Numidia
This article is about the Roman province. For the Pennsylvanian city, see Numidia, Pennsylvania.
Numidia was an ancient
Berber kingdom in
North Africa that later became a
Roman province, and is no longer in existence today. It was located on the eastern coast of modern day
Algeria, bordered by the Roman province of
Mauretania (west coast of modern Algeria) to the west, the Roman
province of Africa (modern day
Tunisia) to the east, the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the
Sahara Desert to the south.
The name
Numidia was first applied by
Polybius and other historians during the
3rd century BC to indicate the territory west of
Carthage, including the entire
Maghreb as far as the river Mulucha (
Muluya), about 100 miles west of
Oran. The Numidians were conceived of as two great tribal groups: the
Massyli in eastern Numidia, and the
Massaesyli in the west. At the time of the
Second Punic War the eastern tribes took the side of the Romans, whereas the Massaesyli supported the Carthaginians. At the end of the war the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to
Massinissa (died
148 BC) of the Massaesyli, whose territory extended from Mauretania to the boundary of the Carthaginian territory, and also southeast as far as
Cyrenaica, so that Numidia entirely surrounded Carthage (
Appian,
Punica, 106) except towards the sea.
After the death of
Jugurtha (
106 BC) as a Roman captive, western Numidia was added to the lands of
Bocchus,
king of Mauretania, while the remainder (excluding
Cyrene and its locality) continued to be governed by native princes until the civil war between
Caesar and
Pompey. After
Cato the Younger was defeated by Caesar, he committed suicide (
46 BC) in
Utica, and Numidia became briefly the province of
Africa Nova until
Augustus restored
Juba II (son of
Juba I) after the
Battle of Actium.
Soon afterwards, in
25 BC, Juba was transferred to the throne of Mauretania, and Numidia was divided between Mauretania and the province of Africa Nova. Under
Septimus Severus (
193 AD), Numidia was separated from
Africa Vetus, and governed by an imperial
procurator; finally, under the new organization of the empire by
Diocletian, Numidia became one of the seven provinces of the
diocese of Africa, being known as
Numidia Cirtensis.
The invasion of the
Vandals in
428 AD began its slow decay, accompanied by
desertification.
Numidia was highly Romanized and was studded with numerous towns. The chief towns of Roman Numidia were: in the north,
Cirta, the capital, with its port
Rusicada;
Hippo Regius (near
Bona), well known as the
see of St.
Augustine. To the south in the interior military roads led to
Theveste (Tebessa) and
Lambaesis (Lambessa) with extensive Roman remains, connected by military roads with Cirta and Hippo respectively.
Lambaesis was the seat of the
Legio III Augusta, and the most important strategic centre, as commanding the passes of the
Mons Aurasius, a mountain block which separated Numidia from the
Gaetulian tribes of the desert, and which was gradually occupied in its whole extent by the Romans under the Empire. Including these towns there were altogether twenty which are known to have received at one time or another the title and status of Roman colonies; and in the 5th century the
Notitia Dignitatum enumerates no less than 123 sees whose bishops assembled at Carthage in
479.
*
List of Kings of Numidia*
*
A Numidian Coin from Deer Creek, Ohio *
A classicist's summary of the group which supposedly discovered this*
Numidia.startkabel.nl (Links in Dutch and English)
