View source for Traditional Berber religion

{{Short description|Beliefs and deities of the ancient Berbers}}
<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
The '''traditional Berber religion''' is the sum of ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the [[Berbers]]. Originally, the Berbers seem to have believed in [[Sun-Worship|worship of the sun]] and moon, [[animism]] and in the [[afterlife]], but interactions with the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans influenced religious practice and merged traditional faiths with new ones.

By the seventh century, apart from some [[Berber tribes]], most of [[Christianity in the Roman Africa province|North Africa's population was Christian]] and after the [[Arab conquest of the Maghreb]] the traditional Berber religion gradually disappeared. Some of the ancient Berber beliefs still exist today subtly within the Berber popular culture and tradition, such as the idea of holy men ([[marabout]]s). Syncretic influences from the traditional Berber religion can also be found in many other faiths around the Mediterranean.

==Pantheon==
===Worship of sun and the moon===
According to [[Herodotus]], all ancient Berbers worshipped the [[moon]] and [[sun]] (''Tafukt'' in [[Berber languages|Tamazight]]) and sacrificed solely to them.{{Efn|"They begin with the ears of the animal, which they cut off and throw over their house: this done, they kill the animal by twisting the neck. They sacrifice it to the Sun and Moon, but not to any other deities. This worship is common to all the Libyans."<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/ancient/herod-libya1.html Herodotus, ''Histories'', book IV, 168–198].</ref>}} In [[Berber languages|Berber]], the [[Moon]] (''[[:fr:Ayyur|Ayyur]]'' in [[Berber languages|Tamazight]]) and the god of the Moon carry the same name in the language. [[Masinissa]], the first king of [[Numidia]], commonly paid tribute to the god of the sun [[Apollo]] in 179 B.C to his temple in [[Delos]], the assumed birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis (the goddess of the moon), for which he received a golden crown from the inhabitants of the Greek island [[Delos]].{{Efn|A statue of Masinissa was set up in Delos in honour of him as well as an inscription dedicated to him in Delos by a native from Rhodes. His sons too had statues of them erected on the island of Delos and the King of Bithynia, Nicomedes, had also dedicated a statue to Masinissa.}}<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SLSzNfdcqfoC&pg=PA169 Itineraria Phoenicia] - Edward Lipiński</ref> [[Tullius Cicero]] (105–43 BCE) also reported the same cult in ''On the Republic (Scipio's Dream)'':

{{blockquote|When I ([[Scipio Aemilianus|Scipio]]) was introduced to him, the old man ([[Masinissa|Massinissa]], king of [[Massylii|Massyle]]) embraced me, shed tears, and then, looking up to heaven, exclaimed I thank thee, O supreme Sun, and you also, you other celestial beings, that before I departed from this life I behold in my kingdom, and in my palace, Publius Cornelius Scipio.<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/ANCIENT/cicero-republic6.html M. Tullius Cicero (105-43 BCE): from On the Republic (Scipio's Dream)].</ref>}}

Further authors such as [[Apuleius]] or [[Augustine of Hippo]] mention that sun worship continued into the first millennium and the seventh century Coptic saint [[Samuel the Confessor]] appears to have suffered from the sun-worshiping Berbers who tried unsuccessfully to force him to worship the sun.

There were some Latin inscriptions found in Northwest Africa dedicated to the sun-god. An example is the inscription found in [[Souk Ahras]] (the birthplace of Augustine; [[Thagaste]] in [[Algeria]]) written "[[Sol Invictus|Solo Deo Invicto]]".<ref>James Hastings, ''The Encyclopedia of Religion & Ethics'', 1926, 4<sup>e</sup> partie, {{p.|508}}.</ref> The megalithic culture may have been part of a [[veneration of the dead|cult of the dead]] or of [[star-worship]].

=== The cult of Amon ===
Since antiquity, the ancient [[Ancient Libya|Libyans]] (ancestors of Berbers) worshipped the god [[Amun|Amon]],<ref>{{cite book|language=fr |publisher=Centre de Recherche Berbère |title=Liens entre l'Encyclopédie berbère, la préhistoire récente et la protohistoire en Afrique septentrionale |url=http://reb.centrederechercheberbere.fr/tl_files/doc-pdf/Seminaire%20EB%20Juin%202010/EB_Seminaire_2010_CR.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref> who was also worshipped by the [[Ancient Egypt]]ians. According to Herodotus and Pausanias, the cult had Berber origin and later spread to Egypt and then Greece, probably via the Greek colony of [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Recherches sur la religion des berbères, René Basset. Revue de l'histoire des religions, René Dussaud & Paul Alphandéry |url=http://www.taymat.org/etudesamazighes/Identité%20&%20Culture/histoire-et-religion-des-berberes.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>{{dead link|date=August 2024}} In the [[Siwa Oasis]], located Western Egypt, there remained a solitary [[oracle]] of Amon near the [[Libyan Desert]].<ref name="ReferenceD">[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' x.13 § 3</ref>

