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This ruthless African king knew Rome was for sale. He bought it Juan Pablo Sánchez © QUINTLOX/AURIMAGES Jugurtha in chains. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1729. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Struggling to subdue the people of Spain in 134 B.C., Roman general Scipio Aemilianus realized he needed more troops. He turned to Numidia, a North African ally whose ruler, Micipsa, was glad to provide Numidian soldiers. A loyal ally of Rome in its recent victory over Carthage, Numidia (located in parts of modern Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) had an underlying motive for helping Rom...

In the Shadow of Greater Kingdoms But Numidians were not content to always dwell in the shadow of Carthage. Their independence soon became prominent, and a strong, prosperous kingdom was about to emerge. Polybius, the crucial ancient Greek historian, was amongst the first to write about Numidia. Around 200 BC, he mentions them as the peoples who live to the west of Carthage, in a territory that roughly corresponds to modern day Algeria. The name Numidians allegedly stems from the ancient Greek word for “nomads” (Νομάδες). The Latin interpretation of this word became “Numidae,�...