He stands alone!
The young African is the last man standing against the might of the imperial Roman army.
With his back to the wall, he stands defiant and refuses to yield to superior odds. Ultimately, his efforts will be futile; he'll be overcome by the sheer force of numbers and taken captive.
Placed in chains, he'll be carried off to far distant Rome and there, in an alien slave-market, he will be sold into slavery as an exotic animal.
What will be his fate?
Will he be sold and trained as a gladiator? Or will he used in the team of exotic, black litter-bearers of a wealthy patrician or senator?
Or is he doomed to the back-breaking labours of the latifundium or to strain at the oars of a merchant ship as a galley-slave?
Who knows but one thing is for certain, his days as a free man are over and his life as a Roman slave has just begun.
Picture found on the internet, source unknown. The text is mine.
As I had already the chance of underlining in past comments, and differently from what many people believe, and from what many (historically wrong) “historical” movies show ……. actually in ancient Rome, black African slaves were very rare.
ReplyDeleteAs I had already the chance to write, Roman slavery was never based on race, ethnicity nd color of the skin. Really in ancient Rome practically everybody could be a Master ….. or could become a slave ! …… included even ex-Roman citizens, e.g. sold for debts !
Returning to the rarity of black African slaves, this was due to the fact that there were practically no contacts, through the immense Sagara desert, between the Roman southern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. The rare and indirect contacts with black Equatorial Africa were mainly occurring through the southern valley of the Nile and through Ethiopia. So these were very long and extremely difficult ways through which were imported into the Roman Empire, rare wild beasts used e.g. in the Arenas, as well as equally rare black African slaves. (at that time the most frequent African wild beasts for Arenas, i.e. lions, were still living in Egypt and in all the Mediterranean Africa, north of Sahara).
Moreover, I do not know, in the ten centuries of history of Rome, any case in which Roman legions fought against an Army of really black Africans.
So this exciting fantasy of yours, Chris, needs to be considered as just a work of pure fiction, however bewitching it may be.
On the contrary, as I already underlined in another comment, we know that there were in Rome a few wealthy merchants that, coming from the south of Egypt or from Ethiopia, were most likely themselves black men. It seems that these African merchants –especially in the mid and late Empire- had practically the “monopoly” of a long list of very precious goods imported from Arabia and also from the every far India, like pearls, incense, perfumes and gems.
These extremely precious merchandise often made those African traders immensely rich Lords …… who –useless to say, like all very rich Roman Lords - possessed hundreds or even thousands slaves, most of which were of course whites, from the Mediterranean area or from Northern Europe.
Karel
Hi Karel,
ReplyDeleteOnce again, thank you for your most valued comments and you are quite right in saying this post should be seen as a work of fiction. That was my intention.
To my knowledge the Roman army never had military contact with Black Africans. Most probably, the Africans they were more familiar with, living in the area of North Africa stretching from the Straits of Gibraltar to Egypt, would have been lighter skinned. Black Africans lived mostly in sub-Saharan regions.
Therefore, true black Africans would have been a rarity in Rome. However, sometimes reference is made to "black emperors" i.e. Emperor Caracalla. However, it is my belief these weren't true black Africans but darker skinned natives from Rome's vast empire, possibly North Africa.
When i saw this picture, i was struck by the masculine beauty of the subject, and the scenario suggested itself to me. It is purely a work of fiction and as Masters and slaves both know, our fantasies don't always align with facts.
Regards
Chris
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI am always admired and delighted by your vast historical knowledge in ancient Rome.
Your words, confirming my comment, are totally correct and your mention of Emperor Caracalla is more than ever opportune for exemplifying what (apart from very rare “exceptions”, as I said) meant “Africans” in ancient Rome.
The physical features of Emperor Caracalla (188 -217 AD) are very well known because he’s one of Roman Emperors of whom have survived the greatest number of portraits and marble busts.
The only physical feature that might somehow “connect” him with Hamitic-like African populations is his very curled hair. However this curly hair is a feature easily found also in Indo-Europeans of the Mediterranean area and it is also today very common in Italy or Spain or Greece.
For the rest, his face looks not at all “Hamitic” and he has neither a pug nose or full lips, typical of African Hamitic populations.
By the way he had been born in Gaul (modern France) but his father, the Emperor Septimius Severus, was said of being of Punic (Phoenician) and of Berber blood.
Therefore he was not at all a black African, but his blood was a mixture between Phoenician blood from the Middle East and BERBER blood.
And therefore confirming your above hypotheses, the “darkest” Africans that generally ancient Romans knew were actually light-skinned Berbers, known by Romans with the name of NUMIDIANS, that inhabited all the Northern Mediterranean coast of Africa, North of Sahara, and who still today inhabit it, with some blend with Arabic blood.
Thefore in most cases, for ancient Romans, a “DARK AFRICAN” corresponded more or less to a modern inhabitant of Algeria or of Morocco, and not to a really black-skinned inhabitant of current Equatorial Africa.
Of course, as I said, there were some very rare exceptions, both among very infrequent black slaves, but also among rare but often very wealthy black Lords, most often rich traders.
These very rare black African men in ancient Rome were coming from the Southern valley of the Nile and from the territories of modern Ethiopia and Somalia, lands with which Rome had some trade.
Karel