Amon's wife [[Ament (goddess)|Ament]] is also believed to have originated from Libya. She is the Egyptian mythology goddess of the underworld. ''[[Imentet|Amentet]]'' (meaning the "[[Occident|Land of the Setting Sun]]" or "The West") is where the dead wait for [[Ra]] to arrive.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QEJUEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Ament%22+%22libya%22&pg=PA44|title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities|last1=Coulter|first1=Charles Russell|last2=Turner|first2=Patricia|date=2013-07-04|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-96390-3|pages=44|language=en}}</ref> 

In Berber beliefs, the sheep was a sacred animal to Amon. In the discussion of Athanase of Alexandria against the Gentiles, it is said that for the Libyan populations ([[Berbers]]), the god Amon is often named '''A''men''''' and was venerated as a divinity. [[Iarbas]], a mythological king of Numidia who sold [[Dido]] the land on which she founded [[Carthage]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dido#ref110194 | title=Dido &#124; Queen of Carthage, Trojan War, Aeneas &#124; Britannica | date=6 September 2024 }}</ref> was also considered a son of Amon.

[[Diodorus Siculus]] mentions ''Ammon'' as the king of Libya who married [[Rhea (mythology)|Rhea]] (daughter of [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] and sister of the [[Titans]]). According to him he fell in love with a "maiden of unusual beauty" [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amaltheia]] with whom he fathered [[Dionysus]]. According to other stories, Dionysus was the son of [[Zeus]].<ref name=diodiii>[[Diodorus Siculus]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/3E*.html 3.68 and 3.74].</ref> The Egyptian version of Amun was often [[Interpretatio graeca|identified]] by the Greeks to be Zeus.

=== War Goddess Tanit ===
{{expand section|with=Carthage|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Tanit Symbol.svg|thumb|right|Punic [[Sign of Tanit]]]]
The ancient cult of Neith (Ha-nit) (or Nit, or [[Tinnit]]) influenced the ancient Egyptians with their goddess [[Neith]], and the Hellenes with their goddess [[Athena]] through the Berber cult of war,<ref>{{cite journal|language=fr|first1=G.|last1=Camps|title=Athéna|journal=Encyclopédie berbère|issue=7|date=1989-01-01|issn=1015-7344|doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1211|url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1211|access-date=2023-07-11|pages=1011–1013}}</ref> and was an imported deity from [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] who was in wide worship in 600 BC <ref>{{Cite web |last=Mark |first=Joshua J. |title=Neith |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Neith/ |access-date=2024-09-15 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> in [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]] (Archaic name: Ha-Nit) by the Libyan population inhabiting Sais, a very famous temple of Neith was established in this city by the earliest local dynasty. Neith is the direct predecessor to [[Athena]] as follows:
{{Blockquote
|text=Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] and the portico called the King's Portico is a temple of Hephaistos. I was not surprised that by it stands a statue of Athena, because I knew the story about Erikhthonios. But when I saw that the statue of Athena had blue eyes I found out that the legend about them is Libyan. For the Libyans have a saying that the Goddess is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason has blue eyes like Poseidon.
|author=[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]
|title=[[Description of Greece]]<ref>{{Citation |title=Pausanias and His Description of Greece |date=2012-06-28 |work=Pausanias and Other Greek Sketches |pages=1–159 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9781139207669.002 |access-date=2024-08-04 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|doi=10.1017/cbo9781139207669.002 |isbn=978-1-108-04751-7 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>}}

The Libyan Amazons are without doubt part of this cult. Athena, imposed the [[Amazons]] of Libya in Troy and in Greece, the Libyan Amazons remained in the village of Tenæ at the south of Sfax and Cartenæ (Tenes).<ref name=":03">{{cite book|access-date=2023-07-11 |date=1887 |language=fr |title=Revue africaine: journal des travaux de la Société Historique Algérienne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CW9wuRWdXEC&dq=amazones+libyennes&pg=PA156}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

According to mythology, Athena was believed to have been born in [[Lake Tritonis]] in North Africa (modern-day Algeria and Tunisia), which is why she was given the epithet [[Tritogeneia (mythology)|Tritogeneia]].<ref name=Nonnus>{{cite web|url=https://www.theoi.com/Text/NonnusDionysiaca13.html#53|title=DIONYSIACA BOOK 13, TRANSLATED BY W. H. D. ROUSE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Herodotus, The Histories, Book 4, chapter 180 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%204.180&lang=original |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu |quote="They celebrate a yearly festival of Athena, where their maidens are separated into two bands and fight each other with stones and sticks, thus (they say) honoring in the way of their ancestors that native goddess whom we call Athena","As for Athena, they say that she was daughter of Poseidon and the Tritonian lake!"}}</ref> In one version of the story she is the daughter of Poseidon and Tritonis, a Libyan lake [[nymph]], and as the same source adds, after a disagreement with her father, she gave herself to [[Zeus]], who made her his own daughter, which explains why both are considered gods of horses.<ref name=":03">{{cite book|access-date=2023-07-11 |date=1887 |language=fr |title=Revue africaine: journal des travaux de la Société Historique Algérienne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3CW9wuRWdXEC&dq=amazones+libyennes&pg=PA156}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

