The Barbary Coast of North Africa was named after the Berbers, the nomadic people who inhabited the region west of the Nile Valley in north Africa. Called the Amazigh or Imazighen in antiquity (meaning “free humans” or “free men”), they are among the oldest inhabitants of North Africa. Their rich mythology endured for thousands of years, eventually coming to influence the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. The history of the Berber people in northern Africa is extensive and diverse. The Berbers are a large group of non-Arabic tribes, related by language and culture, inhabiting areas stretching from Egypt to the Canary Islands as well as regions south of the Sahara such as Niger and Mali. Archaeologists have traced their origins to the Caspian culture, a North African civilization that dates back more than 10,000 years. Berber-speaking people have lived in North Africa since the earliest times and are first referenced by the Egyptians in 3,000 BC under the name Temehu. Phoenician, Greeks and Roman texts also make reference to them. Since prehistoric times, Berber lands have been a crossroad of peoples from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.
BERBER MYTHOLOGY
Although never formalized beyond local cults, the Berbers had a rich mythology and belief system structured around a pantheon of gods. Many of their beliefs were developed locally while some were imported or later influenced by contact with other African mythologies, such as the Egyptian religion, along with Phoenician mythology, Judaism, Iberian mythology, and the Hellenistic religion during antiquity. The most recent influence came from Arab mythology, when the Berbers were converted to Islam during the ninth century. Today, some of the traditional, ancient, pagan Berber beliefs still exist within the culture and tradition, especially in Algeria, where older cults still survive to varying extents.
Berber mythology ruled the lives of Moroccans and neighboring Amazighs that inhabited North Africa. They had their heroes, gods and demigods that they worshipped and cherished. Three of these figures made it to history books and their myths and legends can still be heard of. Morocco, as part of North Africa, had a number of shared myths with Romans and Greeks. Amazighs that inhabited this ancient part of the world believed in these myths, cherished its heroes and worshipped its gods for centuries. Many of these heroes, giants and titans lived in North Africa and had their stories marking the existence of several cities in the region, including Tangier in Morocco and Benghazi in Libya. Although they were fictitious heroes and figures, their names are still part of our daily lives. Here we talk about Atlas, as in the Atlas Mountains, Tingis, the ancient name of the city of Tangier and Antaeus who is linked to monuments near the city of Asilah. Therefore, who are these gods and what about their battles and victories?
A considerable amount of the traditional lore of the matriarchal Berbers is still based on the worship of the Ancestors and the Dead. Most of the Berbers’ ancestral doctrines also form an integral part of the jinn lore. Westermarck had pointed out that many of the Berber religious and mythological principles were practiced mostly by Berber women under the disguise of Tomb Worship, where women regularly visit the tombs and perform various rituals in association with the ancient ancestors and the dead, such as receiving sacred prophecy through dreams obtained by sleeping in tombs of holy ancestors. This current practice, according to Herodotus, goes back to the ancient Libyan Nasamon Berbers, and it may even go back much farther in time since sacred traditions are indeed carried forward from previous generations.
