Between Sahara and Sea

Reviews / Votes

"In Between Sahara and Sea: Africa in the Roman Empire, David Mattingly charts a new path toward a bottom-up understanding of North African archaeology. This cleverly constructed, innovative book addresses key themes in the archaeology of ancient North Africa, roughly equivalent to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The author focuses not on "Roman Africa," but rather the way that area participated in the empire centered on Rome. Mattingly articulates this new vision of Africa through the perspective of "discrepant identity," a theoretical approach that enables him to examine variation in the extent of identification with the imperial project." -- David Stone, University of Michigan "Between Sahara and Sea is a major contribution to the history of ancient North Africa and the Roman Empire. . . . Highly recommended." -- Choice "It is impossible to do full justice to the richness of this latest volume in a short review. Between Sahara & Sea is an immense and frankly stunning assembly of information, integrated into a logical and extremely well-informed intellectual framework. Anyone involved in researching and teaching the Roman archaeology and history of the ancient Mediterranean will find this a key source of information, insight and inspiration." -- Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal "The author offers here a complete, global, very up-to-date view of all archaeological and historical knowledge currently available on this set of territories which extend between the Sahara and the Mediterranean, from its Egyptian margins. We must thank the author, who has brough us this stimulating examination, a landmark that all must read, especially in North Africa." -- Topoi "[Mattingly's] passion and, after 40 years spent studying ancient North Africa, mastery of the subject material is apparent on every page. He carefully deconstructs previous accounts of peoples, sites, or artefacts, constructing his own argument piece by piece, often advising caution, so the reader can easily follow. For people interested in the Roman Empire and how it interacted with subject peoples within its borders and those beyond, this is a must-read, shining a light on a fascinating, diverse, and overlooked part of the ancient world." * Owain Williams, Ancient History 52 * "Mattingly's book is a towering achievement. . . Mattingly has set an agenda and a standard that all students of the Roman empire will have to engage with for a long time to come - and they will be drawing great pleasure in the process too." * Federico Santangelo, Greece & Rome * "This remarkable, highly readable book is the first reliable overview of the archaeology, history and geography of ancient North Africa ever published in English. . . Indeed, if there's anything wrong with the book, it's that the subtitle undersells it: this isn't only about 'Africa in the Roman Empire' - itself a great improvement on the traditional 'Roman Africa' - but Africa beyond the Roman Empire, too, and before it, in a period that Mattingly shows was foundational for later imperial success." * Josephine Crawley Quinn, Libyan Studies * "Between Sahara and Sea is not intended to be a comprehensive survey. Nevertheless, it acts as a useful overview of the current evidence to nonspecialists who are interested in learning more about the different peoples in ancient Africa and how they engaged with the cultures of foreign settlers. . . an outstanding springboard for future directions in the study of North Africa." * Cassandra M. M. Casias, American Historical Review * "The book is a significant contribution to the study of North Africa in antiquity and places a strong focus on the indigenous peoples." [Translated from German] * Dennis Mario Beck, sehepunkte *