The pre-Islamic powers of the Amazigh, or Berber, peoples of North Africa, among them Gurzil, a war god associated with Libyan and Garamantian communities, and Ammon in his Siwan and Libyan cult centred on the oasis of Siwa, together with ancestral shrines maintained at tombs and rock sites. Much of what is known comes from Greek and Roman writers rather than from the Amazigh's own record, and pre-Islamic Amazigh religion was substantially absorbed first into Roman period cult and then into Islam, leaving these figures attested mainly at the margins of other traditions' histories.
Facts
Attestation
Era of Attestation Era of AttestationAttested from Amazigh (Berber) indigenous religion in North Africa, documented in the outside record through Roman and later Arab accounts, before Islamization; some pre-Islamic elements survive in folk practice today. 1 Veneration TodayHistorically attested; no continuous cult 1 Structure
Structure of the PantheonLocal and lineage cults gathered under one name, with no single frame 1 Divine HeadshipNo sovereign; the gods act as peers 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsOne divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1 Sources
Primary SourceGreek and Latin authors, chiefly Herodotus on Libya and Corippus on the Laguatan, with Roman period inscriptions from North Africa 1 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonEvery place, clan and lineage adds its own 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonAncestors and founders become objects of cult 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreThe oracle of Ammon at Siwa in the Western Desert, consulted from the Greek world and by Alexander in 331 BCE, with tribal and ancestral shrines kept locally 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Africa directly: "Amazigh, or Berber, peoples of North Africa, among them Gurzil, a war god associated with Libyan and Garamantian communities, and Ammon in his Siwan and Libyan cult centred on the oasis of Siwa..."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Its own cited description names the pre-Islamic powers of the Amazigh peoples of North Africa, the same people this grouping names.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
This source names North Africa directly: "of the Amazigh, or Berber, peoples of North Africa, among them Gurzil, a war god associated with Libyan and Garamantian communities, and Ammon in his Siwan and Libyan cult centred on the oasis of..."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Originated In
Source Amazigh (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Amazigh (Wikipedia)
Originated In: North Africa, LeadQuote, Originated In: North Africa, Lead
Berbers, also known as Amazighs or Imazighen, are an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa.
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