At its fullest extent, the Roman Empire stretched from around modern-day Aswan, Egypt at its southernmost point to Great Britain in the north but the influence of the Roman Empire went far beyond even the borders of its provinces as a result of commerce and population movements. Contrary to popular belief which holds that the Sahara Desert was an impossible obstacle to trade prior to the Middle Ages, the Romans had a robust and dynamic network of connections to Sudanic and Sub-Saharan Africa. Slaves, gold, foodstuffs, and spices were transported from complex urban settlements on the Niger river, onwards to oasis cities in the Sahara, before finally reaching Rome's bustling ports on the coast of North Africa. Going in the opposite direction, gemstones, textiles, and coins reached cities along the fertile banks of the Middle Niger.

(资料图)

罗马帝国的疆域最广时，从最南端的现代埃及阿斯旺附近一直延伸到北部的大不列颠，但由于商业和人口流动，罗马帝国的影响甚至远远超出其行省的边界。人们普遍认为撒哈拉沙漠是中世纪之前的“贸易沟堑”，与此相反，罗马人与苏丹和撒哈拉以南非洲地区建立了强大而活跃的贸易网络。奴隶、黄金、食品和香料从尼日尔河上复杂而发达的城市定居点运往撒哈拉沙漠的绿洲城市，最后运往北非海岸繁华的港口。反之，宝石、纺织品和钱币则运往尼日尔河中游肥沃河岸的城市。

Classical Greek and Roman writers refer to all of Sudanic and Sub-Saharan Africa as 'Aethiopia', while the term 'Africa' originally referred only to the Maghreb region on the northwestern coast of the continent. Most Aethiopians in the Roman Empire likely came from East Africa through Egypt and Nubia but new evidence has also highlighted the role of trade and military interactions between West Africa and the Roman Empire.

古典希腊和罗马作家将整个苏丹和撒哈拉以南非洲称为“埃塞俄比亚 (Aethiopia)”，而“非洲（Africa）”一词最初仅指非洲大陆西北海岸的马格里布地区。罗马帝国大多数埃塞俄比亚人可能来自东非，途经埃及和努比亚，但新的证据也揭示了西非与罗马帝国之间贸易和军事互动的作用。

罗马人对西非的探索

Roman expeditions into the Sahara were well documented beginning in the early Imperial period, though they decreased in Late Antiquity as a result of the accelerating desertification of North Africa. In 19 BCE, the Roman proconsul Cornelius Balbus led a force of 10,000 legionaries into Libya to punish the Garamantes, a Berber people who inhabited the Fezzan region of the Libyan Desert in the northeast Sahara, for rebellious activity. Balbus conquered the city of Ghadames before marching on Garama (Germa) and conquering it. After this, he penetrated the continent further south until reaching what is believed to be the Niger River.

罗马人在撒哈拉的探险活动在帝国早期就有详细记载，但由于北非沙漠化的加速，在古代晚期，罗马人对撒哈拉的探险活动有所减少。公元前19年，罗马总督科卢修斯·科尼利厄斯·巴尔布斯（Cornelius Balbus）率领10000名军团士兵进入利比亚，讨伐居住在撒哈拉东北部利比亚沙漠费赞地区的柏柏尔人加拉曼特（Garamantes）的叛乱活动。巴尔布斯征服了加达梅斯城（古达米斯），然后向加拉马（杰尔马）进军并征服了该城。后来，他进一步向南深入非洲大陆，据信到达尼日尔河。

The Roman general Suetonius Paulinus quelled a rebellion in Mauretania in 40 CE, before embarking on a celebrated expedition across the Atlas Mountains and into the Fezzan region of the Sahara (c. 41 CE). In 50 CE a general named Septimius Flaccus led a military expedition against nomadic bandits who were troubling Leptis Magna in modern-day Libya. His expedition proved successful but what was most impressive was that his journey went far further south than the Saharan desert. In fact, Flaccus made it as far as an enormous lake surrounded by elephants and rhinoceroses (Lake Chad) before returning.

