| History of Algeria |
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For nearly 250 years, Berber kings of the 'House of Masinissa' ruled in Numidia in modern day Algeria, and later in adjacent regions, first as sovereigns allied with Rome and then eventually as Roman clients. This period commenced by the Roman Army, assisted by Berber cavalry led by Masinissa at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, and it lasted until the year 40 AD, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Gaius, also known as Caligula (37–41 AD).
During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC) Rome entered into an alliance with Masinissa, the son of a Berber tribal leader. Masinissa had been driven out of his ancestral realm by a Carthage-backed Berber rival. Following the Roman victory at Zama, Masinissa (r. 202–148 BC) was celebrated as a "friend of the Roman people". He became king of Numidia and ruled for over fifty years. For seven generations his line of kings continued its relationship with an increasingly powerful Roman state.
During this era, the Berbers ruled over many cities as well as extensive land, and the peoples under their governance prospered. Municipal and civic affairs were organized using a combination of Punic and Berber political traditions. One descendant king, a grandson of Masinissa, Jugurtha (r. 118–105 BC), successfully attacked his cousin kings, who were also allies of Rome, and in the course of a long struggle he became an enemy of Rome. In the Roman civil wars after the fall of the Roman Republic (44 BC), Berber kings were courted by the contending political factions for their military support. Berber kings continued to reign, but had become merely clients of Imperial Rome.
One such Berber king married the daughter of Cleopatra of Egypt. He and his son, the last two Berber kings (reigns: 25 BC–40 AD), were not accepted by many of their Berber subjects. During this period, Roman settlers were increasingly taking the traditional pasture lands of transhumant Berber tribes for their own use as farms. The commoner Tacfarinas raised a revolt in defense of Berber land rights and became a great tribal chief as a result of his insurgency (17-24 AD) against Rome.[1][2]
- ^ For the geography of Algeria and other background, see History of Algeria.
- ^ For reference sources, see the footnoted sections that follow.
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