Afer was born in 185 BC. , Taken away from his village by Roman legionary in the region of Hippo (now Annaba in the eastern Algeria), "Afer" means in Berber: the inhabitant of Africa (Roman province of eastern North Africa (Tamazgha in Berber) which includes the present Tunisia and Libya).

At the age of 5 Afer was sold as a slave to a grantor, Publius Lucanus, who will give him another name, Terentius, while keeping his original name Afer. Later on Publius freed him and considered him as his own son what gave him a chance for an excellent education. Afer began to write at an early age, i.e. to ... 8 years! . In 176 BC.He performed his first play that he named Adria, which had known an outstanding and successful achievement. At the age of 11, he became the representative of the Roman aristocracy, influenced by the Greek culture that was based on the liberation of the lawless spirit, he became the spearhead of a new ideology that tends to break up with the habits and traditions, rejecting any traditionalist thought that hindered the daily life of citizens.

Besides Adria!, His work includes five other plays ,Ennuchus , where he expressed the rejection of the buffoonery that will have a remarkable success. Hecyra (the mother-in-law), that witnessed total failure due to the Hellenistic influence, but sooner he understood the reasons and followed with Heautontimoroumenos (the self-tormentor), a play dealing with the linkage between the ruling aristocracy and the people with the lower social level by emphasizing the common tastes of both parties Phormio and Adelphi, where he set a better balance without omitting the theatrical concept from the Greek civilization, therefore assigning a certain psychology to the character portrayed in his imagination. Not hiding the overarching problems experienced by the society and even set a particular importance to the youth, finally this work had allowed him a high popularity as a well-known Berber writer.

By keeping his fully acknowledged ingeniousness, Afer put into words the difficulty of the characters and the complexity found in the emotional behavior nature. He accomplished his task by providing strong evidence and analysis that justify his excellent work.

He put into evidence the attributes of parents honoring the noble place held by women in the society and, even going further in his analysis, he warned against various youth deviations and thoughts.
Afer died in 159 BC, and he was only 26 years old , leaving a tremendous and amazing work behind.

Rachid Yahou

Translated from French by L.F