The Garamantes

14 May, 2026 930 History of the Ancient World

Misha Glenny and guests discuss an ancient civilisation who lived over 2000 years ago in the southwest of modern-day Libya. During prehistoric times, the Sahara Desert was greener and even had large lakes, but for the last 5000 years it has been a hyperarid environment. Extreme swings of temperature and limited surface water might make the Sahara seem like an inhospitable place to live, but an ancient people in North Africa known to us as the Garamantes thrived there. Following descriptions of the Garamantes in Roman and Greek texts, the Garamantes have often been seen as pastoral nomads, or as tribal barbarians on the periphery of the Mediterranean world. But the work of archaeologists in recent decades has revealed something different. Evidence suggests a society with flourishing towns and cities, complex underground irrigation systems, a key role in trade routes across the Sahara - and may give us a broader view of ancient history.

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Guests

  • David Mattingly No other episodes
    Emeritus Professor of Roman Archaeology at the University of Leicester
  • Fares Moussa No other episodes
    Visiting Fellow at the University of Southampton and Cultural Heritage Consultant
  • Josephine Quinn 2 episodes
    Professor of Ancient History and Fellow of St John's College, University of Cambridge

Reading list

  • The Garamantes of Southern Libya
    C.M. Daniels (Oleander Press, 1970) Google Books →
  • Mobile Technologies in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
    C. Duckworth, A. Cuenod and D.J. Mattingly (eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Google Books →
  • Burials, Migration and Identity in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
    M.C. Gatto, D.J. Mattingly, N. Ray and M. Sterry (eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2019) Google Books →
  • A Companion to North Africa in Antiquity
    R.B. Hitchner (ed.) (Wiley-Blackwell, 2020) Google Books →
  • Beyond barbarians: the Garamantes of the Libyan Sahara
    D.J. Mattingly
  • Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire
    D.J. Mattingly (Michigan University Press, 2023) Google Books →
  • The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 1, Synthesis
    D.J. Mattingly (ed.) (Society for Libyan Studies, 2003)
  • The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 2, Site Gazetteer, Pottery and other Survey Finds
    D.J. Mattingly (ed.) (Society for Libyan Studies, 2007) Google Books →
  • The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 3, Excavations Carried out by C.M. Daniels
    D.J. Mattingly (ed.) (Society for Libyan Studies, 2010) Google Books →
  • The Archaeology of Fazzan, Volume 4, Survey and Excavations at Old Jarma (Ancient Garama) Carried out by C. M. Daniels (1962-69) and the Fazzan Project (1997-2001)
    D.J. Mattingly (ed.) (Society for Libyan Studies, 2013) Google Books →
  • Trade in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
    D.J. Mattingly, V. Leitch, C.N. Duckworth, A. Cuenod, M. Sterry and F. Cole (eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2017) Google Books →
  • The Libyan Desert: Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage
    D. Mattingly, S. McLaren, E. Savage, Y. Fasatwi and K. Gadgood (eds) (Society for Libyan Studies, 2006) Google Books →
  • The Garamantes: The First Libyan state
    D. Mattingly
  • The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology
    P. Mitchell and P. Lane (eds) (Oxford University Press, 2013) Google Books →
  • Roman Africa and the Sahara
    A. Leone and F. Moussa
  • State Formation and Urbanisation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond
    M. Sterry and D.J. Mattingly (eds) (Cambridge University Press, 2020) Google Books →

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Programme ID: m002w616

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002w616

Auto-category: 939.7 (Ancient history of North Africa)

Hello (First sentence from this episode) Hello. The Sahara Desert might not seem like the most hospitable place to live, with extreme swings of temperature and limited water on the surface.