公元前40年，罗马将军盖乌斯·苏托尼乌斯·保利努斯（Gaius Suetonius Paulinus，公元40-69年）镇压了毛里塔尼亚的叛乱，随后开始了一次著名的远征，穿越阿特拉斯山脉，进入撒哈拉的费赞地区（约公元前41年）。公元50年，一位名叫塞普蒂米乌斯·弗拉库斯 (Septimius Flaccus) 的将军率领军队远征游牧土匪，这些土匪在今利比亚的大莱波蒂斯（拉丁语：Leptis Magna，阿拉伯语：لبدة‎）一带活动。他的远征取得了成功，但最令人印象深刻的是，他的征途远比撒哈拉沙漠更南。事实上，弗拉库斯到达一个被大象和犀牛包围的巨大湖泊（乍得湖）才返回。

According to the 2nd-century CE Alexandrian historian Ptolemy, a Roman merchant named Julius Maternus led an expedition to retread Flaccus' footsteps and open up new trade routes in West Africa. This journey is thought to have been sometime around 83 CE and plotted through what is now Libya to the city of Garama. The Garamantian king allowed Maternus to accompany him on an expedition south and sent letters of introduction to the African kings in the south on behalf of the Roman. Maternus ultimately travelled to Lake Chad before returning to Rome with a two-horned rhinoceros which was displayed in the Colosseum. This animal would have been either a black or white rhinoceros from Central Africa and was a sensation in Rome - due to its performance in the arena. The Roman Emperor Domitian (81-96 CE) was so impressed with the beast and its reception that he minted coins bearing its image sometime between 83 and 85 CE.

根据公元 2 世纪亚历山大历史学家托勒密的记载，一位名叫朱利叶斯·马特诺（Julius Materno）的罗马商人率领一支探险队，重走弗拉库斯的足迹，在西非开辟新的贸易路线。这次探险发生在公元83年前后，途经现在的利比亚，到达加拉马城。加拉曼特国王允许朱利叶斯·马特诺随行南征，并代表罗马人向南部非洲国王发出了介绍信。马特诺最终来到乍得湖，然后带着一头双角犀牛返回罗马，这头犀牛被陈列在罗马斗兽场。这只犀牛应该是来自中非的黑犀牛或白犀牛，由于在竞技场上的出色表现，它在罗马引起了轰动。罗马皇帝提图斯·弗拉维乌斯·多米提安努斯（Domitian，公元前81-96年）对这头犀牛及其受到的欢迎印象深刻，因此在公元83-85年间铸造了印有犀牛形象的硬币。

尼日尔河上的贸易来源

Ancient cities and polities in West Africa which had developed along the Middle Niger were participants in the sporadic trans-Saharan trade relations of antiquity. These settlements developed independently in West Africa and are based on a radically different economic, social, and architectural model than the urban centres of Mesopotamia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. These cities and settlements traded goods like locally grown crops with Saharan contacts for rare foreign imports.

沿尼日尔河中游发展起来的西非古城和古国参与了古代零星的跨撒哈拉贸易关系。这些定居点在西非独立发展，其经济、社会和建筑模式与美索不达米亚、北非和地中海的城市中心截然不同。这些城市和定居点通过与撒哈拉人接触，用当地种植的农作物等商品换取稀有的外国进口商品。

Djenne-Djenno, built near modern-day Djenne, Mali by the Iron Age Nok culture in the early 3rd century BCE, has some of the oldest known evidence of Classical Mediterranean trade in West Africa. Traders in Djenne-Djenno were importing glass beads of Roman or Hellenistic origin as early as the 3rd century BCE. Evidence of trans-Saharan trade has been found in Kissi, Burkina Faso and Dia Shoma, Mali which means that this trade did not deal exclusively with the cities of the Middle Niger but extended to the Niger Bend as well.

杰内-杰诺（Djenne-Djenno）位于现代马里杰内(Djenne)附近，由铁器时代的诺克文化于公元前3世纪初建造，拥有西非已知最古老的地中海古典贸易证据。早在公元前 3世纪，杰内-杰诺的贸易商就开始进口源于罗马或希腊的玻璃珠。后人在基西（布基纳法索）和迪亚绍马（马里）发现了跨撒哈拉贸易的证据，这意味着这种贸易并不只与尼日尔中部的城市打交道，还延伸到了尼日尔河湾。

撒哈拉中间商：加拉曼特人

The extent of trans-Saharan contact between the peoples inhabiting the Sahara Desert has long been debated despite the frequent allusions of the Greek and Roman accounts, including sources like The Histories by the 5th-century BCE Greek author Herodotus and Pliny the Elder's 1st-century CE Natural History.

