Numidia
（
Νουμιδία, Νομαδία, and
Νομαδική). A country of Africa, bounded on the east by Africa Propria, on the
north by the Mediterranean, on the south by Gaetulia, and on the west by Mauretania. The Roman
province of Numidia was, however, of somewhat smaller extent. Intersected by a chain of the
Lesser Atlas, and watered by the streams running down from it, it abounded in fine pastures,
which were early taken possession of by wandering tribes of Asiatic origin, who from their
occupation as herdsmen were called by the Greeks, here as elsewhere,
Νομάδες, and this name was perpetuated in that of the country. A sufficient
account of these tribes, and of their connection with their neighbours in the west, is given
under
Mauretania. The fertility of the country,
inviting to agriculture, gradually gave a somewhat more settled character to the people; and,
at their first appearance in Roman history, we find their two great tribes, the Massylians and
the Massaesylians, forming two monarchies, which were united into one under Masinissa, B.C.
201. (See
Masinissa.) On Masinissa's death in 148,
his kingdom was divided, by his dying directions, between his three sons, Micipsa, Mastanabal,
and Gulussa; but it was soon reunited under Micipsa, in consequence of the death of both his
brothers. His death, in 118, was speedily followed by the usurpation of Iugurtha, an account
of which and of the ensuing war with the Romans is given under
Iugurtha. On the defeat of Iugurtha in 106, the country became virtually
subject to the Romans, but they permitted the family of Masinissa to govern it, with the royal
title (see
Hiempsal;
Iuba), until B.C. 46, when Iuba, who had espoused the cause of Pompey in
the Civil Wars, was defeated and dethroned by Iulius Caesar, and Numidia was made a Roman
province. It seems to have been about the same time or a little later, under Augustus, that
the western part of the country was taken from Numidia, and added to Mauretania, as far east
as Saldac. In B.C. 30 Augustus restored Iuba II. to his father's kingdom of Numidia; but in
B.C. 25 he exchanged it for Mauretania, and Numidia—that is, the country between
Saldae on the west and the Tusca on the east—became a Roman province. It was again
diminished by near a half under Claudius; and henceforth, until the Arab conquest, the
senatorial province of Numidia denoted the district between the river Ampsaga on the west and
the Tusca on the east; its capital was Cirta (Constantin). The country, in its later
restricted limits, is often distinguished by the name of New Numidia or Numidia Proper. The
Numidians are known to military history as furnishing the best light cavalry in the
Carthaginian and Roman armies.
