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Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army
#15
Quote:one of the skeletons in the late Roman Lankhills cemetery was from North Africa... African lady found in Sussex... Mauri Feroces on Hadrians Wall... All in all, quite a lot of evidence!

Although, as Duncan says above, 'Africa' and 'African' did not mean 'black' by our contemporary standards. 'Afer' was somebody from north Africa, around Carthage. The Mauri, Numidians, Garamantes and others were probably similar to Berbers - dark complexions, but again not 'black'.

Sub-saharan Africans could have entered the empire via the Nile valley and Egypt, and many of them clearly did - references to Aethiopians in Roman literature, and in art (probably including the blue glass head shown above), demonstrate this. But they would not have been common.

However, as I said above, the story of Severus and the 'black' soldier is important precisely because Severus himself was from north Africa - in order for the emperor to have such an adverse reaction to the 'ill omened' soldier, this 'Moor' must have been significantly darker than Severus himself. Quite probably a sub-saharan 'black' African then, serving in the army in north Britain c.209.
Nathan Ross
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Messages In This Thread
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by richard - 11-11-2013, 12:12 AM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by Rennie - 11-11-2013, 09:39 PM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by Caballo - 11-11-2013, 11:28 PM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by Epictetus - 11-12-2013, 05:07 AM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by Nathan Ross - 11-12-2013, 09:47 AM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by richard - 11-12-2013, 10:32 AM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by MD - 11-12-2013, 05:33 PM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by John1 - 12-05-2013, 04:58 PM
Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by John1 - 12-05-2013, 05:52 PM
RE: Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by John1 - 10-24-2017, 04:03 PM
RE: Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by John1 - 01-16-2019, 08:05 PM
RE: Sub Saharan Africans in Roman army - by John1 - 01-17-2019, 09:50 AM

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