tribal confederation · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan

Macae

500 BCE – 200 CE (approx.)

A Libyan people of the Cinyps valley in Tripolitania who helped Carthage drive out a Spartan attempt to settle in Africa.

Origins

The Macae are known only from Greek and Roman writers. Herodotus places them in the 5th century BCE along the river Cinyps (Wadi Caam), near Leptis Magna, as neighbours of the Nasamones. They lived as pastoralists in the coastal plain and desert edge.

Rule and society

Herodotus notes their distinctive hairstyle, shaved except for a crest, and their use of ostrich-skin shields. Around 515 BCE, together with the Carthaginians, they expelled the Spartan prince Dorieus, who had tried to found a colony on the Cinyps. They stayed within the orbit of the Punic Empire as tributaries and allies.

Decline and legacy

Later writers mention the Macae as a Libyan people of Tripolitania into Roman times, and they were gradually absorbed into the provincial and tribal society of the region. No rulers of theirs are known by name.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Macae. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/macae
MLA
“Macae.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/macae. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Macae.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/macae.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Macae’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/macae (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