LIST OF BERBER GODDESSES & GODS
BERBER PANTHEON
- Afri (Afrika): a Berber goddess of fortune and fertility
- Ammon (Amen): Life-God
- Ament: Life-Goddess
- Ancestors: a relationship similar to that existing between the totem and the worshipper
- Antaeus
- Anzar: Rain-God
- Ash
- Ashaman: God: among the ancient Berber Canary Islanders
- Atlas: Libyan Mountain-God
- Auliswa: worshipped at Pomaria (Tlemcen)
- Awessu: Sea-God
- Bacax: (Bacchus): Grape-God: dedications found in a grotto of Taia near Calama (Guelma)
- Bast
- Draco
- Froarangan: Canarian God of men
- Genius of Africa (genius Africae): a female spirit
- Guraya: name of a saint in Kabylie
- Gurzil: Libyan Sun-God, also god of war, in Syrtes (Sirte)
- Idir: name of a divinity; also found in Baliddir
- Ifru
- Iguc: god of the rain, among the Berghwata of Morocco (cf. Yakush)
- Illu: Tuareg god
- Isis
- Jnoun: the Jinn
- Libya: Goddess of Libya
- Lilleus
- Lilu: synonymous with rain water
- Makurgun
- Maqurtam
- Masiden
- Mastinam: Libyan god associated with Jupiter
- Masiddica
- Mathamos
- [Medusa]: Gorgon Sisters: Serpent-goddess
- Mona
- Moreyba: Canary Berber goddess of Women
- Nabel
- Osiris
- [Poseidon]: Libyan Sea-god
- Sekhmet
- Shaheded: a Libyan goddess
- Shshid’an: Satan
- Sinifere: a war god among the Luguata, identified with Mars
- Suggan (Seggen)
- Tala: Nafousah Mountain (Libya) Spring-Goddess (Nanna Tala)
- Tannit: the Libyan Goddess of Weaving (adopted by the Phoenicians as as Tanit, by the Greeks as Athena, and by the Ancient Egyptians as Nit.
- Tiliwa (Tiliva)
- Warsutima
- Wihinam
- Yakush: God
- Yush: God
- Yam
- Yunan
- Yur
Sufax, the founder of Tinjis
After the epic fight between Antaeus and Hercules, Sufax was the fruit of the Greek hero’s victory. Son of Tinjis and Hercules, Sufax, also known as Sophax, Syphax, Sufaqs, was also a hero and a demigod.
The legend says that the mythological figure founded the city of Tangier and called it «Tinjis» to honor his mother. Another myth reveals that the father of this hero, Hercules «pulled apart Spain and Africa to give his son, a city protected by the sea». According to Berber mythology, many Berber kings believed that they were the descendants of Sufax. Indeed, Numidian king Juba II spread the idea that he was also a descendent of Sufax.
Atlas, the heavens’ bearer and the king of Morocco’s mountains
In Greek mythology, he is a titan, a race of deities originally worshipped by ancient Greeks. But in North Africa, he is the figure behind the name of Morocco’s largest mountain range. Others call him the king of Mauretania, the Latin word for the ancient Maghreb, which stretched from present-day Algeria to Morocco. The myth tells us that Zeus, god of the sky and thunder in Greek mythology, condemned Atlas to hold the heavens forever as a punishment. According to Mythencyclopedia, because famous Atlas stood to perform his task at the westernmost end of the world known to the ancient Greeks, the ocean near him was called Atlantic in his honor. But this was not the only thing that linked the titan god to Morocco. Other accounts suggest that the Atlas Mountains are the remains of Atlas. According to the aforementioned platform, this story is associated with Perseus, son of Zeus and slayer of the Gorgon Medusa.
“Anzar”, Amazigh God’s of Rain
In the ancient Morocco and North Africa, Amazigh tribes believed in the existence of several deities, including Anzar. The legend says that how the Anzar fell in love with a beautiful woman who had become his fiancée. Like the ancient Greeks or Egyptian, the pre-Islamic period of Morocco also had its own mythology, gods, and its rituals. This weather which promises to be rainy in several regions of Morocco and this important period for agriculture recalls the Amazigh God Anzar, one of the powerful figures venerated by Amazigh society several centuries ago. Anzar is a beneficial element which reinforces the vegetation and ensures the growth of the herd, Anzar is a sign of fertility and productivity. This is how the ‘’Amazigh God’’ imagined the story.
The indigenous people of Northern Africa west of Egypt form a meta-ethnicity commonly known as “Berbers” to outsiders, but their common endonym are variants of “Amazigh”, meaning “free people”. This page concerns itself with the Kabyle (Iqbayliyen) and related groups such as the Rifians who share many mythical concepts. The Kabyle are concentrated in the Kabylia region in the Atlas mountains where they traditionally live as farmers. The mountainous terrain of Northern Africa acted as a refuge for Berber languages and cultures from Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, Arab, Turkish, and French rulers throughout the ages. Stubborn and proud, the Kabyle fiercely defended their independence for ages.
