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Jugurtha or Jugurthen (ca. 160 – 104 BC) was a Berber
Berber

Berber may refer to:*a member of the Berber people**the Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages**Berberism, a political-cultural supporting a distinct Berber identity....
 Libyan
Ancient Libya

Ancient Libya was the region west of the Nile Valley. It corresponds to what is now generally called Northwest Africa. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berber people....
 King of Numidia
Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber people kingdom in present-day Algeria and part of Tunisia that later alternated between being a Roman province and being a Roman client state, and is no longer in existence today....
, born in Cirta
Cirta

Cirta was the capital city of the Kingdom of Numidia in northern Africa in modern Algeria. Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient Roman Republic during the Punic Wars, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the first and second centuries B.C., eventually falling under Roman domain during the rule of Julius Caesar....
. The name Jugurthen pronounced in Berber Yugur tn or Yugr tn is actually a Berber name and phrase meaning: (he) is greater than them.

l the reign of Jugurtha's grandfather Masinissa
Masinissa

Masinissa or Massinissa was the first King of Numidia, an ancient North African nation of Berber tribes, which he united, and is most famous for his role as a Roman Republic ally in the Battle of Zama....
, the people of Numidia were semi-nomadic and indistinguishable from the other Libyans
Ancient Libya

Ancient Libya was the region west of the Nile Valley. It corresponds to what is now generally called Northwest Africa. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berber people....
 in North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
.






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Jugurtha or Jugurthen (ca. 160 – 104 BC) was a Berber
Berber

Berber may refer to:*a member of the Berber people**the Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages**Berberism, a political-cultural supporting a distinct Berber identity....
 Libyan
Ancient Libya

Ancient Libya was the region west of the Nile Valley. It corresponds to what is now generally called Northwest Africa. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berber people....
 King of Numidia
Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber people kingdom in present-day Algeria and part of Tunisia that later alternated between being a Roman province and being a Roman client state, and is no longer in existence today....
, born in Cirta
Cirta

Cirta was the capital city of the Kingdom of Numidia in northern Africa in modern Algeria. Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient Roman Republic during the Punic Wars, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the first and second centuries B.C., eventually falling under Roman domain during the rule of Julius Caesar....
. The name Jugurthen pronounced in Berber Yugur tn or Yugr tn is actually a Berber name and phrase meaning: (he) is greater than them.

Background

Until the reign of Jugurtha's grandfather Masinissa
Masinissa

Masinissa or Massinissa was the first King of Numidia, an ancient North African nation of Berber tribes, which he united, and is most famous for his role as a Roman Republic ally in the Battle of Zama....
, the people of Numidia were semi-nomadic and indistinguishable from the other Libyans
Ancient Libya

Ancient Libya was the region west of the Nile Valley. It corresponds to what is now generally called Northwest Africa. Its people were the ancestors of the modern Berber people....
 in North Africa
North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
. Masinissa established a kingdom (roughly equivalent to modern northern Algeria
Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country of the Mediterranean sea, second largest in the Arab World, and the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area....
) and became a Roman
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 ally in 206 BC. After a long reign he was succeeded in 148 BC by his son Micipsa
Micipsa

Micipsa was the eldest legitimate son of Masinissa, king of Numidia....
. Jugurtha, Micipsa's adopted son (and Masinissa's illegitimate grandson), was so popular among the Numidians that Micipsa was obliged to send him away to Spain
Hispania

Hispania was the name given by the Ancient Rome to the whole of the Iberian Peninsula . When Rome was a Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into Roman provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior....
. 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
Numantia

Numantia is the name of an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located 7 km north of the city of Soria, on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the municipality of Garray....
 alongside Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman Republic general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic Marian Reforms of Roman legion, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens and reorganizing the structure of the legions into separate Cohort ....
 and learned of Rome's weakness for bribes. He famously described Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 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").

Rise to power

When Micipsa died in 118, he was succeeded jointly by Jugurtha and his two sons (Jugurtha's half-brothers) Hiempsal
Hiempsal I

Hiempsal I, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia in the late 2nd century BC.Micipsa, on his death?bed, left his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, together with his cousin, Jugurtha, joint heirs of his kingdom....
 and Adherbal
Adherbal

Adherbal, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia between 118 BC and 112 BC. He inherited the throne after the death of his father, and ruled jointly with his younger brother Hiempsal I, and Jugurtha, the nephew of Masinissa....
. Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led 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.)

