[gothic-l] Re: What happened with the Vandalic Kingdom?

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...> wrote:
> Dirk,
> 
> Could you please describe the stage of "complete
> disrepair" and your sources.

Bertil,

see especially the archaeological reports of the University of 
Michigan  called "Carthage and the Vandals," in Excavations at 
Carthage Conducted by the University of Michigan, editor: John 
Humphrey


> Would you care to elaborate a comparison between
> the Vandal fleet and the Roman-Punic fleets (number
> of ships etc).?



The fact that under Vandal rulership one of the main Cartagenian 
harbours fell into disrepair might lead one to conclude that it was no 
 longer needed as it represented over capacity. However, it is 
certainly possible that the Vandals kept their fleet somewhere else. 
Both harbours of Carthage are actually suprisingly small and could 
harbour only a few ships at a time. (at least from my own 
observation).



 
> When the Vandal administration decided to keep up
> the quality of building, construction etc. 




When did the Vandal administration decide to keep up the qualtity of 
building? These things were mainly left to the struggling municipal 
adiminstrations and churches who however could no longer afford the 
up-keep of Roman-standard buildings under Vandal rulership. Thus, many 
buildings were either demolished, plundered for stones or simply 
scaled down.




There were
> certainly both commercial and military harbours
> in the kingdom. Reliance was not only on the harbours
> in Carthage. The fact that at the Byzantine
> conquest the chains were lifte at one of the 
> harbours shows that at least one was still in use.
> 
> The real decline of urban North Africa came after the
> Byzantine reconquest.


If you read the Michigan reports carefully, you will discover that 
exactly the opposite is true. The Byzantines established a new 
administration and resumed construction work at a more substantial 
scale.  The Byzantines for example built a network of massive 
fortifications and adiministrative centres across the entire country 
that later formed the basis for many Muslim 'ribats', like for example 
the Tunis ribat.

I know you don't like it, but the Vandal period was in general a time 
of decline for the former Roman province in modern Tunesia. Theaters, 
baths, sewage systems, harbours, store houses etc. fell into 
disrepair, were demolished or reduced in scale during that time. Only 
under Byzantine rulership was an effective administration 
reestablished that was once again able to lead to some kind of revival 
in the area, although it would not reach the splendour of the Roman 
era. 


cheers 
Dirk







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