In his [[Socratic dialogue|dialogue]] ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'', the Greek philosopher [[Plato]] has [[Critias]] claim that Neith is the Egyptian name of Athena.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plato, Timaeus, section 21e |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0180:text=Tim.:section=21e |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> Some identified the Punic Tanit as the [[Religions of the ancient Near East|Middle Eastern]] goddesses like [[Anat]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Richard J. Clifford|page=62|doi=10.2307/1357208|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|title=Phoenician Religion|date=August 1990|number=279|jstor=1357208 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1357208|url-access=subscription}}</ref> or [[Astarte]] but Steve A. Wiggins argued that "local associations should not be considered definitive" and that "we must not assert more than the evidence will allow".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wiggins|first=Steve|title=A reassessment of Asherah: with further considerations of the goddess|url=https://www.academia.edu/1307031|publisher=Gorgias Press|publication-place=Piscataway, NJ|year=2007|isbn=978-1-59333-717-9|oclc=171049273|page=233}}</ref>

=== Gurzil ===
[[Gurzil]], a new god appearing in later texts and worshipped by tribes such as the [[Austoriani]] outside the Roman frontiers of Libya, was considered the son of Amun and a cow.<ref name="Camps">{{Cite encyclopedia|year=1999|title=Gurzil|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopédie berbère]]|publisher=Edisud|url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1824|last=Camps|first=Gabriel|publication-place=Aix-en-Provence|volume=21 {{!}} Gland – Hadjarien|issue=21 |pages=3258–3259 |isbn=2744900974|editor-last=Camps|editor-first=Gabriel|authorlink=Gabriel Camps|doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1824 }}</ref> He was considered a war god and was taken by the Berbers to their battles against the Byzantines. Corippus mentioned that the chiefs of the Laguata took their god ''Gurzil'' into battle against the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] and [[Arabs]]. It is very likely that the sanctuary of Gurzil was located in [[Ghirza]], in Libya, where remarkable reliefs show a noble Libyan receiving tribute while seated on a curule chair.<ref>O. Brogan and D. Smith, 1984, Ghirza: a Libyan Settlement in the Roman Period. Tripoli.</ref> The temple was in use well into the sixth century.{{sfn|Brett|Fentress|1996|p=66}} He is presumed to be a god of the sun{{sfn|Swei|2012|page=38}} or a god associated with battles.<ref name="Riedlberger 2010">{{Cite book |last=Riedlberger |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zp6doqOEbwC&dq=gurzil&pg=PA297 |title=Gorippus Iohannis VIII |date=2010 |publisher=Peter Riedlberger |isbn=978-90-6980-157-5 |language=de|page=302}}</ref> He is usually identified with bulls.<ref name="Mattingly">{{Cite book |last=Mattingly |first=David J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0dGPAgAAQBAJ&dq=gurzil&pg=PT373 |title=Tripolitania |date=2003-09-02 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-78282-5 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Atlas ===
[[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] is a Greek [[Titans|Titan]] commonly associated with the [[Atlas Mountains]] in North Africa and the borders of [[Ancient Libya]].{{Efn|"away by the boundary of Libya my father still suffers hardship, old Atlas with chafing shoulders bowed, upholding the seven-zoned vault of the sky."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nonnus, Dionysiaca (3.325) |url=https://topostext.org/work/529 |access-date=2024-08-01 |website=topostext.org}}</ref>}} [[Nonnus]] calls in ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' (13.333) both Athena and her matrilineal grandfather Atlas "Libyan".<ref name=Nonnus/> [[Maximus of Tyre]] mentions the mountains as a deity of the Libyans.
{{Blockquote
|text=To the people there [Libyans in the West] the Atlas is a sanctuary and an idol. […] It is at the same time the sanctuary, the god, the bond of oaths and the idol of the Libyans.
|author=Maximus of Tyre
|title=On images for the gods<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P_wwrGQQRxIC|title=Philosophische Vorträge|language=de|section=2. Ob man Göttern als Standbilder setzen soll|quote=Den Menschen dort [Libyer im Westen] ist der Atlas Heiligtum und Götterbild.|author1=Otto Schönberger|author2=Eva Schönberger|year=2001|page=28|publisher=Königshausen & Neumann |isbn=9783826020902}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1213|doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1213|title=Atlas|author1=J. Desanges|year=1989|language=fr|page=4|isbn=2-85744-443-5|journal=Encyclopédie berbère|volume=7|issue=7 |quote=C’est à la fois le sanctuaire, le dieu, le lien des serments et l’idole des Libyens}}</ref>
}}

