Numidia

This article is about the ancient kingdom. For the Roman province, see Numidia (Roman province). For the Pennsylvanian CDP, see Numidia, Pennsylvania.
"Numidian" redirects here. For the language, see Numidian language.
Not to be confused with Nubia.
Kingdom of Numidia
202 BC–25 BC
Flag of Numidia
Numidian coins under Massinissa
Map of Numidia after the Punic Wars
Map of Numidia after the Punic Wars
CapitalCirta (today Constantine, Algeria)
Official languagesPunic[a][2][3][4]
Common languagesNumidian[b]
Latin[c]
Greek[d]
Religion
Numitheism, Punic Religion
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• 202–148 BC
Masinissa
• 148 – 118 BC
Gulussa
• 148–140 BC
Mastanabal
• 118–117 BC
Hiempsal I
• 118–112 BC
Adherbal
• 118–105 BC
Jugurtha
• 105–88 BC
Gauda
• 88–81 BC
Masteabar
• 84–82 BC
Hiarbas II
• 88–60 BC
Hiempsal II
• 60–46 BC
Juba I
• 81–46 BC
Massinissa II
• 44–40 BC
Arabion
Historical eraAntiquity
• Established
202 BC
• Annexed by the Roman Empire
25 BC
CurrencyNumidian Coinage, carthagenian coinage
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Ancient Carthage
Massylii
Masaesyli
Numidia (Roman province)
Mauretania
Today part of
Part of a series on the
History of Algeria
Prehistory
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Modern times
Regency of Algiers (16th–19th centuries)

French Algeria (19th–20th centuries)

Algerian War (1954–1962)

Contemporary era
1960s–80s

1990s–2000s

2010s to present

Related topics

Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria,[10] but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between the Massylii state in the east (Capital : Cirta)and the Masaesyli in the west (Capital: Siga).[11] During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), Masinissa, king of the Massylii, defeated Syphax of the Masaesyli to unify Numidia into the first unified Berber state for Numidians in present-day Algeria.[12] The kingdom began as a sovereign state and an ally of Rome and later alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state.

Numidia, at its foundation, was bordered by the Moulouya River to the west,[13] Africa Proconsularis and Cyrenaica to the east.[14][15] the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Sahara to the south so that Numidia entirely surrounded Carthage (Appian, Punica, 106) except towards the sea.[16] before Masinissa expanded past the Moulouya and vassalizing Bokkar, and reaching the Atlantic ocean to the west.[17][18][19]

  1. ^ Quinn, Josephine Crawley; Vella, Nicholas C. (2014-12-04). The Punic Mediterranean. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-05527-8.
  2. ^ Baldauf, Richard B.; Kaplan, Robert B. (2007-01-01). Language Planning and Policy in Africa. Multilingual Matters. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-84769-011-1. Numidic kings and elites spoke and used Punic as the official language while peasants spoke Berber. The Carthaginian idiom was in use until the third century CE
  3. ^ Fage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland Anthony (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-521-21592-3. Punic was employed as the official language of the Numidian kingdom, as is shown by monumental inscriptions and coin legends. Numidia even became something of a centre of Punic literary culture. In 146 BC the Romans presented to Micipsa the captured library of Carthage, and in the following century, as has been seen, a Numidian king (Hiempsal II) wrote a history of his country in Punic.
  4. ^ Hoyos, B. Dexter (2015). Mastering the West: Rome and Carthage at War. Oxford University Press. p. 277. ISBN 978-0-19-986010-4. The Punic language and religion survived the cataclysm too. Many if not most Libyan communities used Punic for official purposes, as did the Numidian kingdom.
  5. ^ Boutammina, Nas E. (2022-01-06). Le numide, langue populaire de la Berbérie (in French). Books on Demand. ISBN 978-2-322-41710-0.
  6. ^ Chaker, S. (2008-01-01). "Libyque : écriture et langue". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (28–29): 4395–4409. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.344. ISSN 1015-7344. S2CID 161729616.
  7. ^ Camps, G.; Claudot-Hawad, H.; Chaker, S.; Abrous, D. (1996-08-01). "Écriture". Encyclopédie berbère (in French) (17): 2564–2585. doi:10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2125. ISSN 1015-7344.
  8. ^ Hirst, Anthony; Silk, Michael (2017-05-15). Alexandria, Real and Imagined. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-95959-9.
  9. ^ Roller, Duane W. (2004-02-24). The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-40296-0.
  10. ^ "Numidia". Livius. 23 Sep 2020. Retrieved 2 Aug 2024.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Thomas M. Leonard (2013). Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Routledge. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-135-20508-9.
  13. ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).