Numidia
Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom of the Numidians, located in what is now Algeria and a smaller part of Tunisia and Libya in the Berber world, in North Africa. The polity was divided between Massylii in the east and Masaesyli in the west. During the Second Punic War, king of the Massylii, defeated Syphax of the Masaesyli to unify Numidia into one kingdom; the kingdom began as a sovereign state and alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state. It was bordered by Atlantic ocean to the west, Africa Proconsularis to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Sahara Desert to the south, it is considered to be one of the first major states in the history of the Berber world. The Greek historians referred to these peoples as "Νομάδες", which by Latin interpretation became "Numidae". Historian Gabriel Camps, disputes this claim, favoring instead an African origin for the term; the name appears first in Polybius to indicate the peoples and territory west of Carthage including the entire north of Algeria as far as the river Mulucha, about 160 kilometres west of Oran.
The Numidians were composed of two great tribal groups: the Massylii in eastern Numidia, the Masaesyli in the west. During the first part of the Second Punic War, the eastern Massylii, under their king Gala, were allied with Carthage, while the western Masaesyli, under king Syphax, were allied with Rome. However, in 206 BC, the new king of the eastern Massylii, allied himself with Rome, Syphax of the Masaesyli switched his allegiance to the Carthaginian side. At the end of the war, the victorious Romans gave all of Numidia to Masinissa of the Massylii. At the time of his death in 148 BC, Masinissa's territory extended from Mauretania to the boundary of the Carthaginian territory, southeast as far as Cyrenaica, so that Numidia surrounded Carthage except towards the sea. After the death of the long-lived Masinissa around 148 BC, he was succeeded by his son Micipsa; when Micipsa died in 118 BC, he was succeeded jointly by his two sons Hiempsal I and Adherbal and Masinissa's illegitimate grandson, Jugurtha, of Ancient Libyan origin, popular among the Numidians.
Hiempsal and Jugurtha quarrelled after the death of Micipsa. Jugurtha had Hiempsal killed. By 112 BC, Jugurtha resumed his war with Adherbal, he incurred the wrath of Rome in the process by killing some Roman businessmen who were aiding Adherbal. After a brief war with Rome, Jugurtha surrendered and received a favourable peace treaty, which raised suspicions of bribery once more; the local Roman commander was summoned to Rome to face corruption charges brought by his political rival Gaius Memmius. Jugurtha was forced to come to Rome to testify against the Roman commander, where he was discredited once his violent and ruthless past became known, after he had been suspected of murdering a Numidian rival. War broke out between Numidia and the Roman Republic and several legions were dispatched to North Africa under the command of the Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus; the war dragged out into a long and endless campaign as the Romans tried to defeat Jugurtha decisively. Frustrated at the apparent lack of action, Metellus' lieutenant Gaius Marius returned to Rome to seek election as Consul.
Marius was elected, returned to Numidia to take control of the war. He sent his Quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla to neighbouring Mauretania in order to eliminate their support for Jugurtha. With the help of Bocchus I of Mauretania, Sulla captured Jugurtha and brought the war to a conclusive end. Jugurtha was placed in the Tullianum. Jugurtha was executed by the Romans in 104 BC, after being paraded through the streets in Gaius Marius' Triumph. After the death of Jugurtha, the far west of Numidia was added to the lands of Bocchus I, king of Mauretania. A rump kingdom continued to be governed by native princes, it appears that on the death of King Gauda in 88 BC, the kingdom was divided into a larger eastern kingdom and a smaller western kingdom. The kings of the east minted coins, while no known coins of the western kings survive; the western kings may have been vassals of the eastern. The civil war between Caesar and Pompey brought an end to independent Numidia in 46 BC; the western kingdom between the Sava and Ampsaga rivers passed to Bocchus II, while the eastern kingdom became a Roman province.
The remainder of the western kingdom plus the city of Cirta, which may have belonged to either kingdom, became an autonomous principality under Publius Sittius. Between 44 and 40 BC, the old western kingdom was once again under a Numidian king, who killed Sittius and took his place, he was himself killed. After the death of Arabio, Numidia became the Roman province of Africa Nova except for a brief period when Augustus restored Juba II as a client king. Eastern Numidia was annexed in 46 BC to create Africa Nova. Western Numidia was annexed after the death of its last king, Arabio, in 40 BC, the two provinces were united with Tripolitana by Emperor Augustus, to create Africa Proconsularis. In AD 40, the western portion of Africa Proconsularis, including its legionary garrison, was placed under an imperial legatus, in effect became a separate province of Numidia, though the
Hippo Regius
Hippo Regius is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, in Algeria. Hippo Regius was a Phoenician and Roman city in present-day Annaba Province, Algeria, it was the locus of several early Christian councils and home to the philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo. Hippo is the latinization of ʿpwn related to the word ûbôn, meaning "harbor"; the town was first settled by Phoenicians from Tyre around the 12th century BC. To distinguish it from other places of the same name, the Romans referred to it as Hippo Regius because it was one of the residences of the Numidian kings, its nearby river was latinized as the Ubus and the bay to its east was known as Hippo Bay. A maritime city near the mouth of the river Ubus, it became a Roman colonia which prospered and became a major city in Roman Africa, it is most famous as the bishopric of Saint Augustine of Hippo in his years. In AD 430, the Vandals advanced eastwards along the North African coast and laid siege to the walled city of Hippo Regius.
