Vandal Heaven (Hardback)
Reinterpreting Post-Roman North Africa
Imprint: Casemate Publishers
Pages: 240
Illustrations: 50–60 photographs and maps
ISBN: 9781636242873
Published: 19th February 2024
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North Africa was one of the richest parts of the Roman Empire, the agricultural powerhouse of the Mediterranean. It was also home to some of the emperor’s biggest imperial estates, and prosperous cities of all kinds. Its loss to the Vandals in the first half of the 5th century AD was the mortal blow which precipitated the fall of the western empire, and set the eastern empire back for decades. Its reconquest then became an obsession with each new emperor in Constantinople. Time and again the eastern Romans failed in this goal, until Justinian I finally succeeded in the AD 530s. Although North Africa’s restoration to the world of Rome only lasted a short time, it has widely been regarded as a positive development.
However, new research – published here for the first time – shows that post-Roman North Africa thrived under the Vandals. To them it was Vandal heaven, a place where they found a way as the new incumbent elite to live comfortably alongside the late Roman inhabitants, despite their different interpretations of Christianity. Together, the two cultures flourished. When the eastern Romans – now styled Byzantines – returned, they weren’t welcome. This is evidenced in the surviving built environments, namely chains of small forts along the frontier and interior, where the Byzantines used mounted troops to keep an unhappy local population under control. Dr Elliott presents a brand-new interpretation of post-Roman North Africa, providing a compelling argument for how the region today came to be part of the Arab world, in contrast to the regions along the northern Mediterranean freeboard which maintain their Roman-ness to this day.
The author has published widely on themes related to the ancient classical world and military history. Among other relevant appointments he is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Kent and President of The Society of Ancients.
Army Rumour Service
Many other researchers in the field are referenced, the focus of each chapter is defined before being explored in a historical and political context. Dr Elliott demonstrates his mastery of his resources and of his subject.
This book reflects I think the author's real passion for his subject and I have learned a lot reading it. It is a well-produced hardback of 200 pages with an impressive 7 page bibliography for further reading, although I thought the index rather exiguous. There are some basic maps for orientation and 16 pages of colour photographs, mostly of artefacts still to be seen in North Africa.
Read it in full here: https://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/vandal-heaven-re-interpreting-vandal-north-africa-by-simon-elliott.317825/