Numidians

“ The king of Numidia was a friend of the Roman people, and had fought with them against Carthage. So Rome had a good deal to do with Numidia, and the Numidians often helped Rome in her wars. In 118 a king of Numidia died, and left the kingdom to his two sons and an adopted son named Jugurtha. Jugurtha determined to have the kingdom all to himself, so he murdered one of the sons and made war upon the other, who applied to Rome for help. See NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104. {2683} The Senate was bribed by Jugurtha, and did all it could to please him ”

“ The Numidians insisted, "that they were guilty of misrepresentation with respect to the limits fixed by Scipio; and if a person chose to recur to the real origin of their property, what title had the Carthaginians to call any land in Africa their own: foreigners and strangers, to whom had been granted precariously, for the purpose of building a city, as much ground as they could encompass with the cuttings of a bull's hide? ”

“ A part of his infantry with all the cavalry having attacked them on their march on the first day of the Saturnalia, routed the Numidians with little opposition, and as every way by which they could escape in flight was blocked up, for the cavalry surrounded them on all sides, fifteen thousand men were slain, twelve hundred were taken alive, with fifteen hundred Numidian horses and seventy-two military standards. ”

“ Now the commonwealth of the Persians [32] soon increased and finally the younger generation, under the name of Numidians, separated from their parents because of the excess of population and took possession of the region next to Carthage, which is called Numidia. Then both peoples, [33] relying upon each other’s aid, brought their neighbours under their sway by arms or by fear and acquired renown and glory, especially those who had come near to our sea, because the Libyans are less warlike than the Gaetulians. ”

“ In origin the people are supposed to be a mixture of the ancient Phœnicians and Numidians. Members of the tribe swarm all over Algeria, and are found even in Marseilles, as ambulant merchants, but they invariably return to their native land, for, it seems, it is a tenet of their religion not to remain away more than two years. ”

“ Before the Arabian Conquest, about the middle of the seventh century, all the inhabitants of Africa, whether they were descended from Numidians, Phœnicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, or Goths, were comprehended under the general name of Mauri, or Moors. All these nations were converted to the religion of Mahomet, during the Arabian empire under the Kaliphs. About this time many of the Numidian tribes, who led a wandering life in the Desert, and supported themselves upon the produce of their cattle, retired southward across the Great Desert, to avoid the fury of the Arabians ”

“ But the Numidian was not the strongest element in Cirta. There the merchant class held sway. In the defence of their property and commerce, the organised business and the homes which they had established in the civilised state, they had taken the lead in repelling the hordes of Western Numidians which Jugurtha led; and amongst the merchant class those of Italian race had been the most active and efficient in repelling the assaults of the besiegers. To these men the choice was not between famine and the sword ”

“ By this discovery, a vast progress has been made in the ethnography and history of ancient Africa. Two facts of the greatest consequence have been established by it:—That the Libyan language was that of Numidia, at the early period of its history, when the Phœnicians were settled there; that the Numidians of that early day, used their own peculiar letters for writing their own language. To these facts, may be added another of no less ethnographic value; that the present Numidian or Berber race of the great Sahara, who are called Tuarycks, make use of these identical letters at this day. ”

“ The other regions, as far as Mauretania, the Numidians occupy; the Moors are nearest to Spain. To the south of Numidia, [87] as we are informed, are the Getulians, of whom some live in huts, and others lead a vagrant and less civilized life; beyond these are the Ethiopians; and further on, regions parched by the heat of the sun.
At the time of the Jugurthine war, most of the Punic towns, and the territories which Carthage had lately possessed, [88] were under the government of Roman praetors; a great part of the Getulians, and Numidia as far as the river Mulucha, were subject to Jugurtha ”