In an interpretation of the ancient sources, he is seen as the first king [[Mauretania]] which was popularized by [[Gerardus Mercator]] who coined the term "[[atlas]]" based on {{ill|Atlas of Mauretania|de|Atlas von Mauretanien|fr|Atlas de Maurétanie}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rabasa |first1=José |title=Inventing America: Spanish Historiography and the Formation of Eurocentrism |date=1993 |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] |isbn=9780806125398 |page=180 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=luonOeN1HzoC&q=atlas+king+mauretania&pg=PA180 |access-date=6 October 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Triton ===
Herodotus claims that [[Poseidon]] originated from Libya. The Libyans at [[Lake Tritonis]] also worshiped [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] according to him. Triton might have been a more local deity{{sfn|Bates|1914|pp=185f}} or be related to Poseidon.{{sfn|Swei|2012|page=38}} He was also linked to Tritonis, the mother of Athena, as a potential female counterpart.{{sfn|Bates|1914|p=186}}

=== Other deities ===
[[Corippus]] mentions Sinifere described to be a god of war worshiped by the Eastern Libyans{{sfn|Swei|2012|page=38}} but might have been a "tribal god".{{sfn|Bates|1914|p=184}} Mastiman (or Autiman) was also mentioned by him and was also identified as god of war{{sfn|Swei|2012|page=38}} and was later associated with [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]].{{sfn|Bates|1914|p=185}}

==Death customs==
===Funerary practices===
The [[tomb]]s of the early people and their ancestors indicate that the Berbers and their ancestors (the [[Capsian culture|Capsian]]s and [[Iberomaurusian|Ibero-Mauresians]]) believed in an [[afterlife]]. The prehistoric people of northwest Africa buried bodies in little holes. When they realized that bodies buried in unsecured holes were dug up by wild animals, they began to bury them in deeper ones. Later, they buried the dead in caves, tumuli, tombs in rocks, mounds, and other types of tombs.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Unlike the majority of mainland Berbers, the [[Guanches|Guanche]] Berbers [[Guanche mummies|mummified]] their dead. Additionally, in 1958 University of Rome Professor Fabrizio Mori (1925–2010) discovered a Libyan [[mummy]] in [[Uan Muhuggiag]] around 5,500 years old—roughly a thousand years older than any known Ancient Egyptian mummy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wan Muhuggiag|access-date=16 November 2015|url=https://www.temehu.com/wan-muhuggiag.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media|people=Hooke, Chris (Director)|date=2003|title=The mystery of the Black Mummy|medium=Motion picture|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ygY-2PMqQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401160245/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ygY-2PMqQ&gl=US&hl=en |archive-date=2020-04-01 |url-status=dead|access-date=7 October 2019|location=Libya, USA|publisher=Magellan TV}}</ref>

===Megalithic culture===

[[File:Skeletons of prehistoric buried Mother and her baby.jpg|thumb|206x206px|Skeletons of prehistoric buried Mother and her baby in a dolmen in Algeria.]]
[[Archaeology|Archaeological]] research on prehistoric tombs in the Maghreb shows that the bodies of the dead were painted with [[ochre]]. While this practice was known to the [[Iberomaurusian]]s, this culture seems to have been primarily a [[Capsian culture|Capsian]] industry. The dead were also sometimes buried with shells of [[ostrich]] eggs, [[jewelry]], and [[weapon]]s. Bodies were usually buried in a [[fetal position]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Ouachi, Moustapha. “The Berbers and the death.” ''El-Haraka''</ref> in North Africa in 13,000 BC lived the [[Iberomaurusian|Ibero-mauresian]] man, archaeologists have traced their origins to the Caspian culture, a North African civilization that dates back more than 10,000 years.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

It is a culture that dominated in North Africa, between 13,000 BC and the foundation of Numidia, several sub-cultures emerged and evolved and all of which were called '''Megalithic cultures,''' the word '''Megalithic''' describes an era where ancient monuments built before the invention of early writing in 3,200 BC.{{cn|date=January 2025}} Megalithic Tombs (also called [[Dolmen]]s), were monuments built as burial sites for ancient Berbers, [[megalith]]s are huge tombs underground to bury the dead and they come in several shapes.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

There exists more than 32,000 Dolmens across [[Algeria]], including for instance the slopes of Djebel Mazela in [[Bounoura|Bounouara]], the site of the necropolis of [[Sigus]] (which includes dolmens, menhirs and cromlechs), as well as the important necropolis of [[Djelfa]]. The region with the highest concentration of Dolmens is [[Roknia]] where over 3,000 megalithic monuments in the necropolis stretch over several kilometers (in comparison, there are more than 4,000 on the whole of [[France]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Post |first=The Casbah |date=2019-09-04 |title=Quelle commune d'Algérie abrite des milliers de dolmens ? |url=https://www.thecasbahpost.com/quelle-commune-dalgerie-abrite-des-milliers-de-dolmens/ |access-date=2024-09-16 |website=The Casbah Post |language=fr-FR}}</ref> They are present in large numbers in eastern [[Algeria]] and [[Tunisia]] and are characterized by their quadrangular plan.

