Rome in Africa

Nearly 3000 years ago the Phoenicians set up trading colonies on the coast of North Africa, and ever since successive civilizations have been imposed on the local inhabitants, largely from outside. Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, French and Italians have all occupied the region in their time. The Romans governed this part of Africa for 600 years. Throughout the region their genius for building was readily apparent: there were some 600 cities, 12,000 miles of roads and hundreds of aqueducts, some 50 miles long. The remains of these structures can be seen today. At the height of its prosperity, during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the area was the granary of Rome and produced more olive oil than Italy itself. The Roman Empire provided scope for the particular talents of a number of Africa's sons: the writers Terence and Apuleius; the first African Roman Emperor Septimius Severus; the famous Christian theologians like Tertullian and St Augustine. Susan Raven recounts the story of this Empire in North Africa, drawing on a wide variety of historical and archaeological evidence in addition to her own experience of the region.