Africa (goddess)

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Africa
Goddess of Fertility and Fortune
Dido throne MAN Napoli Inv8898.jpg
Africa (right) with Queen Dido (centre), and an 'Aethiopian' woman presenting ivory (left), Roman fresco from Pompeii, before 79 CE
Other namesIfri, Ifru, Dea Patria (goddess of the homeland)
Venerated in Africa Preconsularis, Numidia
Affiliation Numitheism, Roman Pantheon
Major cult centre Thimugadi, Algeria [1]
AbodeNorth Africa, Caves
GenderFemale
Temple
Genealogy
OffspringFour Seasons
Equivalents
Greek Demeter, Gaia
Roman Ceres, Terra

In ancient Roman religion, Africa, (Latin : Dea Africa) was a goddess and the personification of Africa in the early centuries of the common era. [5] [6] She was originally a North African fertility and abundance deity worshipped by the Berbers and the tribe of Ifri. [7] [8] [9] Her iconography typically included an elephant-mask headdress, a cornucopia, a military standard, and a lion. [10]

Contents

To the Romans, "Africa" was only their imperial province, roughly equating to modern north-east Algeria, Tunisia and coastal Libya. [11] Therefore, the goddess was not given sub-Saharan African characteristics; she was thought of as Berber. [12] [5] After her image was revived in the Renaissance, she was reduced to a personification of Africa with no divine pretensions. [13] [14]

Etymology

Afri was a Latin name used to refer to the inhabitants of what was then known as North Africa, located west of the Nile river, and in its widest sense referring to all lands south of the Mediterranean, also known as Ancient Libya. [15] This name seems to have originally referred to a native Libyan tribe, the ancestors of the modern Berbers. [16]

Africa was also known from the Berber word ifri (plural ifran) meaning "cave" [17] [18] The same word [18] may have been found in the name of the Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania, a Berber tribe originally from Yafran (also known as Ifrane) in northwestern Libya. [19]

Function and worship

To the Romans, the distinction between worshipped goddesses and personified figures that served iconographic functions was elastic, with Africa appearing to have functioned in both roles. In his Natural History , Pliny the Elder wrote: "in Africa nemo destinat aliquid nisi praefatus Africam", which scholars translate as "no one in Africa does anything without first calling on Africa". [20] This has been used as proof of her importance, in some cases interpreted as a proof for a North African goddess-centric cult. Other writers have also interpreted the female personification of Africa to be a goddess (Dea), although she would have undoubtedly been a minor deity. [21]

A 2nd-century CE Tunisian mosaic of Goddess Africa with the Four Seasons. Goddess Africa with Four Seasons at the corner, a mosaic in El Djem Museum Tunisia.jpg
A 2nd-century CE Tunisian mosaic of Goddess Africa with the Four Seasons.

Africa was one of a number of "province personifications," which included Britannia, Hispania, Macedonia, and a number of Greek-speaking provinces. Africa was one of the earliest to appear, and may have originated with the publicity around Pompey the Great's African triumph in 80 BC; coins with both Pompey and Africa shown have been discovered. [22]

Some scholars have questioned whether the personified Africa was ever considered a goddess by the Romans or North Africans. Neither Pliny nor any writer thereafter ever described her as Dea, nor is there an epigraphical inscription containing Dea Africa. In contrast, other Roman goddesses carry the prefix Dea in texts and inscriptions. Since Romans already had their own goddesses of fertility and abundance, there was potentially no need for a competing goddess in the same role. [23]

Iconography

Africa was portrayed on coins, carved stones, and mosaics in Roman Africa. [4] [24] [25] In Timgad, she was the main goddess of the great sanctuary of the Aqua Septimiana Felix, where she was worshipped as Dea Patria (goddess of the homeland). [26] A sanctuary found in Timgad (Thamugadi in Berber) in Algeria features goddess Africa's iconography. [27]

