Jugurtha
Jugurtha | |
---|---|
Reign | 118–105 BC |
Predecessor | Micipsa |
Successor | Gauda |
Born | c. 160 BC Numidia |
Died | c. 104 BC Rome |
Issue | Oxyntas |
Father | Mastanabal |
Jugurtha or Jugurthen (
The death of Adherbal, which was against the wishes of
Etymology
The Numidian name Jugurtha matches the ancient naming traditions of Berber peoples and is likely analyzable as the Libyco-Berber word yugurtən “he exceeded them” connected to the stem agər/ugər “to exceed” in modern Berber languages.[2][3]
Background
Masinissa died before any actual breach in the treaty in early 148 BC, but the suspicion of Numidia lasted in Rome to affect Jugurtha. Masinissa was succeeded by his son Micipsa. Jugurtha, Micipsa's adopted son (Mastanabal's illegitimate son and thusly Masinissa's illegitimate grandson), was so popular among the Numidians that Micipsa sent him away to Hispania to assist a campaign of Scipio Aemilianus in a poetic parallel to Masinissa's alliance with Scipio Africanus as an attempt to mitigate his influence.[5][6]
Unfortunately for Micipsa, this only served Jugurtha, who used his time in Spain to make several influential Roman contacts. Under Scipio Aemilianus at the siege of Numantia (134–133 BC), serving alongside Gaius Marius, Jugurtha learned of Romans' weakness for bribes and that powerful friends in Rome can go a long way. 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 find a buyer," Sallust, Jug. 35.10).
Rise to power
When Micipsa died in 118 BC, he was succeeded jointly by Jugurtha and his two sons (Jugurtha's adoptive-brothers) Hiempsal and Adherbal. 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 settled the fight by dividing Numidia into two parts, probably in 116, but this settlement was tainted by accusations that the Roman officials accepted bribes to favor Jugurtha. Among the officials found guilty was Lucius Opimius (who, as consul in 121 BC, had presided over events which led to the death of Gaius Gracchus).[7] 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 less developed.[8]
War with Rome
By 112 BC 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 Roman residents, in expectation of military aid arriving from Rome. However, Roman troops were engaged in the Cimbrian War 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 Romans. This brought Jugurtha into direct conflict with Rome, which 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.[9]
Immediately following the sack of Cirta, Bestia accepted an offer of negotiations from Jugurtha, 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 and tribune-elect
War again 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 Numidicus. The war dragged out into a long and seemingly endless campaign, as the Romans tried to inflict a decisive defeat on Jugurtha. A series of incompetent generals of Rome began this renewed war; in 110 BC Jugurtha forced capitulation of an entire army being led by Aulus Pstumius Albinus and drove the Romans out of Numidia entirely.[11] Metellus won several battles against Jugurtha in 109 BC but failed to spur Jugurtha to surrender. Frustrated at the stagnation and likely facing political pressure from Rome, Metellus's lieutenant, Gaius Marius, returned to Rome to seek election as consul in 107 BC. After winning the election, Marius returned to Numidia to take control of the war which Jugurtha was prolonging through successful guerrilla warfare.[12]
Jugurtha was allied with his western neighbor
Literary references
Jugurtha features in one of
A prodigious child was born in the Arabian hills
And a light breeze said: "He is Jugurtha's heir."
A few days had passed when there arose from the infant
Who would be the Jugurtha of the Arab people and nation,
Above the child, astonishing his parents,
The shade of Jugurtha himself,
Telling the story of his life and making a prediction:[16]
See also
History of Algeria |
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- Battle of the Muthul
- Bomilcar (2nd century BC)
- Jugurtha Tableland
- Jugurthine War
- Sallust, De Bello Iugurthino
- Tacfarinas
References
- ISBN 9780807849422.
- ^ “Jugurtha” Encyclopedie Berbére
- ^ Libyco-Berber alphabet of Tunisia
- ^ "Numidia". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ Sallust. Watson, John Selby (ed.). The Jugurthine War. Tufts Perseus Digital Library. p. 6.
- ^ "Jugurtha". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-19-282502-5
- ^ Sallust (1963). The Jugurthine War/The Conspiracy of Catiline. Translated with an introduction by S. A. Handford (Penguin Classics ed.). London: Penguin. p. 53, footnote.
- ^ ISBN 0-333-27830-5
- ^ "Jugurtha". Britannica Academic. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Jugurtha". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Jugurtha". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
- ^ "Bocchus I". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates by Adrienne Mayor, page 112
- ProQuest 1705726943.
- ^ Rimbaud, Jean Nicholas Arthur. Jugurtha, 1869.