a (single) ruler Ni-ma-teped during the reign of Shoshenq IV, and the remaining two a ruler Tjer-pa-hati under Shoshenq V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The myth of Antaios and Herakies emerged from the encounter between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean. This article explores two parallel courses of the myth's progressive development. One is geographical, with the myth travelling from east to west (from Kyrenaika, through Tunisia, to Tangier). The other unfolds within the plot itself: at first Herakies stands for the Greeks (and later the Romans), while Antaios embodies the indigenous Libyans. However, shifting political circumstances also allow for the (conjectural) identification of Greeks with the figure of Antaios, and a (certain) equation of Libyans with Herakies. On the whole, the history of the myth from the seventh to the first centuries BCE reflects the development of a politically and culturally coherent Mediterranean over the same period, from the first Greek settlers in Libya to the Mediterranean empire of Augustus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precisely dated donation stela British Museum EA 73965 bears the name of a great chief of the Libu, who can now be identified as a previously unknown local ruler in the Western Delta during the Twenty-second Egyptian Dynasty. According to new data, the current sequence of the Western Delta rulers can be partially modified, and thus shed some light on this less well-known period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime being an illicit action that offends the whole community and means a security risk for the Roman Republic, it calls for a public trial involving every member of that community. In Sabratha (Libya), around the year 158 A.D., we hear from a public trial to a man under the accusation of performing magic (crimen magiae). The man under trial, Apuleius, carries out a brilliant defense by making a plea that allows us to get acquainted with legal customs and practices in a Roman province. The purpose of this article is, then, to analyze the legal aspects involved in such an accusation, as well as the punishments inflicted on people found guilty of such a crime. As we will show, these penalties were established according to several laws: lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficiis, lex duodecim tabularum, as well as some imperial constitutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses conflicting accounts on the murder of Idrīs b. ʿAbd Allāh (Idris I), founder and first ruler of the Idrisid dynasty who ruled from 788 to 791 A.D. Two radically different versions of the slaying of Idris I and their respective historical sources are offered. The author presents an examination of both narratives in hopes of better comprehending the disputatious, motivations that formed the accounts as well as the methods used in reconciling divergent details.