The elephant headdress is seen first on coins depicting Alexander the Great, commemorating his invasion of India, including the (possibly fake) "Porus medallions" issued during his lifetime and the coinage of Ptolemy I of Egypt issued from 319 to 294 BC. [28] It may have had resonances with Pharaonic ideology. [28] The image was later adopted on coinage of Agathocles of Syracuse minted around 304 BC, following his African Expedition. [29] Subsequently it is seen on coinage of King Ibaras of Numidia, a kingdom that Pompey defeated in 1st century BCE, so very likely picked up from there by Pompey's image-makers. [22]

Renaissance revival

Allegory of Africa, 17th century oil painting by Jan Boeckhorst Allegory of Africa (from the Continents Cycle) by Jan Boeckhorst.jpg
Allegory of Africa, 17th century oil painting by Jan Boeckhorst

During the Renaissance, the personification of Africa was revived; by the 17th century, she was usually depicted with a dark complexion, curly hair, and a broad nose, in addition to her Roman attributes. [30] She was a necessary part of images of the Four Continents, which were popular in several media.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Aomar Akerraz; Moustapha Khanoussi; Attilio Mastino (2006). L' Africa romana: Atti del XVI convegno di studio, Rabat, 15-19 dicembre 2004. dell'Universita degli Studi di Sassari. pp. 1423, 1448. ISBN   978-88-430-3990-6.
  2. ↑ Aomar Akerraz; Moustapha Khanoussi; Attilio Mastino (2006). L' Africa romana: Atti del XVI convegno di studio, Rabat, 15-19 dicembre 2004. dell'Universita degli Studi di Sassari. pp. 1423, 1448. ISBN   978-88-430-3990-6.
  3. ↑ Baader, Hannah; Shalem, Avinoam; Wolf, Gerhard (2017-03-31). ""Art, Space, Mobility in Early Ages of Globalization": A Project, Multiple Dialogue, and Research Program". Art in Translation. 9 (sup1): 7–33. doi:10.1080/17561310.2015.1058024. ISSN   1756-1310.
  4. 1 2 3 Gifty Ako-Adounvo (1999), Studies in the Iconography of Blacks in Roman Art, Ph.D. Thesis awarded by McMaster University, Thesis Advisor: Katherine Dunbabin, page 82
  5. 1 2 Takruri, Akan (2017-02-12). 100 African religions before slavery & colonization. Lulu.com. ISBN   978-1-365-75245-2.
  6. ↑ African Affairs: Journal of the Royal African Society. 1902.
  7. ↑ Camps, G. (2001-10-01). Encyclopédie berbère (in French). Éditions Peeters. p. 3666. ISBN   2744902071 . Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  8. ↑ Awal, No. 40-41/2009-2010: Créer et transmettre chez les Berbères (in French). Les Editions de la MSH. 2011-03-03. ISBN   9782735115563 . Retrieved 2017-11-25.
  9. ↑ "L'animisme Berbère". Terrae Sanctuary. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  10. ↑ Paul Lachlan MacKendrick (2000). The North African Stones Speak. University of North Carolina Press. p. 236. ISBN   978-0-8078-4942-2.
  11. ↑ Vycichl, W. (1985-11-01). "Africa". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (2): 216–217. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.888. ISSN   1015-7344.
  12. ↑ Corbier, Paul; Griesheimer, Marc (2005). L'Afrique romaine: 146 av. J.-C. - 439 ap. J.-C. Le monde, une histoire Mondes anciens. Paris: Ellipses. ISBN   978-2-7298-2441-9.
  13. ↑ Maritz, J. A. (January 2002). "From Pompey to Plymouth: the personification of Africa in the art of Europe". Scholia. 11 (1): 65–79. hdl:10520/EJC100201. ProQuest   211597444.
  14. ↑ Montone, Francesco (2013-09-11). "AFRICA IN THE ROMAN IMAGINATION. THE PERSONIFICATION OF THE GODDESS AFRICA IN THE PANEGYRIC ON MAIORIANUS BY SIDONIUS APOLLINARIS (CARM. 5, 53-350)". Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of Postgraduates in Ancient Literature (Ceased Publication 2015).