“ The campaign of the next year seems still to have been confined to the eastern portion of Numidia, its object being the security of the country between Vaga and Zama. This rich country was cruelly ravaged, every fortified post that was taken was burnt, all Numidians of fighting age who offered resistance were put to the sword. This policy of terrorism produced some immediate results. The army was well provisioned, the frightened natives bringing in corn and other necessaries in abundance; towns and districts yielded hostages for their good behaviour ”

“ In the ocean, the major part of those who inhabit the British Isles. Then entering the Mediterranean by the Pillars of Hercules and circumnavigating the same we find under their rule all the islands and the mainlands washed by that sea. The first of these on the right hand are the Mauritanians of the coast and various other African nations as far as Carthage. Farther inland are the nomad tribes whom the Romans call Numidians and their country Numidia ”

“ W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 1 (volume 2) . The various peoples of North Africa known anciently and modernly as Libyans, Numidians, or Nomades, Mauri, Mauritanians or Moors, Gaetulians and Berbers, belong ethnographically to one family of men, distinguished alike from the negroes and the Egyptians. T. Mommsen, History of Rome, book 8, chapter 13. See, also, LIBYANS; CARTHAGE: B. C. 146; PUNIC WAR, THE SECOND; and NUMIDIA: B. C. 118-104. NUNCOMAR AND WARREN HASTINGS. See INDIA: A. D. 1773-1785. NUR MAHAL, OR NUR JAHAN, Empress of India. See INDIA: A. D. 1605-1658. ”

“ Human sacrifice. Great fire at Rome (B.C. III) . CHAPTER VI: The kingdom of Numidia. The races of North Africa. The Numidians. The Numidian monarchy. Reign of Micipsa (B.C. 148-118) . Early years of Jugurtha. Jugurtha at Numantia (B.C. 134-133) . Joint rule of Jugurtha, Adherbal and Hiempsal (B.C. 118) . Murder of Hiempsal (circa 116 B.C.) ; war between Jugurtha and Adherbal. Both kings send envoys to Rome; the appeal of Adherbal. Decision of the senate. Numidia divided between the claimants. Renewal of the war between Jugurtha and Adherbal (circa 114 B.C.) . Siege of Cirta (B.C. 112) . ”

“ Numidia (i. e. land of Nomads) , ancient country in North Africa, nearly co-extensive with Algiers, the inhabitants of which were of the Berber race, were brave but treacherous, and excelled in horsemanship; sided at first with the Carthaginians in the Punic Wars (q. v.) , and finally with Rome, till the country itself was reduced by Cæsar to a Roman province. ”

“ Heave ahead, an' whativer ye do, steer clear o' jaw-breakers," murmured the seaman.
"The region," said Lucien, "was first known as Numidia and Mauritania; Numidia being so named by the Greeks, who styled its wandering tribes Nomads. They were pastoral in their habits and thievish in their propensities, without laws or government worthy of the name. The Mauri, or Moors, devoted themselves to more settled pursuits, became traders and inhabitants of towns, and were a mixed race, although originally springing from the same stock as the Nomads, or Arabs. ”

“ Some travellers have supposed that the plague is communicated to Egypt from the south; but this is a very erroneous supposition, as it never prevails in Nubia so high as the second Cataract, and is unknown in Dóngola, and along the whole route to Sennaar.
The men in Nubia are generally well made, strong, and muscular, with fine features; in stature they are somewhat below the Egyptians; they have no mustachios, and but little beard, wearing it under the chin only, like the figures of the fugitives in the battle-pieces sculptured upon the walls of the Egyptian temples. ”

“ South of Aswân and Philse begins Nubia. The Nubian language, which is quite different from Arabic, is spoken by everybody on the island of Elephantine, and its various dialects are used as far south as Dongola, where Arabic again is generally spoken till we reach the land of the negroes, south of Khartum. In Ptolemaic and Roman days the Nubians were a powerful people, and the whole of Nubia and the modern North Sudan formed an independent kingdom, ruled by queens who bore the title or name of Candace. ”

