Given the hydro-geography of the desert south of Tripolitania, we should marvel that Roman armies ever reached the Garamantian homeland. Campaigns piercing the heart of the desert required the greatest exertion of Roman military logistics. As Mattingly puts it, “Rome’s achievement in adapting to desert warfare should not be underestimated.”164 Yet we should also not forget that the sheer hostility of the desert landscape typically preserved the Garamantes from Roman reprisals. For all the trouble they caused the Roman empire, the Garamantes were never annexed, like the Musulames and Cinithi in what is now Tunisia.165 In a century of intermittent warfare, they were invaded only three times, and no permanent Roman garrison ever approached their borders. And although a Roman invasion in 70 CE finally put an end to large-scale
Garamantian attacks on the coast, we may suspect that it succeeded in this only by offering elite tribesman substantial material incentives to maintain the peace; expensive Roman pottery and glassware appears in the Garamantian archaeological record around 70 CE, a sign that peace was bought as much as it was won.166 The Garamantes were able to threaten Tripolitania so brazenly
164Mattingly (1994), p. 41.
165Mattingly (1994), p. 70. Like the Garamantes, both tribes were involved in Tacfarinas’ revolt in the early 1st Century CE (Tacfarinas himself was a member of the Musulames). As punishment, both were brought under direct Roman rule.
166Mattingly (1994), p. 74. Contra Daniels (1970), who insists that Roman goods appear as a result of equal trade, not as gifts or bribes.
for so long because a campaign against them presented almost insurmountable logistical challenges.
We should not imagine that the challenges outlined here were unique to Roman
Tripolitania. The empire confronted deserts all along its southern and eastern frontiers. Maps similar to the ones I have displayed here would, in all likelihood, show just how thoroughly the constraints of water logistics stymied Aelius Gallus’ expedition to Arabia Felix, or complicated centuries of Roman warfare against Parthians and Persians.167 Ultimately, investigating how Roman legions obtained adequate supplies of fresh water highlights the severity of the challenges which the empire faced. Although the Roman army was able to stretch the
implacable limits of geography through exceptional logistical effort in moments of crisis, under normal circumstances biological requirements and technological shortcomings reasserted their grip on the Roman military. On the arid fringes of empire, the Roman army’s ability to move and fight was severely limited by its basic need for drinking water.
167Strabo, 16.4.22-24.
MAPS 1. Roman Tripolitania
2. Average Rainfall
3. Tripolitanian Springs and Oases
4. Maximum Green Vegetation Fraction 1 5. Maximum Green Vegetation Fraction 2 6. Maximum Green Vegetation Fraction 3 7. Tripolitanian Water Sources
8. Areas Within One Day’s March of Water Sources 9. The Gefara Desert
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Unless otherwise noted, all quotations from ancient sources come from the Loeb Classical Library, an imprint of Harvard University Press. I have adjusted the Loeb translations as necessary.
GIS
In addition to the printed sources listed above, the GIS work in this thesis is based on the following digital data sources:
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(2014). Accessed through the USGS Land Cover Institute. http://landcover.usgs.gov/green_veg.php