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Concept
Garamantes
Summary
The Garamantes (Γαράμαντες; Garamantes) were an ancient civilisation based primarily in the southern region of Libya. They most likely descended from Toubou or Berber tribes and pastoralists from the Sahara. The Garamantes settled in the Fezzan region by at least 1000 BC,and by the late 7th century AD, the Garamantian civilization had ceased.
The Garamantes emerged as a major regional power in the mid-2nd century AD and established a kingdom that spanned roughly in the Fezzan region of southern Libya. Their growth and expansion was based on a complex and extensive qanat irrigation system (Berber: foggaras), which supported a strong agricultural economy and large population. They subsequently developed the first urban society in a major desert that was not centered on a river system; their largest town, Garama, had a population of around four thousand, with an additional six thousand living in surrounding suburban areas.
At its pinnacle, the Garamantian kingdom established and maintained a "standard of living far superior to that of any other ancient Saharan society." Until the mid-20th century, the Garamantes were believed to be a small and minor desert tribe. During the 1960s, archaeological excavations began to reveal that the Garamantes were "brilliant farmers, resourceful engineers, and enterprising merchants who produced a remarkable civilization."
The earliest known written record to document the Garamantes dates to the 5th century BC. According to Herodotus, the Garamantes were "a very great nation" who herded cattle and farmed dates, and were also reported in an account to have been in pursuit of "Troglodyte Ethiopians" who lived in the desert, from four-horse chariots. Besides Herodotus, references to the Garamantes appear from several other Greco-Roman sources. After conducting a comprehensive review of quotes from various sources, including Strabo, Arnobius Adv. Gentes, Ptolemy, Solinus, etc.
Official source
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