Module 055 · Archaeological Intelligence
Rome in
North Africa
Five provinces. Eight centuries. The empire's breadbasket.
Rome's North African provinces — stretching from Morocco's Atlantic coast to Libya's Gulf of Sidra — were among the wealthiest territories in the empire. They produced a million tons of grain a year. They built 180 cities in Tunisia alone. They gave Rome an emperor (Septimius Severus, born in Leptis Magna), a theologian who shaped Western thought for 1,500 years (Augustine, from Algeria), and the only surviving complete Latin novel (Apuleius' Golden Ass, also from Algeria). The military presence was astonishingly thin — a single legion and 28,000 auxiliaries controlled a territory the size of Western Europe. This was not occupation by force. It was integration through infrastructure: roads, aqueducts, forums, baths, and the promise that a Berber farmer's grandson could become a Roman citizen, and his great-grandson an emperor.
5
Provinces (Morocco to Libya)
180+
Cities in Tunisia alone
1M tons
Grain produced annually
28,000
Troops (1 legion + auxiliaries)
500,000
Peak population of Carthage
8 centuries
Duration of Roman rule
Section I
The Cities
17 Roman cities and sites across five modern countries. UNESCO World Heritage Sites are shown larger. Click any marker for detail.
Section II
The Provinces
Five provinces from the Atlantic to Cyrenaica. Each governed differently — senatorial, imperial, or procuratorial — reflecting Rome's pragmatic approach to distant territories.
Africa Proconsularis
146 BCEModern: Tunisia, western Libya · Capital: Carthage (from 44 BCE) · Governor: Proconsul (senatorial)
Exports: Grain, olive oil, pottery, garum
The original and wealthiest province. Called "the granary of the empire." Produced ~1 million tons of cereals annually, a quarter exported to Rome. 180+ cities in Tunisia alone. One of only two senatorial provinces with a legion.
Numidia
46 BCE (as Africa Nova)Modern: Algeria (north-east) · Capital: Cirta (Constantine) · Governor: Imperial legate
Exports: Grain, marble, pottery, wine, wool
Home of Legio III Augusta — the only legion permanently stationed in North Africa for four centuries. Originally the kingdom of Masinissa and Jugurtha. Timgad and Djemila are its architectural masterpieces.
Mauretania Caesariensis
42 CEModern: Algeria (central/western) · Capital: Caesarea (Cherchell) · Governor: Imperial procurator
Exports: Olives, marble, wine, timber
Created when Claudius annexed the client kingdom of Mauretania after the assassination of King Ptolemy (son of Juba II). The city of Tipaza, between mountains and sea, became a jewel.
Mauretania Tingitana
42 CEModern: Northern Morocco · Capital: Tingis (Tangier) · Governor: Imperial procurator
Exports: Grain, olive oil, wild animals, garum
Rome's westernmost African province. Volubilis was its most important inland city. Unusually, it was administered under the Diocese of Spain, not Africa. Rome withdrew from most of it by the late 3rd century — the earliest African province abandoned.
Cyrenaica
74 BCEModern: Eastern Libya · Capital: Cyrene · Governor: Proconsul (with Crete)
Exports: Silphium, grain, horses
Greek colony founded in 631 BCE, long before Rome. Famous for silphium — a now-extinct medicinal plant so valuable it appeared on coins. Combined administratively with Crete.
Section III
The Timeline
From destruction to integration to abandonment. 15 events across eight centuries.
Section IV
The People
Five figures who define Roman North Africa — an emperor, a client king, a theologian, a novelist, and a warrior. All were North African. All changed the Mediterranean.
Septimius Severus
145–211 CE
Leptis Magna, Libya · Roman Emperor (193–211)
First African-born emperor. Spoke Latin with a Punic accent. Lavished his hometown with some of the grandest buildings in the Roman world. Founded a dynasty. His wife Julia Domna was from Syria — the empire was ruled from its periphery.
Juba II
48 BCE – 23 CE
Numidia → Caesarea (Cherchell) · Client King of Mauretania
Raised in Rome after his father's defeat. Married Cleopatra Selene (daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony). Made Caesarea a centre of Hellenistic learning. Wrote encyclopaedic works on geography, art, and natural history — all lost.
