Historiae Romanorum

Jugurtha

A king of Numidia from 118 - 109 BC.  After the death of his father, Jugurtha and his brother were left to divide the kingdom.  When no agreement could be reached, the Romans were brought in to settle the dispute  Jugurtha bribed the Romans, and gained the larger territory.  Not satisfied with this, he invaded the territory of his brother and had him assassinated.

While invading the territory of his brother, Jugurtha sacked the town of Cirta, where some Italians merchants were staying.  They were killed, and the Romans were outraged and declared war.

Forces were sent from Rome to deal with him.  But Jugurtha continued his previous tactics, and bribed the Roman armies as well.  Using hit and run tactics with his cavalry, he was able to allude the Roman army quite successfully.

Eventually, however, the Romans subdued him.  Under the leadership of Gaius Marius, Jugurtha's army was beaten and he was forced to flee to Mauretania.  After negotiations, the king of Maretania, who was Jugurtha's father-in-law, turned Jugurtha over to the Romans.  Marius took him back to Rome, where a triumph was held in 104 BC, at the end of which Jugurtha was publicly executed.

This page was last updated on August 15, 2004.