[[File:Cromlech de M'zora.jpg|thumb|Burial site of [[Antaeus]], in [[Msoura|M'soura]] [[Morocco]].|border|208x208px]]
The monument of [[Msoura]] is one of the best-known megalithic monuments in north-west Africa. It is composed of a circle of megaliths surrounding a [[tumulus]], the highest of which is over {{Convert|5|m|sp=us}}. According to legend, it is the sepulchre of the Libyan king Anti (known by the Greeks as the giant [[Antaeus]], an opponent of [[Heracles]]).<ref>[http://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/Tertre%20de%20Mzora.htm Tertre de M'zora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040624040440/http://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/Tertre%20de%20Mzora.htm |date=2004-06-24 }} {{in lang|fr}}</ref> The tomb was venerated by Berbers who went for pilgrimage to the ancient prehistoric monument.{{cn|date=January 2025}}Another megalithic monument was discovered in 1926 to the south of [[Casablanca]]. The monument was engraved with funerary inscriptions in the Berber script known as [[Tifinagh]].<ref name="ReferenceC">. “The Berbers and rocks.”</ref>

<gallery>
File:Dolmen in Bechar algeria with a burial chamber built inside the hill.jpg|Dolmen in [[Béchar|Bechar]] from 6,000 BC, Algeria with a burial chamber built inside the hill.
File:Dolmen Algeria Ain Sefra.jpg|Dolmen in [[Aïn Séfra]], Algeria dating back to 7,100 BC.
File:Dolmen algerien.jpg|Dolmen found in [[Boghar]] region of Medea in central Algeria from 5,600 BC.
File:Vincent-Campo-Roknia-Hanout.jpg|Dolmen Discovered in [[Roknia]] from 10,000 BC. 
File:Yann-Arthus-Bertrand-Tassili-sépulture.jpg|Dolmen in [[Tassili n'Ajjer|Tassili]] sépulture dating back to 12,000 BC.
</gallery>

===Ancient Berber tombs===
[[File:Bazina Sigus.jpg|thumb|Bazina discovered in [[Sigus]], Western [[Algeria]].]]
After the development of architecture in North Africa in early history improvement from the dolmens began to be heavily considered by ancient Berbers, more regular and improved designs of tombs were invented known as Bazinas. The term ''[[:fr:Bazina|bazina]]'' comes from the [[Berbers|Berber]] word meaning ''mound''.<ref>Pierre Roffo, [http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bspf_0249-7638_1937_num_34_11_4556 ''Monuments funéraires pré-islamiques de l'Âge du Fer d'Algérie''], Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de France, 1937, tome 34, n° 11, p.501-506</ref> The bazinas are built of dry stone. Their upper part is often domed or truncated cone.

Access to the burial chamber is invisible. The deceased is buried on the ground and covered by a projecting funerary structure.<ref>[http://www.ird.fr/bani/architec/document/BAD.htm Bazina en dôme]</ref> Bazinas are found in the vicinity of [[Chellala]] and Tamda, in [[Algeria]] and in the north-west of [[Tunisia]], for example in [[:fr:Balta-Bou Aouane (délégation)|Balta Bou Aouène]], near [[Bou Salem]], as well as in the [[Meknes]] region of [[Morocco]] with the Gour bazina.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=17 January 2023 |author=Institut National du Patrimoine |date=2012 |language=fr |title=Carte Nationale des sites archéologiques et monuments Historiques |url=https://www.inp2020.tn/inventaire/Touslessites.pdf}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>

[[File:Mausolée des Rois numides dit le Medracen -1.JPG|thumb|The [[mausoleum]] of [[Madghacen]] in Batna.]]
These tombs evolved from primitive structures to much more elaborate ones, such as the [[pyramid]]al tombs spread throughout Northern Africa. The honor of being buried in such a tomb appears to have been reserved for those who were most important to their communities.

These pyramid tombs have attracted the attention of some scholars, such as [[Mohamed Chafik]] who wrote a book discussing the history of several of the tombs that have survived into modern times. He tried to relate the pyramidal Berber tombs with the great [[Egyptian pyramids]] on the basis of the etymological and historical data.<ref name="ReferenceB">[http://www.tawalt.com/monthly/hafriat_shafeeq.pdf Tawalt, Libyan Massyle Site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102162821/http://www.tawalt.com/monthly/hafriat_shafeeq.pdf |date=2007-01-02 }} {{in lang|ar}}, Chafik, Mohammed. ''Revue Tifinagh. Elements lexicaux Berberes pouvant apporter un eclairage dans la recherche des origines prehistoriques des pyramides''<!-- place of publication and publisher needed, as well as page numbers for this text -->].</ref> The best known Berber pyramids are the {{Convert|19|m|sp=us|adj=on}} pre-Roman Numidian pyramid of the Medracen and the {{Convert|30|m|sp=us|adj=on}} [[Mauretania|ancient Mauretanian]] pyramid.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> The Numidian pyramid in Tipaza is also known as [[Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania|Kbour-er-Roumia]] or ''Tomb of Juba and Sypax'', mistranslated by the French colonists as ''Tomb of the Christian Woman''.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> The Tomb holds the graves of King [[Juba II]] and Queen [[Cleopatra Selene II]], the rulers of Mauretania.

