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Masinissa

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Masinissa or Massinissa (both: măsĭnĭs`ə), c.238–148 B.C., king of Numidia. He succeeded (c.207 B.C.) his father as king of E Numidia. Brought up in Carthage, he fought in a Carthaginian campaign in Spain in the Second Punic War (see Punic Wars Punic Wars, three distinct conflicts between Carthage and Rome. When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the commerce of the W Mediterranean.
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) but eventually went over (c.206) to the Roman side. After defeating his old rival Syphax, king of W Numidia, he joined Scipio Africanus Major and led his cavalry in a decisive charge at the battle of Zama (202), which ended the war. Rome awarded him the Punic territory E of Carthage. His tragic relationship with Sophonisba Sophonisba , fl. 3d cent. B.C., Carthaginian noblewoman, daughter of Hasdrubal. She was the Carthaginian wife of Syphax of Numidia, who after the marriage fought for Carthage. When he was defeated (203 B.C.) by Masinissa and the Romans, Sophonisba took poison.
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 at the end of the Second Punic War has been the subject of numerous literary interpretations. During his long reign he extended his power and converted his land of turbulent tribespeople into a formidable and prosperous kingdom. He goaded Carthage into resisting Numidian encroachments; the resistance furnished Rome with a pretext for beginning the Third Punic War.

Masinissa

(born c. 238—died 148 BC) Ruler of the North African kingdom of Numidia. Originally an ally of Carthage, he switched sides to help Rome after being persuaded by Scipio Africanus the Elder (206). After winning the Battle of Zama (202), he was awarded a larger kingdom. Though displeased with the presence of Cato's army in Africa (149), he remained faithful to Rome and a client of the Scipios until his death.


Masinissa, Massinissa
?238--?149 bc, king of Numidia (?210--149), who fought as an ally of Rome against Carthage in the Second Punic War

Masinissa 

Born circa 240 B.C.; died circa 149 B.C. King of Numidia from 201 to 149 B.C. Son of the ruler of eastern Numidia.

Masinissa was educated in Carthage. During the Second Punic War (218-201), he at first (from 213) supported the Carthaginians, but about 206 he went over to the Roman side and with their help became the sole ruler of all Numidia (having inherited eastern Numidia upon the death of his father in about 205). During Masinissa’s reign, the Numidian kingdom was greatly strengthened: the borders were expanded, towns grew up, and trade with the entire Mediterranean area increased. After Masinissa’s death, the Romans divided the kingdom among three of his sons.



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Jugurtha was the adopted son of the Numidian king Micipsa, whose father, Masinissa, had been an ally of Rome in the protracted struggle with the Carthaginians.
his translation of the first poem in Book II of Propertius' Elegies, and his Epistle from Sophonisba to Masinissa, call forth particularly acute commentaries from Mack, who follows Gleckner in seeing the freedom and allusiveness of the Latin poems as furnishing a code in which Gray could hint at his feelings for West.
 
 
 
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