尽管希腊和罗马的记载（包括公元前 5 世纪希腊作家希罗多德的《历史》和公元前 1 世纪老普林尼的《自然史》等资料）经常提到撒哈拉沙漠居民之间跨撒哈拉接触的程度，但长期以来一直存在争议。

Between the 1st and 4th centuries CE, Rome was trading closely with the Garamante Kingdom, which had become a client state of Rome. Graeco-Roman stereotypes of the Garamantes often dismissed them as unruly nomads:

On its [Libya's] borders dwell the Garamantians, a lightly clad, agile tribe of tent-dwellers subsisting mainly by the chase. (Lucian of Samosata, Dipsas the Thirst-Snake, Ch. 2, translated by Fowler, p. 27)

公元1世纪到4世纪期间，罗马与加拉曼特王国的贸易往来非常密切，加拉曼特王国已成为罗马的一个客户国。古希腊罗马人对加拉曼特人的刻板印象往往将他们视为桀骜不驯的游牧民族：

在其（利比亚）边境居住着加拉曼特人，这是一个衣着轻便、行动敏捷的部落，住在帐篷里，主要靠狩猎为生。(Lucian of Samosata, Dipsas the Thirst-Snake, Ch. 2, translated by Fowler, p. 27)

Archaeologists have uncovered a different picture by demonstrating that they had permanent settlements which were supported by advanced irrigation techniques. Excavations at Garama have revealed a dynamic trade centre with a population of around 10,000.

考古学家提出了不同的观点，证明他们拥有由先进灌溉技术维持的永久定居点。在加拉马进行的发掘揭示了一个充满活力的商业中心的存在，估计人口为10000人。

Mediterranean amphorae containing olive oil and wine as well as imported pottery attest to frequent trade with the Roman Empire. Further evidence of Roman influences comes in the form of Roman-style marble, concrete, and wine presses. Most striking, however, is the presence of a large mausoleum with very clear architectural inspiration from its Roman counterparts.

装有橄榄油和葡萄酒的地中海双耳瓶以及进口陶器证明了与罗马帝国的频繁贸易。罗马风格的大理石、混凝土和榨酒器也进一步证明了罗马的影响。不过，最引人注目的还是一座大型陵墓，其建筑风格明显受到罗马同类建筑的启发。

红玉髓、黄金和传统谷物

One of the most important items that the Garamantes had to offer both Roman and West African traders were semi-precious stones like carnelian and amazonite. These small stones (referred to as carbuncles) were highly prized by Romans and are the primary commodity referenced in literary accounts of this exchange. Carbuncles and other semi-precious stones are the most well-represented objects from the trans-Saharan trade in West Africa. These carbuncles likely acted as a regional commodity and status symbol to locals of the Niger Bend given their rarity and the difficulty involved in obtaining them.

加拉曼特人向罗马和西非商人提供的最重要商品之一是红玉髓和亚马逊石（天河石）等半宝石。罗马人非常珍视这些小石头（称为霰石），在有关这种交换的文学记载中，它们是最主要的商品。红玉髓和其他半宝石是西非跨撒哈拉贸易中最具代表性的物品。对于尼日尔河流域的当地人来说，这些红玉髓很可能是一种地区商品和身份的象征，因为它们非常稀有，而且很难获得。

In addition to this, the Garamantes provided the Romans with foodstuffs, exotic Sub-Saharan slaves, and possibly textiles, salt, gold, and ivory in exchange for Roman wine, olive oil, and pottery. Although a large amount of Sub-Saharan goods made it to the Mediterranean, Mediterranean goods did not reach the Sub-Sahara in the same volume. The reason for this was that the Garamantes and other intermediaries tended to keep the expensive Roman products for themselves rather than exchanging them with their contacts in the south. Instead, they provided their West African neighbours with salt, food, and textiles. Glass beads and copper items from the Roman Mediterranean were also traded but only occasionally.

除此之外，加拉曼特人还向罗马人提供食品、撒哈拉以南的异国奴隶，可能还有纺织品、盐、黄金和象牙，以换取罗马的葡萄酒、橄榄油和陶器。虽然大量撒哈拉以南地区的商品进入了地中海，但地中海商品却没有以同样的数量进入撒哈拉以南地区。原因是加拉曼特人和其他中间人倾向于将昂贵的罗马产品据为己有，而不是与他们在南方的联系人交换。相反，他们向西非邻国提供盐、食品和纺织品。来自罗马地中海的玻璃珠和铜制品也有交易，但只是偶尔为之。

The Garamantes imported a wide range of West African crops like rice, sorghum, cotton, and pearl millet, and some of these crops were cultivated at Garama. Leather and ivory from animals like hippopotami were also imported from Sub-Saharan Africa. Domesticated animals from North Africa such as camels, chickens, and donkeys were first brought across the Western Sahara in the 4th century CE as a result of trans-Saharan trade.

