The Tribal Background

This chapter starts with the segmented nature of the ancient tribal societies of the region and their capacity for occasional confederated action on a grand scale. Since the nature of the ‘opposition was bound to have had a profound influence on Roman policy and the history of Roman/native interaction, the study of a Roman frontier province cannot proceed far without considering the indigenous population. The main tribal centre of the Nybgenii has been established by inscriptions to be the oasis of Telmine in the Nefzaoua. The possibility of a common origin of all the Berber tribes has been much canvassed, but its relevance for the Roman period is dubious. Large-scale confederation seems to have been even more common and the potential ability of great confederations of tribes to coalesce in opposition to Rome must have affected Roman strategic thinking. The Garamantes had developed into a sophisticated mixed pastoral/agricultural society a long time before their first contacts with Rome.