If it be considered necessary to fix the sight of the τοπος Ασπις at the first place where remains of ancient building are found, after the lake which is laid down by Strabo, we must place it at Mahad Hassan; but if it must be identified with the port mentioned with it, which does not seem, indeed, to be necessary, we are then obliged to fix it at the first place where a port is to be met with, after the termination of the marsh, and this will bring us to Mersa Zaffran[16]. The little port of this name is the first which occurs in passing eastward from the Cephalas Promontorium, and the remains of building which are found there, on the beach, will authorize the conclusion that it has been used as such by the ancients[17].
Its present appearance will however by no means entitle it to the distinction of καλλιστος, (bestowed by Strabo upon Aspis, or the port which succeeds it); for the Gulf of Syrtis, though ill supplied with conveniences of this nature, has certainly ports of more consideration than Mersa Zaffran.
We must at the same time recollect that the space required for the vessels of the ancients was much less than would be necessary for those of the present day, and the depth of water required for them comparatively inconsiderable. The port at Zaffran is also much less than formerly, and, like that at Lebida, nearly filled up with sand; so that although it cannot now be considered as a good one (nor, indeed, in the present acceptation of the term, as any port at all) it may certainly have afforded very good shelter and accommodation for vessels such as those of the ancients[18]. The remains on the beach are constructed with larger stones than are usually employed in the Syrtis, and, from what we could perceive of them, for the tops only appear above the sand, have been built with more than common attention to workmanship and regularity. Traces of building may also be observed for nearly a mile from the Mersa to the eastward, and the whole place is strewed with fragments of pottery. Several stone troughs are lying on the beach, some of them in an unfinished state; they do not appear to have been intended for sarcophagi, as their lengths vary from five to eight feet; while their breadth remains nearly the same, or from fifteen to eighteen inches. Had our time and means allowed it we should have remained a few days to excavate at Mersa Zaffran, and we had marked it as one of the places to be examined on our return: there is little to remove but sand, and it is by no means improbable that the results of excavation at this place would be interesting. As Mersa Zaffran appears to have been used as a port by the ancients, and is the first which occurs after the marsh, we may fairly consider it as that mentioned by Strabo with Aspis; and the remains at Zaffran are probably those of Aspis itself, which we may conclude to have been a military post from the nature of the buildings which are found there; although the word τοπος applied to it by Strabo, does not necessarily imply any idea of fortification. No place worth selecting for any advantages which it might afford could, however, have been secure without some fortification; and accordingly we find every desirable position in the Syrtis provided with forts for its defence, which ensured, at once, the possession of the local advantages and a communication with the adjacent inhabited places.
It is difficult to fix any precise date to these buildings, but we may perhaps conclude, with some appearance of reason, that the greater number of them were erected by the Romans under the emperors, who possessed, at various times, the whole of the north coast of Africa, and kept open an extensive communication along the shores of the Mediterranean, as well as with some parts of the interior[19]. The quadrangular form of these structures is the same as that used by the Romans in their stations and encampments; and the small number of troops which was allotted by the empire for the defence of Africa, made it peculiarly necessary that their garrisons should be well intrenched[20]. It has been calculated that a square of seven hundred yards was sufficient, according to the Roman method of encampment, for containing a body of twenty thousand men; and a square of one hundred feet would, at that rate, suffice for the accommodation of nine hundred and fifty. The habitable parts of the forts above mentioned very rarely exceeded a square of that size, and this portion of the structure, in by far the greater number of them, seldom amounted to sixty feet. As the nature of the country rendered it necessary to lay up stores of provision, a part of each fortress must have been set aside for that purpose, and it is probable that the greater number of the forts did not contain more than from fifty to two hundred men. The most perfect of those now remaining may perhaps have been constructed in the time of the emperor Justinian, when the victories of Belisarius and Solomon had restored the Roman authority in Africa: for it would then have been advisable to secure, by means of forts, the advantages which arms had obtained. The privations which were experienced by the army of Marcus Cato, in its march across the regions of the Syrtis, make it appear extremely probable that no stations or resting-places, had at that time been erected within their limits; and we may perhaps also infer that the fortresses of Euphrantas and Automala were not then available as places of accommodation. Should this have been the case, some of the forts and stations now existing, in various parts of the country in question, may be reasonably attributed to the well-founded policy of the emperors Augustus and Hadrian.
