Masinissa (also spelled Massinissa), ruler of the North African kingdom of Numidia, and an ally of Rome in the last years of the Second Punic War (218-201). He was the son of Gaia, king of the Massyli, one of three Berber/Numidian kingdoms in North Africa (the others being the Masaesyli and Mauri).

His influence was lasting because the economic and political development that took place in Numidia under his rule provided the base for later development of the region by the Romans. Brought up in Carthage (as a hostage against his father’s loyalty), he fought for Carthage against the Romans in Spain from 212 to 206. He was the only commander present at the Carthaginian victories of Castulo and Ilorca to survive the Second Punic War. After Hasdrubal Barca departed for Italy, Masinissa was placed in command of all the Carthaginian cavalry in Spain. He fought a successful guerrilla war against Scipio Africanus throughout 208-207, while Mago and Hasdrubal Gisgo levied and trained new forces.

When the Carthaginians were driven from Spain in 206 and Africanus freed his captive nephew in 206, Masinissa defected to Rome. He assisted Rome in the invasion of Carthaginian territory in Africa. After his father’s death in late 206 there was a struggle for succession. The Romans eventually supported his claim to the Numidian throne against Syphax, pro-Carthaginian ruler of the Massaesyli tribe (who had annexed some of his territory). After the defeat of Syphax (203) he married his wife Sophonisbe but was required by the Romans to release her and induced her to take poison instead. Masinissa then became king of both the Massyli and the Massaesyli, placing his capital in Cirta.

Masinissa’s cavalry effectively won the Battle of Zama for Scipio.He showed unconditional loyalty to Rome, and his position in Africa was strengthened by a clause in the peace treaty of 201 between Rome and Carthage prohibiting the latter from going to war even in self-defense without Roman permission. This enabled Masinissa to encroach on the remaining Carthaginian territory as long as he judged that Rome wished to see Carthage weakened.

Masinissa’s chief aim was to build a strong and unified state from the semi-nomadic Numidian tribes. To this end he introduced Carthaginian agricultural techniques and forced many Numidians to settle as peasant farmers. Any hopes he may have had of extending his rule across North Africa were dashed when a Roman commission headed by the elderly Marcus Porcius Cato came to Africa about 155 to decide a territorial dispute between Masinissa and Carthage. Animated probably by an irrational fear of a Carthaginian revival, but possibly by suspicion of Masinissa’s ambitions, Cato thenceforward advocated, finally with success, the destruction of Carthage. Masinissa showed his displeasure when the Roman army arrived in Africa in 149, but he died early in 148 without a breach in the alliance. In 146 the Romans created a colony, including his former territory

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