Rome and the Nomads

Almost twenty years ago, a notable paper was presented to the International Congress of Frontier Studies by the Roman historian Brent Shaw, entitled, ‘Fear and Loathing: The Nomad Menace and Roman Africa’.1 This was a seminal piece for many Roman historians. Previously, Roman–nomad relations seemed to be epitomized by Domitian’s alleged extermination of the Nasamones—a conflict to the death. Yet, Shaw’s piece exposed many modern and ancient myths about nomadic peoples: that they had easily identifiable types of social organization; that they were fully autarkic; that they were purely nomadic. In doing so, his work showed that many accounts of North Africa in the Roman period had been ill considered; they had painted the nomads’ relationship with the authorities as one of permanent conflict and military repression.

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