Did the Roman General Sertorius really discover a buried giant?
Luke
February 29, 2020
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| Hercules wrestling with Antaeus (1634) (Source: Wikipedia) |
In his Life of Sertorius, Plutarch makes one of his more curious and strange digressions in the Parrallel Lives. He tells of how the Roman general Sertorius, while on military campaign in North Africa, is said to have discovered a huge tomb that contained a buried giant.
What are we to make of such an anecdote? Is it the record of a long lost legend of the native Libyans? The creation of Plutarch’s own imagination? Or the record of the discovery of a giant?
Some background to the account…
Quintus Sertorius was an exceptional Roman General of the early first century BC, who fought a determined rebellion against the Roman Senate. Much of this war was fought in Spain, however part of the fighting took him to Africa (present day Morocco), where he assisted and recruited the local inhabitants in defeating and ousting a local ruler known as Ascalis.
After swiftly defeating Ascalis and his Roman reinforcements, Sertorius captured the city of Tingis (modern Tangier). It was here the locals told him of a legendary giant known as Antaeus, who was buried in the city long ago.
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| North Africa with the location of Tingis (Tangier) circled on map. (Source: Wikipedia) |
Sertorius was shown the tomb by the locals and was amazed at the incredible size of the tomb. This led him to be skeptical of their claims, and so he decided to open the tomb himself and finally settle the matter.
However when he opened the large tomb, he was shocked to find the body of the giant before him, thus dispelling any doubts he had about the barbarians legend.
Plutarch records it thus:
According to the Libyans, this city is the burial place of the giant Antaeus. Because of the enormous size of the tomb, Sertorius had been inclined to disbelieve this legend of the barbarians, and he therefore had it dug open. But when he came upon the body and discovered, so it is said, that it was sixty cubits long, he was dumbfounded, and after offering a sacrifice had the tomb filled up again. He then gave his own confirmation to the story and paid fresh honours to the memory of Antaeus. (Plutarch, Makers of Rome, Life of Sertorius, p. 203)
It is worth remembering that Plutarch is writing about 170 years after the reported event is said to have taken place. Sertorius lived from 125-72 BC and the above event is said to have taken place sometime during the latter part of his life, 82-72 BC.
Also one has to keep in mind that, while Plutarch is a historian, his way of writing history is to use incidents and anecdotes such as these to paint a portrait of his subject, in this case Sertorius. He uses an incident such as this – the discovery of the buried giant – to reveal something of the character of Sertorius. In this way the character and his qualities are more important, not whether the giant was really dug up.
Of course this does not mean that the anecdote is pure fabrication. It may be that it was a native legend of the Libyans of that time, which he refers to in the story, and this he could have learned from other now lost sources (possibly an oral tradition). He may have then combined it with other ancient sources available to him and in an alchemical fashion, fused them together to produce his powerful portrait of Sertorius.
Whether Sertorius really discovered a buried giant or whether it was the melding of different stories into one whole picture, we can never know for certain. We are in a similar position to Sertorius, who upon hearing the tale from the Libyans is inclined to disbelieve the legend.
The difference for us it that we have no way to verify for ourselves the veracity of the claim before us.
We have no tomb to open. No buried giant to find.
It remains what it is, a curious and bewildering tale from the ancient past and something that makes the Life of Sertorius and the general himself all the more fascinating.
Sources:
Plutarch, (1965), Makers of Rome. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. Introduction by Ian Scott-Kilvert. London: UK. Penguin Books
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antaeus