In the beginning all humans lived underground. A man and a woman existed, but they did not realize their difference in gender. The pair came to a well and began to fight over who got to drink first. The man was victorious and threw down the woman, her clothes having fallen off in the struggle. He was confused about what her vagina was for, and she invited him to learn. They had sex for eight days. Every nine months after that she would bear four sons, and then four daughters nine months afterward. This went on until there were 50 men and 50 women. The parents sent their children away, the girls heading north and the boys heading east. Both parties saw holes above them shining light through and so they climbed up to the surface world. They were amazed and the girls asked the plants who made them, to which the plants said “the earth”. They then asked the earth who made it and the earth said “I always was”. At night the girls saw the beautiful moon and stars and asked “Who made you?” but they were too far away to hear. Eventually the boys and girls encountered each other on opposite sides of the river asking “Who are you? What are you? Are you people?”. The boys wanted to move closer to the girls, but the river was in their way. They asked the river what it was and the river said “I am a river for washing and drinking, go to the shallows upstream to cross me”. The boys crossed and approached the girls, but the girls were afraid of the strangers and refused to let them come near. So they agreed to travel together at a safe distance. Eventually they came to a mountain spring where the boys immediately began bathing, with the girls hanging back aloof.
One bold girl and her two companions became curious and went to spy on what the boys were doing. The bold girl reported back to her camp “Those people are not like us. Their hair is short and they have no breasts. They don’t even have vaginas! And when you see them nude your heart beats faster and you want to hug them.”. The journey continued and the boys decided they didn’t like living out in the open anymore or in holes, so they took rocks and wood to make houses. The trees at first protested, but the youths explained their need for shelter and the trees agreed to give wood. But there was one wild and unruly boy who did not want to live indoors, the girl camp similarly had a wild girl. The wild boy would skulk between the newly built houses hoping to catch, kill, and eat someone. The girls became curious again about the activities of the boys and the bold girl yet again went to investigate. She crawled through the bushes and entered one of the lovely houses. She saw nobody around and decided to go home when the savage boy came by and smelled her presence. He roared and chased her back to the girl camp. Both camps heard screaming and so a battle of the sexes erupted in the vegetation. Even the savage boy met the savage girl in combat. The boys and the girls paired up to duel, and the girls were victorious. The girls mounted the defeated boys and decided to see if the bold girl had lied. They began to ravish the boys who became excited and ravished them right back. After this they married each other and decided it was better for men to be on top. The savage boy and girl wandered the wilderness together after being driven away by the civilized couples, only returning to the villages to catch children they could eat. The girl became known as the arch-demoness Teryel and her husband became the first lion.
In Ancient Morocco, and North Africa Amazigh tribes believed in the existence of the rain of god. The latter fell in love with a beautiful woman that he made his fiancée. Pre-Islamic Morocco had its own mythology, gods, rituals and sacrifices and Anzar was one of the powerful figures that ruled the Berber society centuries ago. In modern Morocco, Anzar is a synonym for rain for the Amazigh community. However, the origins of this word refer to a «lord», a god that was respected and feared in pre-Islamic Morocco and North Africa. Anzar is a beneficial element that strengthens vegetation and ensures the growth of herds.
Essentially, about ten thousand years ago a population wave from the near East swept over North Africa, bringing in gracile Mediterranean people in the Capsian era. A later wave of immigration occurred in the Neolithic when the expanding farmers from the near east ploughed their way across North Africa, some leaving artwork in the central Sahara to mark their passage. As far as DNA studies can tell, the Arab invasions that converted North Africans to Islam made virtually no impact to the population; essentially they converted the local population and didn’t replace them. There was a only trace contribution made to North Africa by Europe during the Barbary slavery era, but quite a significant amount of sub Saharan maternal ancestry was added. The modern North African is mainly Eurasian in ancestry, and cluster with Europeans and west Asians.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 