Mazices

The Mazices (Ancient Greek: Μάζικες) were Berbers of North Africa (either inhabitants of Caesarea Mauretania or another name for Massyli) who appear in classical and late antique Greek and Latin sources. Many variants of the name are known: Maxyes in Herodotus; Mazyes in Hecataeus; Mazaces; Mazikes; Mazazaces; etc. They are all derived from the Berber autoethnonym Imazighen (singular Amazigh). These terms were used both for Berbers in general and for certain Berber tribes. It is not clear if the original Berber term was used to refer to all Berbers or only a tribe or other subset. The Egyptian term Meshwesh for a tribe of ancient Libyans is probably a cognate.

Name

The name Mazices has the particularity of coinciding with the endonym currently used by the Berbers to designate themselves, Amazigh. The Egyptian term Meshwesh for a tribe of ancient Libyans is probably a cognate.

According to the Roman historian Corippus, the Berbers used the word Mazax to refer to themselves, which is also used by the author himself.

In the 1st^century, the Roman poet Lucan used Mazax, the singular form of Mazaces, as the collective name for this people. In the third century, the Chronicle of the Roman Theologian of Hippolytus of Rome placed the Mazices "on the same level" as the Mauri, Gaetuli and Afri.

The historian Gabriel Camps pointed out that many paleo-Berber tribes bore the name of Mazices in Antiquity,

Localisation

The Mazices are very poorly located by imprecise texts that mention them. An inscription was found in Miliana, Algeria but has since disappeared.

The Greek geographer Ptolemy, in his Geography, mentions the Mazices as imprecisely: "Further east, as far as the mouth of the Chinalaph, the Makousioi, under whom there is the Zelakon and after it the Mazikes".

Like everything else in the interior of the country, this location is very imprecise. Ptolemy places the mouth of the Chinalaph (the name of a river mistakenly taken for the Cheliff) between Caesarea and Gunugu; it is the Wadi Messelmoun, rather than the Wadi Sebt. The Zelakon is thus probably the mountainous area of the Bou Maad and the Zaccar to the north and north-east of present-day Miliana. The Mazices must therefore be located on the chelifian side of these mountains, the north of the current wilaya of Ain-Defla.

This mention of the Mazices has at least the merit of proving that there existed, in the second century in the Chelifian regions, a tribe bearing the name of Mazices.

The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, in his History of Rome, cites Mazice deputies who were present at Tipasa (present-day Tipaza, Algeria) during the Firmus War in the fourth century. The Verona list (between the year 314-324) mentions them as residing in Caesarean Mauretania to the east of the territory of the Quinquegentians and to the west of that of the Bavarians, i.e. in present-day Kabylia. The Roman geographer Julius Honorius places the Musunei and the Mazices as neighbors (this last information is confirmed by Ammianus Marcelinus) with the Bures and the Quinquegentiens, i.e. in present-day Greater Kabylia.

Military History

In 370, the Mazices supported the insurrection of the Berber general Firmus against the Western Roman Empire under Valentinian I. They participated in the destruction of Caesarea by the rebels. One of their chief chiefs is Bellen (or Belles) and the prefect of the tribe is Fericius.

Nevertheless, Firmus was initially held in check. He submitted and Mazice deputies welcomed the Roman commander Theodosius to Tipasa (present-day Tipaza, Algeria) to ask for his forgiveness. Theodosius threatens to call them to account in the future and then leaves.

In the same period, Gildon, Firmus' brother, and Maximus handed over Bellen and Fericius to the Roman general Theodosius, who were executed.

Mazice rebels gathered at the fort of Tingis (present-day Chlef, Algeria) were attacked by Theodosius. The Mazices defended themselves by sending a flurry of dart weapons but were defeated by the Romans. A small number managed to escape, and later obtained the amnesty that Roman policy demanded.

Later, Theodosius was virtually defeated by a new coalition of Berber rebels led by Firmus' sister, Cyria. The Roman commander and his army were narrowly saved by an allied Mazices auxiliary corps.

In 375, an important Mazice chief named Masilla, was sent by Theodosius to negotiate with Igmacen, a Berber chief who had taken Firmus into his mountains. Masilla has secretly denounced Igmacen as a traitor and Firmus, having no allies left, decides to commit suicide. This act put an end to the African revolt. Masilla granted Igmacen a safe conduct, allowing him to deliver Firmus' remains to Theodosius in person.

In the last decade of the fourth century, the Mazices and Austurians began to ravage Cyrenaica. During the mandate of the strategos Cerealis, the Mazices besieged Cyrene. Bishop Synesios took part in the defense of the city. The period of turmoil in Cyrenaica lasted until about 410. In 407 or 408, the Mazices plundered the monasteries of Scete (present-day Wadi Natroun, Egypt). Among their victims were Abba Moses the Black and seven companions. John the Dwarf and Bishoi also fled Scete as a result of this raid. The Mazices attacked again in 410 and 434. Around 445, the Mazices harassed Blemmyes who were retreating from a raid on an Egyptian oasis. In 491, they attacked Cyrenaica again.

During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justin I (518-527), the Mazices plundered Egypt in collaboration with the Blemmyes. In the 580s, several monasteries in Scete were razed to the ground by the Mazices. Some 3,500 monks were scattered in the Levant in the.

Further reading

• Yves Modéran (2010), "Mazices, Mazaces", Encyclopédie berbère, vol. 31, pp. 4799–4810.