Les libertés des cités de l'Afrique romaine

Abstract

From the first contacts with Rome in 146 B.C. until the end of the reign of Septimius Severus in 211, African cities received legal privileges from the Senate or emperors, the most coveted of which was libertas. During these three and a half centuries, there were at least four major “liberation” movements. The first one is a consequence of the third Punic War, which saw the birth, in 146 B.C., of the first seven populi liberi, excluded from the formula provinciae. The second is a consequence of the victory of Marius against Jugurtha in 105 B.C. which resulted in the foundation, in Numidia, of at least three free “colonies”, not subject to the king’s potestas. The third and most important movement came after Caesar’s victory at Thapsus, which put an end to the old libertas and promoted others, increasing the total number of free cities from seven to thirty, all included in the formula provinciae. Finally, the last one is the emancipatory movement of Septimius Severus, which gave birth not to free peregrine cities, but exclusively to free municipalities. Africa experienced military events - the first civil war between Sylla and Marius, whose lieutenant was defeated by Pompey in 81 B.C., the revolt of the tribes of the center and the south from 22 B.C. to 6, the uprising of the Muslims of Tacfarinas, between 17 and 24., and finally the crises of succession - which weighed on the future of the cities according to the alliances they had concluded. During these three and a half centuries, the content of the libertas has greatly evolved.