Date of Award Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Dr. K.M.D. Dunbabin The
'La Ghorfa' stelae from Roman Africa offer a unique opportunity
to study the social and cultural identity of an unusual cult,
one that combined aspects of the Punic, Roman, and indigenous
cultures. The context and origins of the votive stelae were not
recorded upon excavation, but stylistic and iconographic
parallels suggest that they come from a part of central Africa
Proconsularis known as the pagus Thuscae (Chapter IV), and that
they date between the second half of the first century and the
first part of the second century A.C. (Chapter V). The pagus
Thuscae was a geographic contact point for various cultures in
Antiquity, and the 'La Ghorfa' stelae demonstrate that these
cultures each contributed to the language, artistry, and
religion of the region's inhabitants. Punic, Roman, and
indigenous elements appear in the sculptural and epigraphic
zones of the stelae, including in the depictions and names of
the dedicants (Chapters II and III). Unl