“ The fortunes of the kingdom of Numidia, so far as they affected that kingdom itself, deserved to be neglected by its suzerain; for the power which Masinissa had won by arms and diplomacy was more than sufficient to protect its own interests. The Numidia of the day formed in territorial extent one of the mightiest kingdoms of the world, and ranked only second to Egypt amongst the client powers of Rome. ”

“ Beyond it there stretches on the Libyan bank a savage and illimitable desert, extending to the whole breadth of Africa. On the other side an equally desolate wilderness is bounded only by the distant Red Sea. Between these two huge and barren expanses Nubia writhes like a green sandworm along the course of the river. Here and there it disappears altogether, and the Nile runs between black and sun-cracked hills, with the orange drift-sand lying like glaciers in their valleys. Everywhere one sees traces of vanished races and submerged civilisations. ”

“ The houses are constructed only of mats, made of palm leaves, fastened to high poles, the extremities of which rise considerably above the roof. The countenances of the people are much less expressive of good nature than those of the Nubians; in colour they are perfectly black; their lips are like those of the Negro, but not the nose, or cheek bones; numbers of the men go quite naked, and I even saw several grown up girls without any thing whatever round the middle. The Nubian language here has certainly superseded the Arabic, which none of the peasants understand. ”

“ Curiosity seems to be the most prominent feature in their character, and they generally ask their guest a thousand questions about the place he comes from, and the business which brings him into Nubia.
If the government were not so extremely despotic, the Nubians might become dangerous neighbours to Egypt; for they are of a much bolder and more independent spirit than the Egyptians, and ardently attached to their native soil. Great numbers of them go yearly to Cairo, where they generally act as porters, and are preferred to the Egyptians, on account of their honesty. ”

“ Throughout this account of my wanderings I have, for the sake of simplicity, always used the term “Nubians” to denote the present inhabitants of the Nile Valley, in contradistinction to the Egyptians and true Arabs (Syro-Arabians) on the one hand, and to the Ethiopian Bedouins and the Negroes on the other. I do not for a moment deny that the present Nubians (meaning by this term only the people who dwell on the banks of the river) must have sprung from various races. ”

“ As we had discovered so few monumental remains since our departure from Barkal, to employ the leisure time which we had in our boat, I busied myself with making every possible research into and comparison with the present language and the Nubian. It offers very remarkable points in the science of language, but does not show the least similarity to the Egyptian. I consider that the whole race must have come at a late period out of the south-west into the valley of the Nile. We have now a servant from Derr, the capital of Lower Nubia, who speaks tolerably good Italian ”

“ This is due to the large number of slaves drawn by Arab dealers from the Nūba negroes of Kordofan, who appear to constitute the original stock of the Nubian races (but see Hamitic Races) . On the other hand, the name has never included all the inhabitants of Nubia. Peoples of three distinct stocks inhabit the country—the comparatively recent Semitic Arab intruders, mainly in Upper Nubia, the Beja (? Hamitic) family of tribes (the Ababda, Bisharin, Hadendoa, Beni-Amer, &c.) , everywhere between the Nile and the Red Sea ”

“ In these rare intervals of rest from warfare there was opportunity for converse with men of influence and rank. Jugurtha's position and the future of Numidia were sometimes discussed, and the youthful wiseacres who claimed his friendship would sometimes suggest, with the cheerful cynicism which springs from a shallow dealing with imperial interests, that merit such as his could find its fitting sphere only if he were the sole occupant of the Numidian throne. ”

“ During the early years of their occupation, the Nubians beyond a question treated the country most shamefully; there are traces still existing which demonstrate that large villages and extensive plots of cultivated land formerly occupied the scene where now all is desolation. Boys and girls were carried off by thousands as slaves to distant lands; and the Nubians, like the parvenu who looks upon his newly-acquired wealth as inexhaustible, regarded the territory as being permanently productive; they revelled like monkeys in the durra-fields of Taka and Gedaref. ”