A regular and uninterrupted communication was, under these princes, beginning to be firmly established with all parts of the Roman empire; and the intercourse which then existed between the eastern and western parts of Northern Africa was much greater than that which had obtained under the governments of the Greeks and Carthaginians. The numerous native tribes who inhabited the coast were perpetually at variance with their foreign invaders, and ever ready to avail themselves of the slightest opportunity of harassing their oppressors, or of recovering their ancient inheritance. It must also be observed, that, however worthless and insignificant the regions of the Syrtis might possibly appear, to the inhabitants of more favoured countries, there are parts of them which must always have been eagerly coveted by the wanderers of the desert which bounds them to the southward; since the advantages which they are occasionally found to afford, though consisting merely in a little fresh water, and a few spots of scanty vegetation, would naturally be objects of great attraction to those who had seldom the opportunity of finding either. From the sudden, but unskilful, attacks of these people, the forts and stations of the Syrtis would have been sufficient defence; and they would also have been more convenient for the troops than the usual Roman encampment, greatly contributing at the same time, to facilitate the communication of one part of the country with another, by ensuring a good supply of water, and serving as depôts for stores and provisions. We must not, however, venture decidedly to assert, that the Syrtis was unprovided with buildings of this nature before the occupation of the country by the Romans; for, without mentioning those of Euphrantas and Automala, we find that castles were in use among the natives of Northern Africa before that period; and if they are known to have been previously erected in other parts of the coast, they might equally have existed in the Syrtis[21].
Many buildings of this nature appear to have remained in a tenable state long after the conquest of Africa by the Mahometans; for they are frequently mentioned by Arab writers as having been occupied by the natives; and wells still continued to be found within the works, which could not be approached without the consent of the garrison.
An instance in point may here be given from Leo Africanus, who tells us that three castles were accidentally discovered, far in the desert of Libya, about eighteen years before the time when he related the following story:—“The guide of a caravan (whose name was Hámar) had missed the usual track, in consequence of a complaint in his eyes; and there being no other person in the whole caravan who knew the road they ought to take but himself, he went on, upon his camel, in advance of the party, and at every mile they made he caused a handful of sand to be presented to him, which he smelt, and then continued his journey. In this manner the caravan continued to advance till they came within forty miles of the castles above mentioned, near which there were five or six little hamlets, and a profusion of excellent dates. The guide then addressed himself to those who were about him, and assured them that they were in the neighbourhood of some inhabited place, but few of the party believed what he said, for as they were at least four hundred and eighty miles from Egypt, it was imagined, if indeed the assertion should be true, that they must have moved back upon Augela.”
“On the third day, however, after this notice, they came in sight of the three castles above mentioned; and the people of the place, surprised and alarmed at the appearance of so many strangers, retreated to the castles, where they shut themselves up, and refused to supply the caravan with water, of which they were greatly in need. As the wells were within the fortifications, there was nothing left for the caravan, under these adverse circumstances, but to carry the forts, and to supply themselves by force, or to continue their journey across the desert, at the risk, perhaps the certainty, of perishing with thirst. They soon determined to make an attack upon the castles, which, after a slight engagement, they succeeded in carrying; and having obtained from the wells as much water as was necessary, they proceeded on their route across the desert[22].”
In many of the forts which we visited in the Syrtis, one or two, and sometimes more, wells were still visible within the works (although, for the most part, they were filled up with mud and sand, or with the rubbish of the fallen materials of the buildings); and it is probable that all of them were originally provided with a convenience so essential to the garrison. In some cases we found wells decidedly without the works, in places which appeared to be wholly undefended; except we may suppose them to have been within range of the archers and slingers from the walls, which did not always appear to have been the case.
In such instances, however, we must not conclude that there were originally no wells within the forts, because none are found there at present; for a single century of neglect would in many cases be sufficient to account for the disappearance of a well altogether.