Editing Numidia (section)

===War with Rome===
{{main|Jugurthine War}}

[[File:Augusto Müller - Jugurta.jpg|alt=Half naked kneeling man in chains|thumb|''Jugurtha'', by <bdi>[[August Müller (orientalist)|Augusto Müller]]</bdi> (1815–1883). [[Museu Nacional de Belas Artes]].]]
When Micipsa died in 118 BC, he was succeeded jointly by his two sons Hiempsal I and Adherbal and Jugurtha, who was very popular among the Numidians. Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled immediately after the death of Micipsa.<ref>[[Sallust]] (c. 40 BCE), ''Jugurthine War'' XI–XIII.</ref> Jugurtha orchestrated the assassination of his cousin Hiempsal and expelled his other cousin, Adherbal, from Cirta. Adherbal fled to Rome to seek the Senate’s protection. However, Jugurtha had already bribed influential Romans, prompting the Senate to divide Numidia in 114 BCE: western Numidia was given to Jugurtha, while Adherbal retained the eastern portion. Jugurtha, having married the daughter of [[Bocchus I|Bocchus]], king of the western Mauri, amassed a large army and invaded Adherbal’s territory in 112 BC. Adherbal retreated to Cirta, where he endured a two-year siege. Starving, he surrendered, but Jugurtha executed him along with many Italians living in the city. Summoned before the Senate for this act, Jugurtha escaped punishment by bribing senators. Before leaving Rome, he assassinated Massiva, the son of Gulussa, who had lodged complaints against him. As he departed, Jugurtha famously declared, “O venal city, doomed to perish if it finds a buyer!” 

Determined to end Jugurtha’s defiance, Rome sent the [[Aulus Postumius Albinus (consul 99 BC)|propraetor Aulus]] against him in 109 BCE. However, Aulus was [[Battle of Suthul|ambushed near Suthul]] and forced to pass under the yoke with his soldiers. Consul [[Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus|Metellus]] then took command, leading an [[Battle of the Muthul|indecisive battle]] against Jugurtha’s forces near Theveste but later being compelled to [[Battle of Zama (109 BC)|retreat near Zama]] in 108 BCE. In 107 BCE, after regrouping, Metellus invaded Numidia, pushing Jugurtha’s Berber forces into retreat and capturing Cirta. Jugurtha fled to the Gaetulians and sought aid from Bocchus. Metellus was recalled and replaced by Consul [[Gaius Marius|Marius]], who led an army of 50,000 men. Marius [[Second Battle of Cirta|defeated the combined forces of Jugurtha]] and Bocchus near Sitifis after a three-day battle and returned to Cirta. Bocchus sought peace and, at the urging of Marius’s lieutenant [[Sulla]], betrayed Jugurtha. Luring his son-in-law into his camp, Bocchus handed Jugurtha over to the Romans in 106 BCE. On January 1, 104 BCE, Marius celebrated a triumph in Rome, with the captured Jugurtha paraded in chains. That same evening, Jugurtha was thrown into the Tullianum prison,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Telford |first=Lynda |title=Sulla: A Dictator Reconsidered |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2014 |isbn=9781473834507}}</ref> where he soon died from cold and starvation.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Connolly |first1=Peter |title=The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ancient and Medieval Warfare |last2=Gillingham |first2=John |last3=Lazenby |first3=George |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=9781135936747 |pages=171}}</ref>