Jugurtha

Information about Jugurtha

Jugurtha in chains before Sulla, from Sallust's La conjuracion de Catilina y la Guerra de Jugurta (Madrid, 1772)

Jugurtha, (ca. 160 – 104 BC) Amazigh King of Numidia, born in Cirta.

Until the reign of Jugurtha's grandfather Masinissa, the people of Numidia were semi-nomadic and indistinguishable from the other Berbers in North Africa. Masinissa established a kingdom (roughly equivalent to modern northern Algeria) and became a Roman ally in 206 BC. After a long reign he was succeeded in 148 BC by his son Micipsa. Jugurtha, nephew to the ruler, was so popular among the Numidians, that Micipsa was obliged to send him away to Spain.^[1] Unfortunately for Micipsa, instead of quietly keeping out of the way, Jugurtha used his time in Spain to make several influential Roman contacts. He served at the siege of Numantia alongside Gaius Marius and learned of Rome's weakness for bribes. He famously described Rome as "urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit" ("a city for sale and doomed to quick destruction, if it should ever find a buyer").

When Micipsa died in 118, he was succeeded jointly by his two sons Hiempsal and Adherbal. Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which lead to open war with Adherbal. After Jugurtha defeated him in open battle, Adherbal fled to Rome for help. The Roman officials, allegedly due to bribes but perhaps more likely because of a desire to quickly end conflict in a profitable client kingdom, settled the fight by dividing Numidia into two parts. Jugurtha was assigned the western half. (Later Roman propaganda claimed that this half was also richer, but in truth it was both less populated and developed.)

By 112 Jugurtha resumed his war with Adherbal. He incurred the wrath of Rome in the process, by killing some Italic businessmen who were aiding Adherbal. After a brief war with Rome, Jugurtha surrendered and received a highly favourable peace treaty, which raised suspicions of bribery once more. The local Roman commander was summoned to Rome to face corruption charges brought by his political rival Gaius Memmius. Jugurtha was also forced to come to Rome to testify against the Roman commander, where he was completely discredited once his violent and ruthless past became widely known.

War broke out between Numidia and the Roman Republic and several legions were dispatched to North Africa under the command of the Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus. The war dragged out into a long and seemingly endless campaign as the Romans tried to inflict a decisive defeat on Jugurtha. Frustrated at the apparent lack of action, Metellus' lieutenant Marius returned to Rome to seek election as Consul. Successfully elected, Marius returned to Numidia and to take control of the war. He sent his Quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla to neighbouring Mauretania in order to eliminate their support for Jugurtha. With the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania, Sulla was able to capture Jugurtha and bring the war to a conclusive end. Jugurtha was brought to Rome in chains and was placed in the Tullianum.

Jugurtha was executed by the Romans in 104 BC, after being paraded through the streets in Gaius Marius' Triumph.

References

Sallust, De Bello Iugurthino.

Footnotes

1. ^ Sallust. The Jugurthine War. p.6. (ed. John Selby Watson), Tufts Perseus Digital Library.

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Numidia (202 BC - 25 BC) was an ancient Berber kingdom in North Africa that later alternated between a Roman province and a Roman client state, and is no longer in existence today.
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Cirta was the capital city of the Kingdom of Numidia in northern Africa. actually called Constantine, Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient Roman Empire during the Punic Wars, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the first and second centuries B.C.
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Masinissa or Massinissa (c. 238 BC - c. 148 BC) was the first King of Numidia, an ancient Amazigh North African nation of ancient Libyan peoples, and is most famous for his role as a Roman ally in the Battle of Zama.
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North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven territories:

Algeria
Egypt
Libya

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Motto
من الشعب و للشعب (Arabic)
"From the people and for the people"
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Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. The republican period began with the overthrow of the Monarchy c.
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Micipsa (c. - c. 118 BC) was the eldest legitimate son of Masinissa, king of Numidia.

Early life

In 151 BC Masinissa sent Micipsa and his brother Gulussa to Carthage to demand that exiled pro-Numidian politicians be allowed to return, but they were refused entry at the
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Hispania was the name given by the Romans to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Gibraltar and a very small southern part of France). When Rome was a republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior.
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Numantia (Numancia in Spanish) was a town in Hispania (modern-day Spain), which for a long time resisted conquest by Romans in what was known as the "Numantine War.
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Gaius Marius (Latin: CÂ·MARIVSÂ·CÂ·FÂ·CÂ·N )^[1] (157 BC–January 13, 86 BC) was a Roman general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career.
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Comune di Roma

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Nickname: "The Eternal City"
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Hiempsal, was the name of the two kings of Numidia

Hiempsal I, the son of Micipsa, was assassinated by Jugurtha.
Hiempsal II, the son of Gauda, the half-brother of Jugurtha.

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Adherbal, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia between 118 BC and 112 BC.^[1] He inherited the throne after the death of his father, and ruled jointly with his younger brother Hiempsal, and Jugurtha, the nephew of Masinissa.
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2nd century BC - 1st century BC
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115 BC 114 BC 113 BC - 112 BC - 111 BC 110 BC 109 BC

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Gaius Memmius(d. December, 100 BC), tribune in 111 BC, attacked the aristocrats on a charge of corrupt relations with Jugurtha. Indeed, Sallust refers to Memmius as 'vir acer et infestus potentiae nobilitatis' (A man fiercely hostile to the power of the nobles), and states that he
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Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably Republican France before the Napoleonic
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Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus (?—91 BC) was the leader of the conservative faction of the Roman senate and a bitter enemy of Gaius Marius. Elected consul in 109 BC, he was sent to Numidia to wage war against Jugurtha.
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Quaestores were elected officials of the Roman Republic who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers. The office may date back to the time of the kings of Rome.
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Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (Latin: L•CORNELIVS•L•F•P•N•SVLLA•FELIX )^[1] (ca. 138 BC–78 BC), usually known simply as Sulla, was a Roman general, consul and dictator.
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Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa (named after the Maure tribe, after whom the Moors were named), corresponding to western Algeria, and northern Morocco.
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Bocchus (Greek: Βοκχος, Bochos) was a King of Mauretania about 110 BC and designated by historians as Bocchus I. He was also the father-in-law of Jugurtha, with whom he made war against the Romans.
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Mamertine Prison (also referred to as the Tullianum) was a prison (carcer) located in the Forum Romanum in Ancient Rome. It was located on the northeastern slope of the Capitoline Hill, facing the Curia and the imperial fora of Nerva, Vespasian, and Augustus.
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