Augustine of Hippo
354–430 CE
Thagaste (Souk Ahras, Algeria) · Bishop, theologian
The most influential Christian thinker after Saint Paul. Berber by heritage. Studied in Carthage. Wrote the Confessions and City of God. His theology shaped Western Christianity for 1,500 years. His mother Monica is also a saint.
Apuleius
c. 124–170 CE
Madauros (M'Daourouch, Algeria) · Author
Wrote The Golden Ass — the only Latin novel to survive complete. A Berber who studied in Carthage and Athens. His trial for witchcraft (Apologia) is one of the most entertaining Roman legal texts.
Masinissa
c. 238–148 BCE
Numidia · King of Numidia
Allied with Rome against Carthage in the Second Punic War. Unified Numidia into a prosperous kingdom. His descendants' infighting gave Rome the pretext to annex the territory. Lived to 90, reportedly still leading cavalry charges.
Reading Notes
The Purple Cloak Murder
In 40 CE, the emperor Caligula invited Ptolemy — son of Juba II, grandson of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony — to Rome. Ptolemy arrived wearing a fine purple cloak that reportedly outshone the emperor's. Caligula had him executed. Within two years, Claudius annexed Mauretania as two new provinces. Whether the murder was really about a cloak or about absorbing a strategically valuable client kingdom is debated. Either way, a descendant of Cleopatra died so Rome could govern Morocco.
One Legion for a Continent
Rome controlled all of North Africa west of Egypt with a single legion (Legio III Augusta) and about 28,000 auxiliary troops. By the 2nd century, these garrisons were mostly recruited locally. This was not an occupation — it was a system. Roads, aqueducts, forums, and citizenship created buy-in. A Berber chief could petition for citizenship (the Tabula Banasitana proves it). His children could serve in the legion. His grandchildren could govern provinces. The thinnest military screen in the empire held the longest.
Volubilis After Rome
When Rome withdrew from Morocco around 285 CE, Volubilis didn't die. Latin inscriptions continue into the 6th century. The city was still inhabited when Idris I — founder of the first Moroccan dynasty — arrived in 788 CE. He made nearby Moulay Idriss his capital, but Volubilis remained occupied. The mosaics of Orpheus and the Labours of Hercules are still in their original villa floors — one of the rarest survivals anywhere in the Roman world. Rome left Morocco, but Morocco didn't leave Rome.
Sources
Provinces: Wikipedia, "Africa (Roman province)," "Roman colonies in North Africa," "Byzantine North Africa." Britannica, "Africa, Proconsular Roman province." UNRV.com, "Africa." Oxford Reference, "Roman Africa." Province dates and structure per standard Roman administrative history. Military: 28,000 troops (one legion plus auxiliaries), UNRV and factsanddetails.com. Grain: 1 million tons annual production, one-quarter exported — widely cited. 180 cities in Tunisia: factsanddetails.com citing standard scholarship.
Sites: UNESCO World Heritage listings: Carthage (1979), Dougga (1997), El Jem (1979), Timgad (1982), Djemila (1982), Tipaza (1982), Volubilis (1997), Leptis Magna (1982), Sabratha (1982), Cyrene (1982). African World Heritage Sites (africanworldheritagesites.org). Site descriptions synthesised from UNESCO, Britannica, and heritage-key.com "Top 10 Roman Sites in North Africa." Bulla Regia underground villas: widely documented. El Jem amphitheatre: 35,000 capacity, 3rd largest, freestanding.
Figures: Septimius Severus: first African emperor, Punic accent per Historia Augusta. Juba II: married Cleopatra Selene per Plutarch. Augustine: Confessions, "cauldron of unholy loves" (Book 3). Apuleius: The Golden Ass, only complete Latin novel. Masinissa: Livy, Polybius. Purple cloak murder: Suetonius, Life of Caligula; Cassius Dio. Tabula Banasitana: Roman citizenship grant to Berber family, archaeological find at Banasa.
© Dancing with Lions · dancingwithlions.com · Population figures are scholarly estimates with wide ranges. This visualisation may not be reproduced without visible attribution.