Berber Mythology - Roman-Berber Beliefs - Before Romanization

Before Romanization

The Berbers fought against the Romans and Byzantines. They had war deities such as Gurzil and Ifri. They honored the war goddess Ifri or Ifru who was considered to be the protector of her worshipers and was depicted on the Berber coins, and seemed to have been an influential goddess in North Africa. Pliny the Elder mentioned that nobody in Africa decided to do anything before prior invocation of Africa (The Latin name of Ifri). This goddess was represented in diverse ways on Massyle coins from the first century BCE. When the Romans conquered Northwest Africa, she appeared on the coins of the Roman states in North Africa.

Gurzil was a bull-shaped war god who is identified with the son of Ammon. He was taken by the Berbers to their battles against the Romans. Corippus mentioned that the chef Laguatan's (Or Luwata as it was known to the Arabs) Daya took her god Gurzil into her battle against the Byzantines and Arabs. Daya was an Eastern-Numidian Berber tribe Massyle ruler and a high priestess of Awras (Aures) mountains in modern-day Algeria. She was betrayed by the Iznagen Berbers and killed when they sided with the Arabs.

Read more about this topic:  Berber Mythology, Roman-Berber Beliefs