===Cult of the dead===
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Berber religion in antiquity was the veneration of the dead, who seem to have been believed to exercise control over soil fertility and possibly over the future.{{sfn|Brett|Fentress|1996|p=35}} [[Pomponius Mela]]  also reported that the Augilae (Modern [[Awjila]] in [[Libya]]) considered the spirits of their ancestors to be deities. They swore by them and consulted them. After making requests, they slept in their tombs to await responses in dreams.{{sfn|Brett|Fentress|1996|p=35}}

[[Herodotus]] (484 BCE–425 BCE) noted the same practice among the [[Nasamones]], who inhabited the deserts around [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]] and Augila.  He wrote:
<blockquote>'''"'''They swear by the people among themselves who are reported to have been the most lawful and brave, by these, I say, laying hands upon their tombs; and they divine by visiting the sepulchral mounds of their ancestors and lying down to sleep upon them after having prayed; and whatsoever thing the person sees in their dream, this they accept.'''"'''<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hh/hh4170.htm Herodotus, ''Histories'', Book 4, 170]</ref>

</blockquote>The Berbers worshiped their rulers, too.<ref>James Hastings, ''[[Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics]]'' Part 4 - p. 512</ref> The tombs of the Numidian rulers are among the most notable monuments left by the Classical Berbers. But Gabriel Camps debates whether this is done for worship or for mere love and appreciation of the contributions of the rulers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Camps |first=Gabriel |date=1979 |title=Les Numides et la civilisation punique |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/antaf_0066-4871_1979_num_14_1_1016 |journal=Antiquités africaines |language=fr |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=43–53 |doi=10.3406/antaf.1979.1016 |issn=0066-4871}}</ref>

The veneration (not worship) of [[saint]]s which exists among the modern Berbers in the form of [[Marabout]]ism—which is widespread in northwest Africa—may or may not contain traces of prior beliefs or customs concerning the dead.{{Citation needed|date=August 2023}}

==Cultural exchange==
===Libyan-Egyptian beliefs===

The [[Ancient Egypt]]ians were the neighbors of the Berbers, as such traces of the worship of [[ancient Egyptian deities]] by the Berbers was found, and it has been theorized that both cultures shared at least some of these gods:

The cult [[Isis]] and [[Set (deity)|Set]] by the Berbers was reported by Herodotus when saying:
{{blockquote|text=Thus from Egypt to the Tritonian lake, the Libyans are nomads that eat meat and drink milk; for the same reason as the Egyptians too profess,f they will not touch the flesh of cows; and they rear no swine. The women of Cyrene too deem it wrong to eat cows' flesh, because of the Isis of Egypt; nay, they even honour her with fasts and  p391 festivals; and the Barcaean women refuse to eat swine too as well as cows.|author=Herodotus|title=The Histories<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/4G*.html Hdt. IV,	186]</ref>}}

Those [[Libu]] did not eat the flesh of swine, because it was associated with Set, while they did not eat the cattle's flesh, because it was associated with Isis.<ref>{{Citation |title=Women and the Transmission of Libyan Culture |date=2004-07-31 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203209653-13 |work=Women's Influence on Classical Civilization |pages=139–149 |access-date=2023-08-14 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203209653-13 |isbn=978-0-203-20965-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The most remarkable common god of the Berbers and the Egyptians was [[Amun]] and [[Amunet]].<ref name="Shaler1824">{{cite book|author=William Shaler|title=Communication on the language, manners, and customs of the Berbers or Brebers of Africa, in a series of letters to P.S. Duponceau, read before the Amer. phil. soc. and publ. in the new ser. of their transactions|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RKEOAAAAQAAJ|year=1824|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_RKEOAAAAQAAJ/page/n27 18]–}}</ref> These deities are hard to attribute to only one [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]], he and she were two of the greatest ancient Berber deities.<ref>H. Basset, Les influences puniques chez les Berbères, pp 367-368</ref> They were honored by the Ancient Greeks in Cyrenaica, and was united with the Phoenician god [[Baal]] and goddess [[Anat]] due to Libyan influence.<ref name="ReferenceB" /> Early depictions of [[Sheep|rams]] and [[Sheep|ewes]] (related possibly to an early form of the cult of these deities) across North Africa have been dated to between [[9th millennium BC|9600 BCE]] and 7500 BCE.<br />The most famous temple of Amun and Amunet in Ancient Libya was the augural temple at [[Siwa Oasis]] in Egypt, an oasis still inhabited by Berbers.

{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2023}}
The Egyptians considered some Egyptian deities to have had a [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]] origin, such as [[Neith]] who has been considered by Egyptians to have emigrated from Libya to establish her temple at [[Sais, Egypt|Sais]] in the Nile Delta.
Some people also believe links between the way Egyptians depicted certain deities and the way they depicted Libyan people exist, such is the case for [[Ament (goddess)|Ament]].