加拉曼特人进口了多种农产品，如水稻、高粱、棉花和珍珠粟，其中一些作物在加拉马种植。河马等动物的皮革和象牙也从撒哈拉以南非洲进口。公元4世纪，由于跨撒哈拉贸易，来自北非的家养动物，如骆驼、鸡和驴首次被带到西撒哈拉。

A West African gold trade route is thought to have opened up to the Roman Empire for a brief time during Late Antiquity. Gold ore was mined in the Niger Bend before being transported upriver and ultimately reaching Roman cities in North Africa. The existence of this pre-Islamic gold trade has been reinforced by the fact that Roman gold coin mintage in Carthage and Alexandria only began in 295 CE and lasted until 429 CE when it was disrupted by the Vandal invasion of North Africa. This gold trade explains the appearance of Roman glass, carnelian, and textiles in Kissi, near the Sirba goldfields on the Niger Bend during the late 3rd century CE. This trade was a precursor to the medieval gold trade which was carried out in West Africa by Islamic traders beginning in the 7th century CE.

据信，通往罗马帝国的黄金贸易路线在古代晚期曾短暂开放。黄金在尼日尔河湾开采，然后沿河而上，最终到达北非的罗马城市。迦太基和亚历山大的罗马金币铸造始于公元前295年，一直持续到公元前429年因汪达尔人入侵北非而中断，这一事实进一步证实了伊斯兰统治前的黄金贸易的存在。这种黄金贸易解释了为什么在公元3世纪晚期，尼日尔河畔西尔巴金矿附近的基西会出现罗马玻璃、红玉髓和纺织品。这种贸易是中世纪黄金贸易的先驱，伊斯兰商人从公元7世纪开始在西非接手这种贸易。

Archaeological finds of Roman coins in Sub-Saharan Africa are extremely rare but the same is true of Arabic coins, despite the enormous scale of the medieval Islamic trans-Saharan trade. This is largely due to the fact that West African societies did not use a system of minted coinage as currency and so any imported coins would most likely be recirculated back north or melted down for their precious metals.

在撒哈拉以南非洲考古发现的罗马钱币极为罕见，但阿拉伯钱币的情况也是如此，尽管中世纪伊斯兰跨撒哈拉贸易规模巨大。这主要是由于西非社会并不使用铸造的货币作为交换媒介，因此任何进口的钱币都很可能在北方重新流通或被熔化以获得贵金属。

奴隶贸易

More than rice and gemstones were brought north of the Sahara, however, and, in many ways, the movement of people has left a more enduring impact on the archaeological record than gold. Sub-Saharan slaves fulfilled an important role as labourers in Garama, where vast amounts of manpower were needed to maintain the expansive canal systems. Garamantian raiding activity against their Sub-Saharan neighbours may well have been an important source for the trans-Saharan slave trade of antiquity, more so than voluntary exchange. The Garamantes were reported to routinely hunt their southern neighbours from horse-drawn chariots:

These Garamanteans of whom I speak hunt the "Cave-dwelling" Aethiopians [Troglodytes] with their four-horse chariots... (Herodotus, The Histories, Book IV, Ch. 183, translated by Godley p. 387)

然而，从撒哈拉以北运来的不仅仅是大米和宝石，在许多方面，人口流动对考古记录的影响比黄金更持久。撒哈拉以南的奴隶在加拉马发挥了重要的劳动力作用，那里需要大量的人力来维护广阔的运河系统。加拉曼特人对撒哈拉以南邻国的袭击活动很可能是古代跨撒哈拉奴隶贸易的重要来源，比自愿交换造成的迁移更重要。据记录，加拉曼特人经常使用马拉战车狩猎他们的南部邻居：

我所说的这些加拉曼特人，用他们的战车猎杀埃塞俄比亚的“穴居人”（希罗多德，《历史》，第四卷，第183章，由博德利翻译，第387页）

Saharan rock paintings which portray Garamantian chariots have been pointed to as evidence of periodic raids. The Garamantes also exported slaves to their Roman trading partners. Certain “Aethiopians” within the Roman Empire were associated with the Garamantes which implies Roman familiarity with Sub-Saharan Africans in Garamantian society. These slaves were transported as part of trade caravans which embarked from cities like Garama and travelled through the Sahara to the North African coast.

