The introduction to North Africa under Byzantium and Early Islam by the editors Susan T. Stevens and Jonathan P. Conant provides the reader with an enumeration of all the chapters included in this volume in a succinct manner. At last we have a long anticipated book devoted to North Africa, with an interdisciplinary approach covering various aspects of Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic cultures. An additional reference delineating the borders of North Africa would have been a boon.
In the first chapter, ‘Procopius’ Vandal War: Thematic Trajectories and Hidden Transcripts’, Anthony Kaldellis offers a fresh perspective on the well-known and frequently discussed so-called liberation of Byzantine North Africa from the Vandals. According to Kaldellis, Procopius’ description of the Vandals in his Vandal War was mainly inspired by his contemporaries residing in Constantinople. He portrayed the Vandals as a decadent people, enjoying a luxurious life, in contrast to the hardy Moors. The author's view is plausible, but we should take into consideration that Procopius focused on the contradistinction between the wealthy Vandals who had confiscated most of the Libyan farmland and the robust Moors who tilled the land for them as free farmers or slaves.
Andy Merril's chapter, ‘Gelimer's Slaughter: The Case for Late Vandal Africa’, is written by a learned scholar familiar with a variety of primary sources relevant to the defeat of the Vandal king Gelimer by the Byzantines in 533. Merril hypothesizes that Gelimer's defeat by the Byzantines was due to his preoccupation with fighting the Moors to the south in Burakena. This explanation is highly speculative, as he himself recognizes. Elizabeth Fortress and Andrew Wilson, in their chapter, ‘The Saharan Berber Diaspora and the Southern Frontiers of Byzantine North Africa’, mainly deal with the Berber tribe of Garamantes that lived in Fazzān. In their capital, Garama, a trans-Saharan trade center, we notice monumental architecture, heavily influenced by the Romans.
Walter E. Kaegi's chapter, ‘The Islamic Conquest and the Defense of Byzantine Africa’, deals with various aspects of the Arab conquest of Egypt and North Africa, two fields lacking adequate scholarship. The author's note on Byzantine historiography is limited to Theophanes’ Chronography, omitting any discussion about its relationship with the other Syriac Christian sources. One would expect, in addition to the sketchy narration of the activities of ‘Amr bn. al-‘Aṣ, a better interpretation of his military strategy. Likewise, ‘Uqba bn. Nāfi‘’s policy towards the Berbers is not discussed. Furthermore, the author prefers to deal with the theories concerning the assassination of the emperor Constans II (641–68) instead of discussing the Arab-Byzantine naval battles for control of the North African ports, which actually determined the Arabs’ victory in North Africa. The last part concerning the so-called autochthonous tribes’ attitude towards the Byzantines seems particularly interesting.
Susan T. Stevens, in her chapter ‘Carthage in Transition’, attempts to show that the Vandal-Byzantine city of Carthage was not transformed abruptly to a medieval Islamic city as a result of the Arab conquest. She correctly points out that in spite of the exaggerated statements by the Arabic sources describing a sudden disaster that disrupted the continuity in the life of the city, a number of skilled workers remained; more important is her assumption that ‘part of the elite [also] remained in the city’, which opens a new field of research. Philip von Rummel, in his chapter ‘The Transformation of Ancient Land- and Cityscapes in Early Medieval North Africa’, explores the socio-political transitional period in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the early Islamic, based solely on archaeological evidence.
In his chapter, ‘The Contribution of Medieval Arabic Sources to the Historical Geography of Byzantine Africa’, Mohamed Benabbès correctly points out that a correlation of the Arabic sources with the Greek and Latin is necessary for understanding historical geography and ethnonyms. His examples are reasonable, but in his reference to Procopius’ passage 4.11.15: ‘εἰς Μάμμης τὸν χῶρον’ (123 and n. 25) (‘τὸ χωρίον’ in Procopius), he confuses the word’ τὸ χωρίον’ (=region, neutral form) with the similar word ‘ἡ χώρα’ (=country, location, feminine form). Anyway, the noun ‘τὸ χωρίον’ is in the accusative and not in the nominative as the author assumes. Proper usage of both Greek and Arabic grammar is equally necessary. Paul Reynolds's chapter, ‘From Vandal Africa to Arab Ifrīqyiya’, is a first-class contribution to the study of North Africa from the Vandals to the Arab occupation, tracing continuities and discontinuities based on the archaeological findings and especially the ceramics. Less comprehensive is the author's study of shipping routes and maritime networks.
The most delightful chapter in this volume is Cecil Morrison's, ‘Regio dives in omnibus bonis ornate: The African Economy from the Vandals to the Arab Conquest in the Light of Coin Evidence’, which gives an excellent description of the African economy during this period based on numismatic findings. The author takes meticulous pains to show that the African economy in the late Byzantine period was prosperous. The evidence of hagiographical works of this period corroborates the numismatic.
Jonathan P. Conant's chapter, ‘Sanctity and the Networks of Empire in Byzantine North Africa’, is a useful study for specialists and lay readers. He reports that North Africa ‘was not enormously productive of saints … [but] the African cult of saints was hardly static’ (201). The author also discusses the development of the cult of local martyrs who were victims of the violence of the Vandals who followed Arianism. Further research into the cult of martyrdom might reveal its hidden continuation in Islamic times. Anne Marie Yassin's chapter ‘Beyond Spolia: Architectural Memory and Adaptation in the Churches of Late Antique North Africa’, is a thorough and careful study, mainly addressed to specialists. It reveals that architectural features of a given church help us to understand how it reflects the actual beliefs of the faithful.
Kate Cooper's chapter, ‘Marriage Law and Christian Rhetoric in Vandal Africa’, deals with the legal complexity in Vandal Africa focusing on the institution of marriage among slaves. She points out that we can trace a separation of Christian law from secular law. Lesley Dossey, in ‘Exegesis and Dissent in Byzantine North Africa’, asserts that in 543 and 545 Justinian attempted a religious compromise between the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon and their opponents by issuing an official condemnation of the ‘Three Chapters’, written by three famous theologians. The author assumes that Justinian's efforts were opposed by a number of North African learned ‘doctores’ such as Fulgentius of Ruspe.
Our knowledge of the Latin literature and especially poetry in North Africa is scanty and Gregory Hays's chapter, ‘Sounds from a Silent Land: The Latin Poetry of Byzantine North Africa’, continues the pioneering studies of Averil Cameron. Τhe author's translation of a number of Byzantine inscriptions written in poetic form is praiseworthy. In the last chapter, ‘Byzantine and Early Islamic Africa ca. 500–800, Concluding Remarks’, Peter Brown reports that this much needed and welcome publication on the civilization of North Africa started under the aegis of Alice Mary Talbot, inspired by the pioneering study of Y. Modéran.
Fifteen essays cover various aspects of this civilization, which, rooted in the oasis of Fazzān, reached the Mediterranean coastline. The profound influence of the Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines on local populations was crystallized in the early Islamic period. It is hoped that future research will also cover the maritime aspect and iconography.