  15. ↑ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879). "Afer". A Latin Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  16. ↑ Vycichl, W. (1985-11-01). "Africa". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (2): 216–217. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.888. ISSN   1015-7344. Etymology: The Latin designation (Africa) originally meant the land of the Afri, an indigenous tribe of present-day northern Tunisia, often confused with the Carthaginians, but Livy clearly distinguishes the Afri from the Carthaginians:- "Hasdrubal placed the Carthaginians on the right wing and the Afri on the left"- "the Carthaginians and the African veterans"- "the Carthaginians had Afri and Numidians as mercenaries"- "the horsemen of the Libyphoenicians, a Carthaginian tribe mixed with Afri
  17. ↑ Desfayes, Michel (25 January 2011). "The Names of Countries". michel-desfayes.org. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 9 April 2019. Africa. From the name of an ancient tribe in Tunisia, the Afri (adjective: Afer). The name is still extant today as Ifira and Ifri-n-Dellal in Greater Kabylia (Algeria). A Berber tribe was called Beni-Ifren in the Middle Ages and Ifurace was the name of a Tripolitan people in the 6th century. The name is from the Berber language ifri 'cave'. Troglodytism was frequent in northern Africa and still occurs today in southern Tunisia. Herodote wrote that the Garamantes, a North African people, used to live in caves. The Ancient Greek called troglodytēs an African people who lived in caves. Africa was coined by the Romans and 'Ifriqiyeh' is the arabized Latin name. (Most details from Decret & Fantar, 1981).
  18. 1 2 Babington Michell, Geo (1903). "The Berbers". Journal of the Royal African Society. 2 (6): 161–194. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a093193. JSTOR   714549. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  19. ↑ Edward Lipinski, Itineraria Phoenicia Archived 16 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine , Peeters Publishers, 2004, p. 200. ISBN   90-429-1344-4
  20. ↑ J. A. Maritz (2006), "Dea Africa: Examining the Evidence", Scholia: Studies in Classical Antiquity, Volume 15, page 102
  21. ↑ Levy, Harry L. (1958). "Themes of Encomium and Invective in Claudian". Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. 89: 336–347. doi:10.2307/283685. ISSN   0065-9711. JSTOR   283685.
  22. 1 2 Ostenberg, Ida (2009). Staging the World: Spoils, Captives, and Representations in the Roman Triumphal Procession. Oxford University Press. pp. 222–223 with footnote 138. ISBN   978-0-19-921597-3.
  23. ↑ J. A. Maritz (2006), "Dea Africa: Examining the Evidence", Scholia: Studies in Classical Antiquity, Volume 15, pages 102-121
  24. ↑ Parrish, David (2015). "The mosaics of El Jem". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 12: 777–781. doi:10.1017/S1047759400018663. ISSN   1047-7594.
  25. ↑ Robert A. Wild (1981). Water in the Cultic Worship of Isis and Sarapis. Brill Archive. pp. 186–187. ISBN   90-04-06331-5.
  26. ↑ Akerraz, Aomar, ed. (2006). L' Africa romana: mobilità delle persone e dei popoli, dinamiche migratorie, emigrazioni ed immigrazioni nelle province occidentali dell'Impero romano; atti del XVI Convegno di studio, Rabat, 15 - 19 dicembre. Collana del Dipartimento di storia dell'Università degli studi di Sassari., Nuova serie. Roma: Carocci. pp. 1423, 1448. ISBN   978-88-430-3990-6.
  27. ↑ Aomar Akerraz; Moustapha Khanoussi; Attilio Mastino (2006). L' Africa romana: Atti del XVI convegno di studio, Rabat, 15-19 dicembre 2004. dell'Universita degli Studi di Sassari. pp. 1423, 1448. ISBN   978-88-430-3990-6.
  28. 1 2 Lorber, Catherine (2018). Coins of the Ptolemaic Empire. New York: American Numismatic Society. pp. 46–59.
  29. ↑ de Lisle, Christopher (2021). Agathokles of Syracuse : Sicilian Tyrant and Hellenistic King (First ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 128–130. ISBN   9780191894343.
  30. ↑ Spicer, Joaneath (2016). "The Personification of Africa with an Elephant-head Crest in Cesare Ripa's Iconologia". Personification. Brill Academic. pp. 675–715. doi:10.1163/9789004310438_026. ISBN   9789004310438.

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