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The Roman Frontier Settlement at Ghirza: An Interim Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Olwen Brogan  and
David Smith
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Extract

The ruins of Ghirza are the remains of a settlement of the Roman period which lie 250 km. (150 miles) south-east of Tripoli in a direct line, or about 375 km. (225 miles) by road and track, and some 130 km. (80 miles) from the nearest point on the Syrtic coast. The site (p. 176, fig. 3) is on the left bank of the Wadi Ghirza, about 10 km. south-west of its junction with the Wadi Zemzem, and is the southernmost Romano–Libyan frontier settlement known to have existed in the region between the Gheriat and Bu Ngem. Its two groups of mausolea with their striking and varied sculptures have been known for many years, but little attention has hitherto been paid to the settlement itself. A general survey of Ghirza, its tombs and its settlement, is being carried out by the writers in collaboration with Dr. E. Vergara-Caffarelli, Director of the Department of Antiquities of Tripolitania. It is the purpose of this article to summarize the results of the survey of the buildings and associated features of the settlement, initiated in 1952 and 1953 and nearly completed in 1955.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Roman Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 1-2 , November 1957 , pp. 173 - 184
Copyright
Copyright ©Olwen Brogan and David Smith 1957. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

1 Map reference: Tripolitania 1/500,000, Sheet 9, Bu Ngem, 6854. In the footnotes the following abbreviations are used: GJ (Geographical Journal), ILN (Illustrated London News), IRT (J. M. Reynolds and J. B. Ward Perkins, Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania, 1952), JRS (Journal of Roman Studies), PBSR (Papers of the British School at Rome), RM (Reports and Monographs of the Dept. of Antiquities of Tripolitania).

2 Dr. Vergara-Caffarelli, Mr. David Oates, and Mrs. Brogan paid a brief visit to Ghirza in 1952, the outcome of which was the organization of an exploratory party which, with the co-operation of the 14/20 Hussars, spent a week at the site in September, 1953. A more ambitious programme was undertaken in April, 1955, when Dr. Vergara-Caffarelli and Mrs. Brogan, joined by Messrs. David Smith and Michael Ballance and by three architects, then serving with the Royal Engineers in Tripoli, conducted detailed surveys, which can be regarded as essentially complete, of the tombs and of the settlement. The writers of this article wish to express their indebtedness to the Russell Trust and to Cambridge University for the financial assistance which enabled this work to be carried out. The article, already in proof in December, 1956, is dedicated to Mr. Last in gratitude for the encouragement he has given to many N. African expeditions undertaken by the British School in Rome.

3 C. Müller, Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia (1901), 659, favours the identification of Gereisa with Ghirza, but Ptolemy's co-ordinates are very unreliable for Africa and his Gereisa is given the same latitude as Sabratha. For Ptolemy's cartography of Africa cf. J. O. Thomson, History of Ancient Geography (1948), 260.

4 W. H. Smyth, The Mediterranean (1854), 482–4.

5 D. Denham and H. Clapperton, Narration of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the Years 1822, 1823 and 1824 (1826), 305 ff.

6 Barth, H., Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, V (1858), 449Google Scholar. Barth mentions the ‘narrow wadi’—evidently the gorge—but does not seem to have paused by the ruins.

7 de Mathuisieulx, H. Méhier, Nouvelles Archives des Missions Scientifiques et Littéraires, XII (1904), 23Google Scholar.

8 Bauer, Guido, ‘Vestigie di Roma nel territorio di Orfella: Le Due Necropoli di Ghirza,’ Africa Italiana, VI (1935), 61–78Google Scholar.

9 Haynes, D. E. L., Ancient Tripolitania (Tripoli, 1946), 104 fGoogle Scholar.

10 Goodchild, R. G. and Perkins, J. B. Ward, ‘The Limes Tripolitanus in the light of Recent Discoveries,’ JRS XXXIX (1949), 81–95Google Scholar; R. G. Goodchild, ‘The Limes Tripolitanus—II,’ ibid. XL (1950), 30–8; R. G. G., ‘The Centenaria of the Tripolitan Limes,’ RM (1949), 32–6; R. G. G., , ‘The Latino–Libyan Inscriptions of Tripolitania,’ Antiq. Journal XXX (1950), 135–144Google Scholar; R. G. G., , ‘Roman Tripolitania: Reconnaissance in the Desert Frontier Zone,’ GJ CXV (1950), 161–178Google Scholar; J. B. W. P., , ‘Gasr es Suq el Oti: a Desert Settlement in Central Tripolitania,’ Archaeology III (1950), 24–30Google Scholar; R. G. G., , ‘Oasis Forts of Legio III Augusta on the Routes to the Fezzan,’ PBSR XXII (1954), 56–68Google Scholar.

11 JRS XXXIX (1949), 92, 94Google Scholar.

12 RM (1949), 35. n. 36; cf. JRS XXXIX (1949), 93, n. 37Google Scholar: ‘it is, in fact, a reductio ad absurdum of the whole “gasr” system.’

