Numidia (202 BC – 46 BC) was an ancient
Berber kingdom in present-day
Algeria and part of
Tunisia (
North Africa) that later alternated between being a
Roman province and being a Roman
client state, and is no longer in existence today. It was located on the eastern border of modern
Algeria, bordered by the Roman province of
Mauretania (in modern day
Algeria and
Morocco) 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. Its people were the
Numidians.
The name Numidia was first applied by Polybius and other historians during the third century BC to indicate the territory west of Carthage, including the entire north of Algeria as far as the river Mulucha (Muluya), about 100&_160;miles west of Oran. The Numidians were conceived of as two great tribal groups the Massylii in eastern Numidia, and the Masaesyli in the west.
During the first part of the Second Punic War, the eastern Massylii under their king Gala were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli under king Syphax were allied with Rome. However in 206 BC, the new king of the eastern Massylii, Masinissa, allied himself with Rome, and Syphax of the Masaesyli switched his allegiance to the Carthaginian side. At the end of the war the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to Masinissa of the Massylii. At the time of his death in 148 BC, Masinissa's 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 Masinissa he was succeeded by his son Micipsa. When Micipsa died in 118, he was succeeded jointly by his two sons Hiempsal I and Adherbal and Masinissa's illegitimate grandson, Jugurtha, of Ancient Libyan origin, who was very popular among the Numidians. Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed, which led to open war with Adherbal.
