The Garamantes

Misha Glenny and guests discuss an ancient civilisation who lived over 2000 years ago in the southwest of modern-day Libya. During prehistoric times, the Sahara Desert was greener and even had large lakes, but for the last 5000 years it has been a hyperarid environment. Extreme swings of temperature and limited surface water might make the Sahara seem like an inhospitable place to live, but an ancient people in North Africa known to us as the Garamantes thrived there. Following descriptions of the Garamantes in Roman and Greek texts, the Garamantes have often been seen as pastoral nomads, or as tribal barbarians on the periphery of the Mediterranean world. But the work of archaeologists in recent decades has revealed something different. Evidence suggests a society with flourishing towns and cities, complex underground irrigation systems, a key role in trade routes across the Sahara – and may give us a broader view of ancient history.WithDavid Mattingly Emeritus Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of LeicesterFarès Moussa Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton and Cultural Heritage ConsultantAndJosephine Quinn Professor of Ancient History and Fellow of St John’s College, University of CambridgeProducer: Martha OwenReading list:C.M. Daniels, The Garamantes of Southern Libya (Oleander Press, 1970)C. Duckworth, A. Cuénod and D.J. Mattingly (eds), Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond (Trans-Saharan Archaeology Volume 4, Cambridge University Press, 2020)M.C. Gatto, D.J. Mattingly, N. Ray and M. Sterry (eds), Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond (Trans-Saharan Archaeology Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 2019)R.B. Hitchner (ed.), A Companion to North Africa in Antiquity (Wiley-Blackwell, 2020), especially ‘Beyond barbarians: the Garamantes of the Libyan Sahara’ by D.J. MattinglyD.J. Mattingly, Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire (Michigan University Press, 2023)D.J. Mattingly (ed.), The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 1, Synthesis (Soc