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During the Punic Wars, the Amazigh kingdoms in North Africa became embroiled in the conflict between Carthage and Rome, two great powers fighting for the control of the whole region. In order to preserve their own independence, they were forced to make alliances with both Carthage and Rome.
Context
At this time, there were several Amazigh kingdoms in North Africa. The Kingdom of Mauretania extended to the river Moulouya, while Numidia was divided between various tribes and two rival kingdoms: the Massyles, under King Gaia, and the Massaesyles, under King Syphax.
The alliances between these kingdoms, and with Carthage, changed according to the interests of the kings. Around 50 years before the First Punic War, the Massyle king Aylimas had already made an alliance with the tyrant Agathocles of Syracuse, to fight Carthage.
Massinissa, ally of Carthage
Gaia, the king of the Massyles, was a neighbour and an ally of Carthage. His son Massinissa was even raised in Carthage.
Syphax, the king of the Massaesyles, while also at first an ally of Carthage, chose to enter an alliance with Rome, in the hope of weakening the Carthaginian hold on his kingdom.
From 215 to 212, during Hannibal’s military campaign in Italy, the Massyles and the Massaesyles fought each other in Africa, supported by their respective allies. Their war was part of the ancestral rivalry between the two kingdoms, for the domination of all Numidia. The Massyle forces, led by young Prince Massinissa, won a decisive victory.
After his victory, Massinissa joined his Carthaginian allies in Spain. At the head of his powerful Numidian cavalry, he waged a heavy guerrilla campaign against the Roman forces.
Succession war: Massinissa, king of the Massyles
Gaia, Massinissa’s father, died in 207. Massinissa was in Spain at the time of his death. Oezalces (Ulzacen), the brother of Gaia and the uncle of Massinissa, was chosen as his successor. Massinissa did not contest his throne. Oezalces and his sons Capussa and Lacumazes each reigned for a few months.
In 206, the Carthaginians were expelled from Spain. Massinissa also returned to Africa. Upon the news of his return, his cousin Lacumazes fled to Syphax, but he was captured en route. Massinissa established himself on the Massyle throne, but during the succession conflict, his rival Syphax had conquered part of his territory. Also, certain voices in Carthage were worried about their ally becoming too powerful for them – especially if he was to become the king of an unified Numidia.
Inversion of alliances: Massinissa against Carthage
Massinissa understood that is was in his interest to make an alliance with the Romans. To encourage him to cut ties with Carthage, the Roman general Scipio decided to free his nephew Massiva, who had been captured by the Romans. Massinissa promised to support Scipio in his invasion of the Carthaginian territory in Africa.
The Carthaginians, having lost their best ally, turned to Syphax. To seal their alliance, they offered him Sophonisba, the daughter of a Carthaginian general, to be his wife; before that, Sophonisba had been betrothed to Massinissa.
In 204, Massinissa joined the Roman army on their arrival in Africa. In 203, they won a decisive victory against the Carthaginians and their Massaesylian allies, at the Battle of the Great Plains.
Syphax fled to Cirta, his capital, pursued by Massinissa. He was taken prisoner and given over to the Romans, who took him to Rome. Massinissa took over his kingdom.
Massinissa also reconnected with Sophonisba, who was his fiancee before being married to Syphax, and he married her immediately. However, Scipio demanded that she would be taken prisoner and brought to Rome for their triumphal parade. To escape this humiliation, she killed herself. Legend says that Massinissa himself handed her the cup of poison.
What about Mauretania?
When he returned from Spain, Massinissa crossed through Mauretania, where King Baga of Mauretania put 4000 men at his disposal. Later on, he would send more reinforcements against Carthage. After their victory, Mauretania took control of Tingis and the other Punic port cities on its coasts.
Later on
After the defeat of the Carthaginian forces in Africa, the Carthaginian Senate called back Hannibal, who abandoned his campaign in Italy to return and defend Carthage. The decisive battle between his army and the Roman-Numidian forces, led by Scipio and Massinissa, took place in October 202, at Zama (close to modern-day Siliana). The battle was a complete Roman victory; Hannibal himself was one of the only Carthaginian fighters who escaped alive. It was the end of the Second Punic War.
Massinissa, now at the head of the whole territory of the former Massyle and Massaesyle kingdoms, founded the Kingdom of Numidia. During the next few years, he conquered the Carthaginian possessions in Libya, which he believed Carthage had stolen from his ancestors. He died in 148, two years before Carthage’s final destruction.
