Juba I of Numidia
king of Numidia
Juba I of Numidia (Latin: Iuba, Punic: ywbʿy; c. 85–46 BC) was a king of Numidia (present-day Algeria) who reigned from 60 to 46 BC. He was the son and successor to Hiempsal II.
Biography
Juba I was an Amazigh prince from Numidia, born in Hippone (modern-day Annaba, Algeria). In 81 BC, Hiempsal had been driven from his throne; soon afterwards, Pompey was sent to Africa by Sulla to reinstate him as king in Numidia, and because of this Hiempsal and later Juba became Pompey's allies. This alliance was strengthened during a visit by Juba to Rome when Julius Caesar insulted him by pulling on his beard during a trial wherein Caesar was defending his client against Juba's father and still further in 50 BC when the tribune Gaius Scribonius Curio openly proposed that Numidia should be sold privately.
In August 49 BC, Caesar sent Curio to take Africa from the Republicans. Curio was overconfident and held Publius Attius Varus (Varus), the governor of Africa, in low esteem. Curio took fewer legions than he had been given. In the Battle of the Bagradas the same year, Curio led his army in a bold, uphill attack which swiftly routed Varus's army and wounded Varus. Encouraged by this success, Curio acted on what proved to be faulty intelligence and attacked what he believed to be a detachment of Juba's army. In fact, the bulk of the king's forces were there and, after an initial success, Curio's forces were ambushed and virtually annihilated by Saburra (Juba's military commander). Curio was surrounded with the remnants of his troops on a hilltop and died in the fighting.
“Juba I of Numidia” enters the record as king of Numidia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Juba, Numidia and king can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q379277. VIAF identifies the subject as 193834025. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Juba I of Numidia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.