Even if there was a small local settlement, it was only when Roman legionnaires arrived in Tripolitania that the city of Gerisa was created and developed. Initially its population was mainly local
berbers, but some Roman merchants settled there during late
Augustus times. The Limes Tripolitanus was expanded under emperors
Hadrian and
Septimius Severus, in particular under the legatus
Quintus Anicius Faustus in 197-201 AD. Anicius Faustus was appointed
legatus of the
Legio III Augusta and built several defensive forts of the Limes Tripolitanus in Tripolitania, among which Garbia and Golaia (Bu Ngem) in order to protect the province from the raids of nomadic tribes. He fulfilled his task quickly and successfully. As a consequence the Roman city of Gaerisa, situated away from the coast and south of
Leptis Magna, developed quickly in a rich agricultural area. Gerisa became a "boom town" after 200 AD, when the Roman emperor Septimius Severus (born in Leptis Magna) had organized in a better way the Limes Tripolitanus. Former soldiers -mostly local Berbers, but even some legionaries from the Italian peninsula- were settled in this area, and the arid land was developed. Dams and cisterns were built in the Wadi Ghirza (then not dry like today) to regulate the flash floods. These structures are still visible: there it is among the ruins of Gaerisa a temple, which may have been dedicated to the
Berber semi-god "
Gurzil", and the name of the town itself may even be related to his name. The farmers produced cereals, figs, vines, olives, pulses, almonds, dates, and perhaps melons. Gaerisa consisted of some forty buildings, including six fortified farms (
Centenaria). Two of them were really large. It was abandoned in the
Middle Ages. With
Diocletian the limes was partially abandoned and the defense of the area was performed by the
Limitanei, local berber soldier-farmers. The Limes survived as an effective protection until
Byzantine times (Emperor
Justinian restructured the Limes in 533 AD. After then Gaerisa fell in importance and slowly disappeared after the Arab invasions of the late seventh century. By the tenth century Gerisa was totally forgotten and covered by sand. Only a few centuries later the area was repopulated and now -near the excavated ruins of Gaerisa- there it is a small town named "Ghirza". ==See also==