Honouring the gods in the classical Mediterranean realm and on its fringes

Neptune, god of waters owes his marine character to his identification with Poseidon. He ruled the seas, presided over rivers, springs, pools and all waters. His festival of Neptunalia^[1] took place on 23 July. This date is likely to do with his original role warding against the extremes of drought. As a rule, Neptune is represented standing naked with a beard and luxurious hair, his symbol is the trident and he is often escorted by a dolphin. So what image of that divinity did North Africans conjure up? Judging by archaeological evidence (inscriptions, mosaics and statues) it would appear that Neptune enjoyed considerable popularity hinging on his connection with water, health and farming.

Along the coasts, the populations venerated the god of the sea. Inland, Neptune would be the god of running water, the protector of springs. This distinctive feature among North Africans echoes a religious reality, a traditional cult for the genies of springs better matched by Neptune's personality than by that of the nymphs who elsewhere in the Roman world were chosen for that purpose. This feature is confirmed by a 4^th century inscription discovered near the spring of Ain^[2] Drinn which provided water to the city of Lambaesis in Numidia (the North-East of present day Algeria). The text specifies that the sanctuary was built « after collection of the waters from springs and fountains ». What clarifies the connections between Neptune and fresh water is the nature of the offerings. An inscription discovered in the city of Tituli in Numidia includes the offering of a fresh water pool to the god. This could in no way overshadow his marine persona, especially in coastal towns like Saldae, Carthage, Leptis Magna where his worship testifies to its significance. In the course of research conducted in Sbeitla (Tunisia) a votive stela was discovered which describes the God as « king of the waves, father of the Nereids and master of waters ».

Archaeological finds help bring out another trait associated to Neptune, namely healing. In Tunisia at Ain el Hmadna an altar was discovered in the Roman baths on which a text hails the god as healer. In his right hand, he holds a trident on which he leans, and in his left hand is a staff entwined with a serpent. In Africa, the serpent is considered as the genie who warms thermal waters and vests them with curative powers. This, his healing god's powers are also attested in another thermal station at Aquae Thibilitanae (Numidia) which had a temple erected to the god, and where an inscription addressed to Neptune by his worshipers has been found.

A third virtue is ascribed to Neptune associating him to harvests. An epigraphic artefact found in Thapsus in the Tunisian Sahel casts a fresh light on this rustic trait: a text written in Greek addressed to divinities among whom Poseidon-Neptune hailed as god of fecundity. Neptune, god of the sea, of water in general and more precisely of springs is made thereby the protector of growing plants, whence his title of frugiferus^[3].

Now is this god, worshiped the Maghreb over, a creation of the Roman period or can he claim more ancient origins? In other words was there a truly African ruler of the waves in pre-Roman days, who could be identified with Neptune-Poseidon? It is averred that Phoenicia knew a god of the sea even though it is difficult to define his origin and identity. Herodotus mentions another Neptune-Poseidon with Libyan origins. Coins with Punic inscriptions found in Hadrumetum and Thapsus comfort the theory of a local god who could be the same as mentioned by Herodotus^[4].

At Ain el Hmadna (Tunisia) the altar displays in its upper register Neptune and the snake: given that the dedicator is a Romanised African, it seems hard to exclude the possibility that this Roman name addresses in fact a divinity in essence African. There is no easy way to attribute decisively an essentially Roman or African origin to the cult of Neptune in Africa. Numerous and diverse civilisations (Phoenician, Punic, Greek-Roman) have fused into the (local) Libyan heritage to arrive at this Neptune venerated throughout North Africa.

Besides Neptune, male god of waters, female deities were also honoured, namely the nymphs (or genies). They embodied all springs whether ordinary, thermal or medicinal but also forests and mountains. They personify the earth's productive forces. Their very name means maiden or bride. Incarnated, they intervened in the lives of men. They were the deities of birth (fertility) and brought up the children whom they appear to have always conceived under human form. In this, they were no different from the nymphs honoured north of the Mediterranean.

What is their origin in the ancient Maghreb? Are they a Greco-Roman bequest or a Libyan heritage? Of all the inscriptions to nymphs, none carries any local qualifier. Yet this does not exclude the possibility that nymphs were heir to Libyan genies that ruled the waters. In this region of the Roman world, water is of considerable value. Such a cult^[5] must have existed before the arrival of the Romans, though archaeological evidence is hard to get by. It would have grown around thermal springs as is the case for Aquae Flavianae in Numidia were a large number of inscription has been discovered that prove that the resort had curative powers: through a cult honouring the nymphs, pilgrims sought deliverance from physical ailments thanks to the water. An inscription found there and addressed to the dragon and the nymphs confirms this hypothesis, given that the dragon (or serpent) is honoured in Africa as the genie protecting thermal baths, granting them their healing powers.