有人指出，描绘加拉曼特战车的撒哈拉岩画是定期袭击的证据。加拉曼特人还向他们的罗马贸易伙伴出口奴隶。罗马帝国的某些“埃塞俄比亚人”与加拉曼特人有联系，这意味着罗马人熟悉加拉曼特社会中的撒哈拉以南非洲人。这些奴隶作为贸易商队的一部分，从加拉马等城市出发，穿越撒哈拉沙漠到达北非海岸。

The Roman trade in Sub-Saharan slaves dealt primarily in children and was conducted through port cities like Alexandria and Roman Carthage before reaching Europe and the Near East. In the Imperial Period, this trade seems to have been heavily weighted towards the Roman sex industry as there were far less expensive sources of slaves for agricultural or other manual labour, such as Italy, Gaul, and the Near East.

罗马的撒哈拉以南奴隶贸易主要以儿童为交易对象，他们通过亚历山大和罗马迦太基等港口城市到达欧洲和近东。在帝国时期，由于意大利、高卢和近东等地用于农业或其他体力劳动的奴隶价格要低廉得多，因此这种贸易似乎在很大程度上偏重于罗马的性产业。

While most West Africans in the Roman Empire likely ended up in the Mediterranean as a result of slavery, doubtless others lived within the borders of the empire as free people. “Aethiopians” are known to have served in the Roman military, were living in territories captured by the Romans, and travelled to Roman territories under their own initiative as traders or envoys. Even foreigners originally enslaved by Rome could find themselves freed and enfranchised. “Aethiopian” scholars, soldiers, athletes, and performers are known to have contributed to Roman society based on art, literature, remains, and inscriptions from throughout the Roman world.

虽然罗马帝国境内的大多数西非人可能是由于被奴役而流落到地中海的，但无疑也有一些西非人作为自由人生活在罗马帝国境内。“埃塞俄比亚人”曾在罗马军队服役，居住在被占领的领土上，并以商人或特使的身份主动游历帝国。即使是原本被罗马奴役的外国人也可以成为自由民。根据罗马世界的艺术、文学、遗迹和碑文，“埃塞俄比亚”的学者、士兵、运动员和艺术家似乎对罗马社会做出了贡献。

两个古老世界的新视角

In the popular imagination, European and Middle Eastern contact with Sub-Saharan Africa is a relatively recent development but this is clearly not so; the intermittent relationship between the Roman Mediterranean and West Africa discussed above shows how very different cultures attempted to reach far outside the horizons of their known world much earlier than many suppose. Through trade networks like these, ancient civilisations were able to overcome the Sahara Desert, one of the greatest natural barriers in the world, an achievement which was rewarded by material and cultural wealth for those involved.

在大众的想象中，欧洲和中东与撒哈拉以南非洲的接触是最近才发展起来的，但显然事实并非如此。上文讨论的罗马地中海与西非之间时断时续的关系表明，迥然不同的文化是如何在比许多人想象的要早得多的时候，就试图深入到其已知世界的范围之外。通过这样的贸易网络，古代文明得以跨越撒哈拉沙漠（世界上最大的天然屏障之一），这一成就为参与者带来了物质和文化财富。

参考书目：

Dowler, A. and Galvin, . (eds.). Money, Trade and Trade Routes in Pre-Islamic North Africa. British Museum Press, 2011.

Fage, . and Oliver, . (eds.). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press, 1979.

Fowler, H. W. The Works of Lucian of Samosata. Palala Press, 2015.

Herodotus. With an English translation by . Godley Volume 4. Ulan Press, 2012.

Roderick J. McIntosh and Susan Keech McIntosh. "The Inland Niger Delta before the Empire of Mali: Evidence from Jenne-Jeno." The Journal of African History, 1/22/1981, pp. 1-22.

Snowden Jr., F. M. (ed.). Blacks in Antiquity. Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press, 1971.

T. V. Buttrey. "Domitian, the Rhinoceros, and the Date of Martial's Liber De Spectaculis." The Journal of Roman Studies, 1/97/2007, pp. 101-112.

Thomas R. Fenne, David J. Kilick, John Chesley, Sonja Magnavita, Joaquin Ruiz. "Contacts Between West Africa and Roman North Africa: Archaeometallurgical Results from Kissi, Northeastern Burkina Faso." Journal of African Archaeology, Crossroads: Cultural and Technological Developments in First Millennium BC/AD West Africa/2009, pp. 119-146.

原文作者：Arienne King

原文网址:/article/1199/the-roman-empire-in-west-africa/