Mauri

Quick Facts: Who was Mauri?

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Mauri

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Latin designation for the Berber population of Mauretania, influencing the term 'Moors'.

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Origins & Early Life

Mauri (from which derives the English term "Moors") was the Latin designation for the Berber population of the Kingdom of Mauretania, located in the western Maghreb on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, which was later divided into Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis by the Roman Empire. Mauri (Μαῦροι) by Strabo, who wrote in the early 1st century, as the native name, which was also adopted into Latin, while he cites the Greek name for the same people as Maurusii (Μαυρούσιοι). The name Mauri, understood as a tribal confederation or generic ethnic designator, was initially used to indicate the Berber population of present-day Morocco, but with the territorial expansion of the kingdom of Mauretania, the term Mauri also began to be used to indicate the Berber population of Algeria, (although the latter belonged to the Numidian tribal groups). Both terms presumably group together the first Berber-speaking populations (the oldest Libyco-Berber epigraphy dates to around the 3rd century BC). In 44 CE, the Roman Empire incorporated the region as the province of Mauretania, later divided into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

The area around Carthage was already part of Africa Proconsularis. Roman rule was effective and the provinces became integrated into the empire. Mauri raids into the southern Iberian Peninsula are mentioned as early as the reign of Nero in the Eclogues of Calpurnius Siculus: "Geryon's meads, a wealthy prize to tempt the fierce Moor's avarice, where Baetis huge, so legends say, rolls downward on his western way to find the shore." The Baetis is the modern Guadalquivir, so this poem implies Mauri raiding into Baetica in the first century CE. Mauri from the mountains beyond the border of the Roman Empire crossed the straits of Gibraltar to raid into the Roman province of Baetica, in what is today southern Spain, in the early 170s. Mauri raided Baetica again in the late 170s or 180s in the reign of Commodus.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

At that time they besieged the town of Singilia Barba, which was freed from the siege by the arrival of Roman troops from the province of Mauretania Tingitana, led by C. Vallius Maximianus. By the early Christian era, the byname Mauritius identified anyone originating in the Maghreb. Two prominent "Mauritian" churchmen were Tertullian and St. Augustine. The 3rd-century Christian Saint Mauritius, in whose honour the given name Maurice originated, was from Egypt. When Aurelian marched against Zenobia in 272, his army included Moorish cavalry.

Historical Fact-Check Quiz: Mauri

True or False: “The Mauri were exclusively confined to the region corresponding to modern Morocco throughout Roman history.”

Answer (FALSE ❌): The term expanded beyond Morocco to encompass Berber populations in Algeria as well, although this latter group was sometimes associated with Numidian tribes.

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