Mazices

The Mazices were Berbers of the North Africa who appear in classical and late antique Greek and Latin sources. Many variants of the name are known: Maxyes in Herodotus; Mazyes in Hecataeus; Mazaces; Mazikes; Mazazaces; etc. They are all derived from the Berber autoethnonym Imazighen (singular Amazigh). These terms were used both for Berbers in general and for certain Berber tribes. It is not clear if the original Berber term was used to refer to all Berbers or only a tribe or other subset.[1] The Egyptian term Meshwesh for a tribe of ancient Libyans is probably a cognate.[2]

Lucan uses Mazax, the singular form of Mazaces, as a collective noun for the people.[3]

In the 3rd century AD, the Chronicle of Pseudo-Hippolytus placed the Mazices on the same level as the Mauri, Gaetuli and Afri.[1]

References
  1. Salem Chaker (1986), "Amaziɣ (le/un Berbère)", Encyclopédie berbère, 4, pp. 562–568, retrieved 25 January 2020.
  2. Anthony Leahy (2001), "Libya", in Donald B. Redford (ed.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Oxford University Press), retrieved 25 January 2020.
  3. Paolo Asso (2010), A Commentary on Lucan, "De bello civili" IV: Introduction, Edition, and Translation (De Gruyter), pp. 258–259.

Further reading
  • Yves Modéran (2010), "Mazices, Mazaces", Encyclopédie berbère, 31, pp. 4799–4810.
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