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TheLimes Tripolitanus was a frontier zone of defence of theRoman Empire, built in the south of what is nowTunisia and the northwest ofLibya. It was primarily intended as a protection for the tripolitanian cities ofLeptis Magna,Sabratha andOea inRoman Libya.
TheLimes Tripolitanus was built afterAugustus. It was related mainly to theGaramantes menace. Septimius Flaccus in 50 AD launched amilitary expedition that reached the actualFezzan[2] and further south.
The Romans did not conquer the Garamantes so much as they seduced them with the benefits of trade and discouraged them with the threat of war. The last Garamantian foray to the coast was in AD 69, when they joined with the people ofOea (modern Tripoli) in battle againstLeptis Magna.
The Romans, in order to defend themain Roman cities of Tripolitania (Oea,Sabratha and Leptis Magna), intervened and marched south. According to Edward Bovill, author of the bookThe Golden Trade of the Moors, this campaign marked the Romans’ first use of camels in theSahara, which convinced the Garamantes that their advantage in desert warfare no longer held.
After that the Garamantes started to become aclient state of the Roman Empire, but nomads always endangered the fertile area of coastal Tripolitania. Because of this Romans created the Limes Tripolitanus[3]
The first fort on thelimes was built at Thiges, to protect from nomad attacks in 75 AD. The limes was expanded underemperorsHadrian andSeptimius Severus, in particular under the legatusQuintus Anicius Faustus in 197-201 AD.
Indeed, Anicius Faustus was appointedlegatus of theLegio IIIAugusta and built several defensive forts of the Limes Tripolitanus in Tripolitania, among which Garbia[4] and Golaia (actual Bu Ngem)[5] in order to protect the province from the raids of nomadic tribes. He fulfilled his task quickly and successfully.
As a consequence the Roman city ofGaerisa (actual Ghirza), situated away from the coast and south of Leptis Magna, developed quickly in a rich agricultural area[6] Ghirza became a "boom town" after 200 AD, when the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (born in Leptis Magna) had organized theLimes Tripolitanus.
Former soldiers were settled in this area, and the arid land was developed.[7] Dams and cisterns were built in the Wadi Ghirza (then not dry like today) to regulate the flash floods. These structures are still visible:[8] there is among the ruins of Gaerisa a temple, which may have been dedicated to theBerber semi-god "Gurzil", and the name of the town itself may even be related to his name.[9] The farmers produced cereals, figs, vines, olives, pulses, almonds, dates, and perhaps melons. Ghirza consisted of some forty buildings, including six fortified farms (Centenaria), two of which were quite large. It was abandoned in theMiddle Ages.
WithDiocletian the limes was partially abandoned and the defence of the area was delegated to theLimitanei. The Limes survived as an effective protection untilByzantine times (EmperorJustinian restructured the Limes in 533 AD).[10]
Nomad warriors of the Banu Hillal tribe captured the centenaria/castra of the Limes in the 11th century and the agricultural production fell to nearly nothing within a few decades: even Leptis Magna and Sabratha were abandoned and only Oea survived, which was from now on known asTripoli.
InLibya today, very substantial remains survive, e.g., the limes castles atAbu Nujaym (ancient Golaia) andAl Qaryah al Gharbīyah, the frontier village Gaerisa, and about 2,000 fortified farms (Centenaria) likeQaryat.[11]
Tunisia has several sites attached to the limes. In 2012, some of these sites were presented to UNESCO in order to register them as World Heritage.[12]
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The Tebaga Wall is a 17 kilometers-long fortification line built along theTebaga Gap orClausura between the range of Jebel Tebaga and the hills of the Matma Mountains.[13]