13 This tributary, on the right bank of the Wadi Ghirza, is called Siah et-Tmed on the map, but its present local name is Siah el-Amara.

14 One of these, the Trik el-Merhoma, was followed by Barth, who came from Socna via Ershidiye and Gedafiye.

15 R. G. Goodchild, ‘The Roman Roads and Milestones of Tripolitania,’ RM (1948), 27.

16 A highly sceptical view of the possibility of a settlement at this point having any importance is expressed by A. Cohen under the title of ‘La pretesa città di Ghirza’, in Come siamo andati in Libia, by L. Caetani and others, Florence (1914), 155–173, but the author was more interested in deflating Italian hopes of developing their new colony than in archaeology.

17 o.c., 482, 484. De Mathuisieulx (o.c. p. 23) refers to carob trees in the wadi, but we have never seen any there.

18 ILN (22nd January, 1955), 142, figs. 13–15.

19 GJ CXV (1950), plate facing p. 164Google Scholar, top, and p. 168.

20 ILN (22nd January, 1955), 140, fig. 5.

21 Camels: ILN (22nd January, 1955), 142; PBSR XXII (1954), pl. XVIIaGoogle Scholar; Haynes, o.c., pl. 26a; horses: Haynes, l.c.; cattle: Haynes, o.c., pl. 24; goats (and sheep?): R. G. Goodchild, Geographical Magazine, July, 1952, 152 (not from Ghirza).

22 Reynolds, Joyce, ‘Inscriptions of Roman Tripolitania: A Supplement,’ PBSR XXIII (1955), 139, S. 22Google Scholar.

23 R. G. Goodchild, Geographical Magazine, June, 1952, 75.

24 Cistern 2: 15 by 7 by 7·50 m.; cistern 3, cruciform, maximum length and breadth 10·70 and 6·50 m. respectively, depth 8 m.

25 See Perkins, J. B. Ward and Goodchild, R. G., in Archaeologia XCV (1953), 50–6Google Scholar. Building 32 was cleared in 1956 and 1957, after this article was in the press, and proved to be a native Libyan temple. No sculptures with exclusively Christian symbols have yet been found at Ghirza.

26 cf. the plan of Ghifa, Gasr, JRS XL (1950), 36, fig. 6Google Scholar.

27 The writers have to thank members of the staff of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, for a report on one of these stumps which shows it to be of a species of acacia, either A. tortilis or A. seyal, still the characteristic tree of the Wadi Ghirza.

28 cf. Duib, Gasr, a centenarium erected A.D. 244–6, JRS XXXIX (1949), 90–1Google Scholar.

29 JRS XL (1950), 36Google Scholar (fortified farmhouses of Period II, c. A.D. 250–400), pl. IV, 3.

30 e.g. at Scedeua, Bir, JRS XXXIX (1949), pl. XIII, 2Google Scholar.

31 Haynes, o.c., pl. 21; also illustrated in the Geographical Magazine, July, 1952, 151.

32 JRS XL (1950), 36Google Scholar, fig. 6, plans of Gasr ‘E’ and Gasr ‘F’ at Bir Scedeua.

33 ibid., 37.

34 These are being studied by Miss Joyce Reynolds.

35 JRS XL (1950), 34–7Google Scholar.

36 ibid., 36.

37 cf. Gasr ‘F’ at Bir Scedeua, a fortified farm house of Period II, ibid., pl. IV, 3.

38 cf. the internal masonry in the upper storey of one of the towers of the N.E. Gate of the fort at Gheria el Garbia, completed between the years 230 and 235; see Goodchild, R. G., ‘Oasis Forts of Legio III Augusta on the Routes to the Fezzan,’ PBSR XXII (1954), 63–5Google Scholar, pl. XIII, a.

39 This building has been excavated since this paper was written: see above, p. 179, note 25.

40 cf. The Excavations at Dura-Europos, Final Report, Part III, The Lamps, by P. V. C. Baur (Yale, 1947), p. 8, pl. 1, nos. 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, and 17 (all Type in).

41 This is a hypothesis which might account for the problem raised by the existence of two, widely separated, groups of monumental tombs, both of which certainly belong to the settlement at Ghirza.

42 Apart from the stylistic evidence of the architecture and sculpture there are building inscriptions from two of the best tombs which record payments to the builders of sums expressed in terms of folles; see IRT 898, 900.

43 See Oates, David, PBSR XXII (1954), 110–11Google Scholar.

44 JRS XL (1950), 30, 31Google Scholar.

45 cf. Oates, , PBSR XXII (1954), 96Google Scholar, fig. 3 (Gasr Hamed).

46 The writers are indebted to Miss Audrey Henshall, of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, and to Dr. A. B. Wildman, of the Wool Industries Research Association, for a report on the textiles and human hair which will be published with the final report on Ghirza.

47 Caputo, , Mon. Ant. XLI (1931). 251, 276, 351, etc., pl. 11, etcGoogle Scholar.

48 G. Charles-Picard, Les Religions de l'Afrique Antique (1954), 23.

49 PBSR XXIII (1955), 140Google Scholar.