[[Osiris]] was also among the Egyptian deities who were venerated in Libya and Dr. [[E. A. Wallis Budge]] (in addition to a few other scholars) believed that Osiris was originally a Libyan god saying of him that "Everything which the texts of all periods recorded concerning him goes to show that he was an indigenous god of Northern Africa (modern day Libya), and that his home and origin were possibly Libyan."<ref>Cited by [[Lewis Spence]] in ''Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends''; p. 64</ref>

===Phoenician-Berber beliefs===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2023|find=Carthaginian religion}}
{{see also|Punic religion}}
The [[Phoenicia]]ns were originally a [[Semitic people]] who inhabited the coast of modern [[Lebanon]], and later came as refugees to [[Tunisia]]. The Phoenicians of Lebanon were [[seafarer]]s and they founded [[Carthage]] in 814 BCE. They later gave birth to the so-called ''Punic culture'', which had its roots in the Berber and Phoenician cultures. Some{{Who|date=June 2023}} scholars distinguish the relationships between the Phoenicians and the Berbers in two phases:

When Phoenicians settled in Northwest Africa, they stayed in the coastal regions to avoid wars with the Berbers. They maintained their deities which they brought from their homeland. Therefore, early Carthaginians had two important Phoenician deities, [[Baal]] and [[Anat]].

Carthage began to ally with the Berber tribes after the [[Battle of Himera (480 BC)|Battle of Himera]] (480 BCE), in which the Carthaginians were defeated by the Greeks. In addition to political changes, the Carthaginians imported some of the Berber deities.

Baal and Anat were the primary deities worshipped in Carthage. Depictions of these deities are found in several sites across Northern Africa. Also, the goddess [[Tanit]] and god [[Baal Hammon]] were worshipped, As Ammon is a local berber deity,<ref name="Livius">{{Cite web |last=Livius |title=Ammon (Deity) |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Ammon_(Deity)/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=World History Encyclopedia |language=en}}</ref> so is Tannit, which she represents the [[Matriarchy|matriarchal]] aspect of [[Numidians|Numidian]] society,<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Camps |first=G. |date=1989-01-01 |title=Athéna |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/1211 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |language=fr |issue=7 |pages=1011–1013 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.1211 |issn=1015-7344}}</ref> whom the Egyptians identify as [[Neith]] and the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] identify as [[Athena]].<ref name="Livius"/> The names themselves, Baal Hammon and Tanit, have Berber linguistic structure. Some scholars<sup>[who?]</sup> believe that the Egyptian goddess [[Neith]] and Egyptian god [[Khnum]] were similar to the Libyan goddess Tanit and the Libyan god Baal Hammon. There are also [[Massylii|Massyle]] and Phoenician names that apparently <sup>[?]</sup> contain roots from the god Baal, such as [[Adherbal (admiral)|Adherbal]]<!--intentional link to DAB page--> and [[Hannibal]] and names also derived from Anat. It was proposed that the Punic god [[Baal Hammon]] is a [[syncretism|syncretic]] association with Amon the god of [[ancient Libya]]<ref>S. G. F. Brandon, ''Dictionary of Comparative Religion'', 1970, Littlehampton, 978-0297000440</ref> and the Phoenician deity [[Baal]].

===Greek-Libyan beliefs===
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2023}}
The ancient Greeks established colonies in [[Cyrenaica]]. The Greeks influenced the eastern Libya pantheon, but they were also influenced by Libyan culture and beliefs. Generally, the [[Ancient Libya|Libyan]]-[[Ancient Greek|Greek]] relationships can be divided into two different periods. In the first period, the Greeks had peaceful relationships with the Libyans. Later, there were wars between them. These social relationships were mirrored in their beliefs.

The first notable appearance of Libyan influence on the Cyrenaican-Greek beliefs is the name Cyrenaica itself. This name was originally the name of a legendary Thessalian woman warrior and queen who was known as [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]], ruled Thessaly in Greece and later Cyrene in Libya. Cyrene was, according to the legend, a courageous huntress woman and queen who hunted and ate lions and all other animals. She gave her name to the city [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]] in Libya. The emigrating Greeks made her their protector besides their Greek god [[Apollo]].<ref>K. Freeman Greek city state- N.Y. 1983, p. 210.</ref>

The Greeks of Cyrenaica also  adopted some Berber customs. Herodotus (Book IV 120) reported that the [[ancient Libya|Libya]]ns taught the Greeks how to yoke four horses to a chariot (the Romans used these Libyan chariots later, after they were taught to do so by the Greeks). The Cyrenaican Greeks built temples for the Libyan deities [[Amun]] and [[Amunet]] who they  [[Interpretatio graeca|identified]] with [[Zeus]] and [[Hera]]{{verification failed|date=January 2025}}, respectively.<ref>Oric Bates, The Eastern Libyans.</ref> Some of them continued worshipping Amun and Amunet themselves. Amun and Amunet's cult was so widespread among the Greeks that even [[Alexander the Great|Alexander III of Macedonia]] decided to be declared as the son of Amun and Amunet in the [[Siwa Oasis|Siwan]] temple of Amun and Amunet by its Libyan priests and was declared so.<ref name="ReferenceB" />

Some ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus mentioned that some Greek deities were of [[ancient Libya|Libya]]n origin. As such, [[Athena]] was supposed to have been born in [[Lake Tritonis]] where she was originally honored by the Libyans. Herodotus wrote that the [[Aegis]] and the clothes of Athena were typical for Libyan women.

