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MASSINISSA (c. 238—149 B.C.)

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 870 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MASSINISSA (c. 238—149 B.C.) , See also:king of Massylian or eastern See also:Numidia. He was educated, like many of the Numidian chiefs, at See also:Carthage, learnt Latin and See also:Greek, and was an accomplished as well as a naturally See also:clever See also:man. Although his See also:kingdom was nominally See also:independent of Carthage, it really stood to it in a relation of vassalage; it was directly under Carthaginian influences, and was imbued to a very considerable extent with Carthaginian See also:civilization. It was to this that Massinissa owed his fame and success; he was a See also:barbarian at See also:heart, but he had a See also:varnish of culture, and to this he added the See also:craft and cunning in which Carthaginian statesmen were supposed to excel. While yet a See also:young man (212) he forced his See also:neighbour Syphax, See also:prince of western Numidia, who had recently entered into an See also:alliance with See also:Rome, to See also:fly to the See also:Moors in the extreme See also:west of See also:Africa. Soon afterwards he appeared in See also:Spain, fighting for Carthage with a large force of Numidian See also:cavalry against the See also:Romans under the two Scipios. The defeat of the Carthaginian See also:army in 206 led him to See also:cast in his See also:lot with Rome. Scipio See also:Africanus is said to have cultivated his friendship. Massinissa now quitted Spain for a while for Africa, and was again engaged in a See also:war with Syphax in which he was decidedly worsted. Scipio's arrival in Africa in 204 gave him another See also:chance, and no sooner had he joined the See also:Roman See also:general than he crushed his old enemy Syphax, and captured his See also:capital See also:Cirta (See also:Constantine). Here occurs the romantic See also:story of Sophonisba, daughter of the Carthaginian See also:Hasdrubal, who had been promised in See also:marriage to Massinissa, but had subsequently become the wife of Syphax.

Massinissa, according to the story, married Sophonisba immediately after his victory, but was required by Scipio to dismiss her as a Carthaginian, and consequently an enemy to Rome. To See also:

save her from such humiliation he sent her See also:poison, with which she destroyed herself. Massinissa was now accepted as a loyal ally of Rome, and was confirmed by Scipio in the See also:possession of his kingdom. In the See also:battle of Zama (202) (see PUNIC See also:WARS), he commanded the cavalry on Scipio's right wing, and materially assisted the Roman victory. For his services he received the kingdom of Syphax, and thus under Roman See also:protection he became See also:master of the whole of Numidia, and his dominions completely enclosed the Carthaginian territories, now straitened and reduced at the See also:close of the Second Punic War. It would seem that he had thoughts of annexing Carthage itself with the connivance of Rome. In a war which soon followed he was successful; the remonstrances of Carthage with Rome on the behaviour of her ally were answered by the See also:appointment of Scipio as arbitrator; but, as though intentionally on the See also:part of Rome, no definite See also:settlement was arrived at, and thus the relations between Massinissa and the Carthaginians continued strained. Rome, it is certain, deliberately favoured her ally's unjust claims with the view of keeping Carthage weak, and Massinissa on his part was cunning enough to retain the friend-See also:ship of the Roman See also:people by helping them with liberal supplies in their wars against See also:Perseus of Macedon and See also:Antiochus. As soon as Carthage seemed to be recovering herself, and some of Massinissa's partisans were driven from the See also:city into See also:exile, his policy was to excite the fears of Rome, till at last in 149 war was declared—the Third Punic War, which ended in the final overthrow of Carthage. The king took some part in the negotiations which preceded the war, but died soon after its commencement in the ninetieth See also:year of his See also:age and the sixtieth of his reign. Massinissa was an able ruler and a decided benefactor to Numidia. He converted a plundering tribe into a settled and civilized See also:population, and out of robbers and marauders made efficient and disciplined soldiers.

To his sons he bequeathed a well-stored See also:

treasury, a formidable army, and even a See also:fleet. Cirta (q.v.), his capital, became a famous centre of Phoenician civilization. In fact Massinissa changed for the better the whole aspect of a See also:great part of See also:northern Africa. He had much of the Arab nature, was singularly temperate, and equal to any amount of fatigue. His fidelity to Rome was merely that of temporary expediency. He espoused now one See also:side, and now the other, but on the whole supported Rome, so that orators and historians could speak of him as " a most faithful ally of the Roman people." See See also:Livy See also:xxiv. 49, xxxiii. II, 35, 42, See also:xxix. 27, See also:xxx. 3, 12, 28, 37, xlii. 23, 29, xliii. 3; See also:Polybius iii.

5, ix. 42, xiv. I, xxxii. 2, See also:

xxxvii. 3; See also:Appian, Hasp. 37, Punica, 11, 27, 105; See also:Justin xxxiii. I; A. H. J. Greenidge, Hist. of Rome (See also:London, 1904).

End of Article: MASSINISSA (c. 238—149 B.C.)

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