African Saturn in Late Antiquity

Abstract

The cult of Saturn in North Africa is prominent example of syncretism between Roman and Punic religious traditions and of how provincial people represented their cultural identity during the Roman imperial period. Yet despite reaching an apparent zenith in popularity in the early 3rd century A.D., most scholars believe the cult suffered a rapid decline in the 4th century A.D. due to the increased popularity of Christianity. This thesis argues that the cult of Saturn survived both in ritual practice and as a symbol of African identity until the 6th century A.D.

African elites used the cult of Saturn to represent their vision of African identity under the Roman Empire. In the 3rd century A.D. elite Africans began to equate Saturn with the Syrian god Bel, and reclaim the Roman mythology associated with the Phoenician founder Belus. Elite Africans used Saturn to link themselves to a mythologised history of Phoenician scientific, and literary achievement. This strategy continued to be used by African Christians in Late Antiquity. In this period Saturn also came to represent the ambivalence many Africans felt towards the Punic and Numidian past. Saturn was an exiled king who was hidden in his own land, and a shadowy figure in the Roman pantheon. This duality was a useful way of describing both the marginal position of temples of Saturn in African townscapes, and of framing African elites’ relationship with the physical remains of the pre-Roman past.

Saturn continued to be a prominent symbol of African identity in late antiquity. The works of African Christian authors and on imperial legislation have unduly coloured how archaeologists interpret their evidence. This thesis re-examines the archaeological evidence for late antique ritual practice with a particular focus on small finds such as pots, bones, and coins. These domestic items were increasingly consumed by African peasants in late antiquity, and often appear in structured deposits as offerings in temples of Saturn. These inexpensive everyday objects became a means for non-elite Africans to appropriate temple spaces and connect with their pre-Roman past.

We can also see evidence of the cult’s significance in African Christian responses to the cult of Saturn. In criticising the cult, African Christians were forced to frame their own cultural identity in relation to it. This reflected a paradox common to many colonised societies, that provincial elites (including bishops) were forced to master Roman elite culture in order to rise through the ranks, but this alienated them from the Punic speaking and rural Africans they claimed to represent. The most effective Christian rhetors were aware of this irony and used it to expose the same contradictions inherent in the cult of Saturn and its elite leadership.