War with Rome

Main article: Jugurthine War
Jugurthine War

The Jugurthine War takes its name from Jugurtha, nephew and later adopted son of Micipsa, King of Numidia....


By 112 Jugurtha resumed his war with Adherbal, penning the latter up in his capital of Cirta. Adherbal was encouraged to hold out by a corps of Italian residents, in expectation of military aid arriving from Rome. However, Roman troops were engaged in the Cimbrian War
Cimbrian War

The Cimbrian War was fought between the Roman Republic and the Proto-Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutons , who migrated from northern Europe into Roman controlled territory, and clashed with Rome and her allies....
 and the Senate merely sent two successive embassies to remonstrate with Jugurtha who delayed until he had captured Cirta. His troops then massacred many residents including the Italians. This brought Jugurtha into direct conflict with Rome, who sent troops under the Consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia. Although the Romans made significant inroads into Numidia, their heavy infantry was unable to inflict any significant casualties on Jugurtha's army which included large numbers of light cavalry.

Bestia then accepted an offer of negotiations from Jugurtha, who 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
Gaius Memmius (Tribune)

Gaius Memmius , tribune in 111 BC, attacked the aristocrats on a charge of corrupt relations with Jugurtha. Sallust refers to Memmius as 'vir acer et infestus potentiae nobilitatis' , and states that he gave speeches whipping up the plebs, urging them not to accept the behaviour of the nobles....
, who also induced the tribal assembly to vote safe conduct to Jugurtha to come to Rome to give evidence against the officials suspected of succumbing to bribery. However once Jugurtha had reached Rome another tribune used his veto to prevent evidence being given. Jugurtha also severely damaged his reputation and weakened his position by using his time in Rome to set gangs onto a cousin named Massiva who was a potential rival for the Numidian throne.

War again broke out between Numidia and the Roman Republic
Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the phase of the Ancient Rome characterized by a republican form of government; a period which began with the overthrow of the Roman Roman Kingdom, c....
 and several legions were dispatched to North Africa under the command of the Consul
Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
 Quintus Caecilius Metellus
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus was the leader of the conservative faction of the Roman Senate and a bitter enemy of Gaius Marius.Still young, he was sent to Athens, where he studied under Carneades, celebrated philosopher and great master of oratory....
. 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
Gaius Marius

Gaius Marius was a Roman Republic general and politician elected consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his dramatic Marian Reforms of Roman legion, authorizing recruitment of landless citizens and reorganizing the structure of the legions into separate Cohort ....
 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
Quaestor

Quaestor is a type of public official.In the Roman Republic a quaestor was an elected official who supervised the treasury and financial affairs of the state, its armies and its officers....
 Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , or simply Sulla, was a Roman general and politician, holding the office of consul twice as well as the Roman dictator....
 to neighbouring Mauretania
Mauretania

In Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an independent Berber people monarchy on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa , corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spain Plazas de soberan?a....
 in order to eliminate their support for Jugurtha. With the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania
Bocchus I

Bocchus 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 Ancient Rome....
, Sulla was able to capture Jugurtha and bring the war to a conclusive end. Jugurtha was brought to Rome in chains and placed in the Tullianum.

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

A Roman triumph was a civil religion and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publically celebrate the achievements of an army commander who had won great military successes, originally and traditionally, who had successfully completed a war....
, he was survived by his son Oxyntas
Oxyntas

Oxyntas was a son of King Jughurta of Numidia, who walked with his brother Iampsas in Gaius Marius' Roman triumph of 104 B.C. His father was put to death immediately afterward, but Oxyntas was sent to the town of Venusia, where he remained until 89 B.C....
.

See also

  • Jugurthine War
    Jugurthine War

    The Jugurthine War takes its name from Jugurtha, nephew and later adopted son of Micipsa, King of Numidia....
  • Battle of the Muthul
    Battle of the Muthul

    The Battle of the Muthul was an episode of the Jugurthine War. This battle was fought in 108 BC between the Numidians led by King Jugurtha, and a Roman force under Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus....
  • Sallust
    Sallust

    For the philosopher, see Sallustius; for other uses, see Sallust .Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust, , a Roman Republic historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family, and was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines....
    ,     De Bello Iugurthino


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