Herodotus also stated that [[Poseidon]] (an important Greek [[water deity|water god]]) was adopted from the Libyans by the Greeks. He emphasized that no other people worshipped Poseidon from early times apart from the Libyans who spread his cult:
{{Blockquote
|text=about this god the Hellenes learnt from the Libyans, for no people except the Libyans have had the name of Poseidon from the first and have paid honour to this god always.
|author=Herodotus<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/22 Herodotus (2.50, 4.188)]</ref>
}}

Some other Greek deities were related to Libya. The goddess [[Lamia (mythology)|Lamia]] was believed to have originated in Libya, like [[Medusa]] and the [[Gorgons]]. The Greeks seem also to have met the god [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] in Libya. The modern day Berbers may have believed that the [[Hesperides]] were situated in modern Morocco.{{cn|date=January 2025}} The Hesperides were believed to be the daughters of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]], a god who is associated with the [[Atlas Mountains]] by Herodotus. The Atlas Mountain were worshipped by the Berbers and the Canary Islands represented the daughters of Atlas.

[[File:Antaeus & Heracles (Nordisk familjebok).jpg|thumb|260px|right|[[Antaeus]] is depicted with long hair and beard, contrary to [[Heracles]].]]
The Greeks and the Libyans began to break their harmony in the period of [[Battus II of Cyrene]] (583-560 BC). Battus II began secretly to invite other Greek groups to Libya, Tunisia and East Algeria. The Libyans and Massyle considered that as a danger that had to be stopped. The Berbers began to fight against the Greeks, sometimes in alliance with the Egyptians and other times with the Carthaginians. Nevertheless, the Greeks were the victors. Some historians{{which|date=September 2024}} believe that the myth of [[Antaeus]] and [[Heracles]] was a reflection of those wars between the Libyans and Greeks.

===Roman-Berber beliefs===
The Romans allied firstly with the [[Massylii|Massyli]] against Carthage during the [[Second Punic War]]. The campaigns of their king [[Masinissa]] against Carthage led to the eventual [[Siege of Carthage (Third Punic War)|destruction Carthage in 146 BCE]] and the annexation of the remaining Punic realm as the [[Africa (Roman province)|Province of Africa]] by the Romans. But later, they also annexed [[Numidia]] to the [[Roman Empire]] in 25 BC and the neighboring kingdom of [[Mauretania]] in 44 AD.

The Berber pantheon also contained multiple deities, known by the Romans as the ''Dii Mauri'' (lit. the Moorish gods), represented on reliefs and also the subject of dedications.<ref>Elizabeth Fentress, 1978, 'Di Mauri and Dii Patrii' Latomus 37, 2-16</ref>  During the Roman period, [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] and [[Ops]] were the focus of an important cult, subsuming that of [[Baal Hammon]] and [[Tanit]], two deities of Punic origin.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

According to [[Pliny the Elder]],{{Full citation needed|date=September 2024}} the Libyans honored the war goddess Ifri, who was considered to be the protector of her worshipers (and seemed to have been an influential goddess in North Africa) and depicted her on the Berber coins. This goddess was represented in diverse ways on Numidian coins from the first century BCE. When the Romans conquered Northern Africa, she appeared in sculpture and on the [[coin]]s of the Roman states in North Africa.

The Roman pantheon seems to have been adopted generally, although the cult of Saturn and Ops, as mentioned above, was perhaps the most important.

The Romans displayed great tolerance to the Berber religious cults, which explains the Berber's receptiveness of the Roman civilisation. As such, after Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire, North Africa was one of the most heavily Christianised areas.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Entelis |first1=John P. |title=Algeria: The Revolution Institutionalized |date=8 January 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-36098-8 |pages=9–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s69YCwAAQBAJ |access-date=25 September 2024 |language=en}}</ref> By the seventh century, most of North Africa's population in the urban centres and coastal plains had been [[Christianity in the Roman Africa province|Christian for a long time]] and paganism had vanished from prominence, except among the Berber tribes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaegi |first1=Walter E. |title=Muslim Expansion and Byzantine Collapse in North Africa |date=4 November 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-19677-2 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zexq5Hl42mQC |access-date=16 September 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/easternlibyans00bate/page/n229/mode/2up?q=deus+|title= The eastern Libyans |first=Oric|last=Bates|year=1914|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]}}
*{{cite book |last1=Brett |first1=Michael |last2=Fentress |first2=Elizabeth |title=The Berbers |date=1996 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |url=https://archive.org/details/michael-brett-elizabeth-fentress-the-berbers/mode/2up?view=theater |access-date=25 September 2024}}
*{{cite journal|url=https://www.stclements.edu/Veritas/VERITAS%20July%202012.pdf|title=Religion in Old Libya|journal=Veritas|volume=3|number=3|date=July 2012|first=Abdullaziz Saeed|last=Swei|pages=37–41}}

==External links==
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/16819163/Recherches-Sur-La-Religion-Des-Berberes-1910 ''Recherches sur la religion des Berberes''] by [[René Basset]] (in French)

[[Category:Berber mythology| ]]
[[Category:Traditional African religions]]