Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Qui sont les Dii mauri ?

1990; Volume: 26; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3406/antaf.1990.1172

2117-539X

Gabriel Camps,

Language, Linguistics, Cultural Analysis

The author reviews the various but rare interpretations of the divine collectivity referred to by the name of Dii Mauri. From a re-examination of the literary or epigraphic mentions of the 50 specifically African local or regional divinities, and of the 20 dedications to the Dii Mauri known to this day, he believes he can propose the relationship, even the identity, between the local gods and the Dii Mauri. The comparison between the authors of the dedications shows that the worship of the local gods principally concerned « civilians » (82,5 %), whereas the Dii Mauri were invoked by governors, imperial procurators, soldiers (81,25 %). Moreover the Dii Mauri are invoked as often in Numidia and in Africa as in Caesarian Mauretania (they are unknown in Tingitana). Therefore the term of "maurus" is not linked to the Roman administrative carving, it applies to what is rebellious to Latin culture, to what is specifically native and unassimilable. Dii Mauri and African gods are the same divinities, only the dedicators change.