Herodotus described the Garamantians as mobile Libyan herders with abundant dates, hunting cave-dwelling Ethiopians with four-horse chariots. Archaeological evidence has been interpreted as Garamantian presence in Fezzan from about 1000 BC, while Herodotus provides their earliest written notice in the fifth century BC. He also described the Atarantians—a named Libyan tribe living around a spring and salt pillars—who shunned the sun, ate nothing living and did not dream. Mount Atlas, his cloud-capped “pillar of heaven,” stood in Ammonite country.
Herodotus on the Garamantians and Atarantians
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Key facts
- Herodotus described the Garamantians as a mobile Libyan desert people, rich in cattle and dates.
- Herodotus says the Garamantians hunted cave-dwelling Ethiopians with four-horse chariots.
- Archaeological evidence has been interpreted as Garamantian presence in Fezzan from about 1000 BC; Herodotus provides their earliest known written mention in the fifth century BC.
- The Atarantians were a named Libyan tribe living around a revered spring and salt pillars, with dwellings also made of salt.
- Herodotus says the Atarantians shunned and cursed the sun, ate nothing living and did not dream.
- Herodotus placed Mount Atlas in Ammonite country, described it as cloud-capped and as the 'pillar of heaven,' and said it was named after Atlas, son of Prometheus.
Sources
The Garamantes and Trans-Saharan Enterprise in ...jstor.org
by RCC Law · 1967 · Cited by 130 — The Garamantes are in the Fezzan. Herodotus locates the Garamantes ten days' journey from Audjila, which is about half the actual distance, and thirty days ...
Who were the Garamantes? - by Sam Matey-Costesammatey.substack.com
Herodotus describes them as eating “snakes and other creeping things” and their speech as like “the squeaking of bats.”
Garamantesen.wikipedia.org
Herodotus includes the Garamantes in his description of the ancient Libyan tribes, describing them as "a very great nation" who herded cattle and farmed dates.
Garama: an ancient civilisation in the Central Saharaworld-archaeology.com
Herodotus, the Greek historian and ethnographer of the 5th century BC, reported that the Garamantes spread humus over salty ground to ...
Libyan Garamantes | Anthropology | Research Startersebsco.com
The Garamantes were an ancient people who inhabited the Sahara Desert from around 500 B.C.E. to 200 C.E. They lived in three large cities—the capital of Germa ( ...
2.8.5. Garamantes and Fezzanreferenceworks.brill.com
The Fezzan (Berber; Arabic Fizzān; cf. Latin Phasania and B.) in the Central Sahara played an important part in the early history of the desert civilizations.
Botanical evidence for Garamantian agriculture in Fezzan, ...sciencedirect.com
by M van der Veen · 1992 · Cited by 21 — The archaeobotanical analysis of 23 samples of occupation deposits from the Garamantian settlement of Zinchecra, Fezzan, southern Libya, dated to the first ...
Libyan Garamantes | Anthropology | Research Startersebsco.com
The Garamantes, according to Herodotus, are one of several tribes who. are the last inhabitants of Libya on the side of the desert, living as they do, more ...
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