Inside, Saint Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spell death or conversion to the Arian heresy for much of the Christian population. On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine died from starvation or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested. After 14 months and the inevitable diseases were ravaging both the city inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city walls; the city fell to the Vandals and King Geiseric made it the first capital of the Vandal Kingdom until the capture of Carthage in 439. It was conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 534 and was kept under Roman rule until 698, when it fell to the Muslims; the city's history is treated under its modern names. About three kilometres distant in the eleventh century, the Berber Zirids established the town of Beleb-el-Anab, which the Spaniards occupied for some years in the sixteenth century, as the French did in the reign of Louis XIV.
France took this town again in 1832. It was renamed Bône or Bona, became one of the government centres for the département of Constantine in Algeria, it had 37,000 inhabitants, of whom 10,800 were original inhabitants, consisting of 9,400 Muslims and 1400 naturalized Jews. 15,700 were French and 10,500 foreigners, including many Italians. Hippo was an ancient bishopric, one of many suffragans in the former Roman province of Numidia, since French colonial rule a part of the residential see of Constantine, it contains some ancient ruins, a hospital built by the Little Sisters of the Poor and a fine basilica dedicated to St. Augustine. Under St. Augustine there were at least three monasteries in the diocese besides the episcopal monastery; the diocese was established around 250 AD. Only these six bishops of Hippo are known: Saint Theogenes Saint Leontius Fidentius Valerius, who ordained St. Augustine the "Doctor of Grace", Saint Augustine Heraclius, it was suppressed around 450 AD. Three church councils were held at Hippo and more synods – in 397 and 401, all under Aurelius.
The synods of the Ancient African church were held, with but few exceptions at Carthage. We know from the letters of Saint Cyprian that, except in time of persecution, the African bishops met at least once a year, in the springtime, sometimes again in the autumn. Six or seven synods, for instance, were held under St. Cyprian's presidency during the decade of his administration, more than fifteen under Aurelius; the Synod of Hippo of 393 ordered a general meeting yearly, but this was found too onerous for the bishops, in the Synod of Carthage it was decided to hold a general synod only when necessary for the needs of all Africa, it was to be held at a place most convenient for the purpose. Not all the bishops of the country were required to assist at the general synod. At the Synod of Hippo it was ordered that "dignities" should be sent from each ecclesiastical province. Only one was required from Tripoli, because of the poverty of the bishops of that province. At the Synod of Hippo, again at the Synod of 397 at Carthage, a list of the books of Holy Scripture was drawn up, these books are still regarded as the constituents of the Catholic canon.
The Hippo diocese was nominally revived in 1400 as Catholic Latin titular bishopric of the episcopal rank, for which no incumbent is recorded. It ceased to exist on 23 September 1867, when the see was formally united with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Constantine. Auzia Caesarea of Mauretania Cirta Chullu Mauretania Caesariensis Milevum This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "Hippo Regius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "African Synods". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton. GigaCatholic, with residential episcopal incumbents biography links Brown, Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, the Making of Christianity in the West, 350–550 AD, Princeton: Princeton University Press, ISBN 1400844533. Head, Barclay. "Numidia", Historia Numorum, Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp
Roman war elephants
Due to the Roman focus on infantry and its discipline, war elephants were used. While the Romans did adopt them, used them after the Punic wars during the conquest of Greece, they fell out of use by the time of Claudius, after which they were used for the purpose of demoralizing enemies instead of being used for tactical purposes; the Romans used them for transport. Although the use of war elephants in the Mediterranean is most famously associated with the wars between Carthage and Rome, the introduction of war elephants was the result of the Greek kingdom of Epirus. King Pyrrhus of Epirus brought twenty elephants to attack the Romans at the battle of Heraclea in 280 BC, leaving some fifty additional animals, on loan from Pharaoh Ptolemy II, on the mainland; the Romans were unprepared for fighting elephants, the Epirot forces routed the Romans. The next year, the Epirots again deployed a similar force of elephants, attacking the Romans at the battle of Asculum; this time the Romans came prepared with flammable weapons and anti-elephant devices: these were ox-drawn wagons, equipped with long spikes to wound the elephants, pots of fire to scare them, accompanying screening troops who would hurl javelins at the elephants to drive them away.
A final charge of Epirot elephants won the day again, but this time Pyrrhus had suffered heavy casualties—a Pyrrhic victory. Inspired by these victories, Carthage developed its own use of war elephants and deployed them extensively during the First and Second Punic Wars; the performance of the Carthaginian elephant corps was rather mixed, illustrating the need of proper tactics to take advantage of the elephant's strength and cover its weaknesses. At Adyss in 255 BC, the Carthaginian elephants were ineffective due to the terrain, while at the battle of Panormus in 251 BC the Romans' velites were able to terrify the Carthaginian elephants being used unsupported, which fled from the field. At the battle of Tunis however the charge of the Carthaginian elephants helped to disorder the legions, allowing the Carthaginian phalanx to stand fast and defeat the Romans. During the Second Punic War, Hannibal famously led an army of war elephants across the Alps—although many of them perished in the harsh conditions.
The surviving elephants were used in the battle of Trebia, where they panicked the Roman cavalry and Gallic allies. The Romans developed effective anti-elephant tactics, leading to Hannibal's defeat at his final battle of Zama in 202 BC. Elephants captured in 275 BC. Rome brought back many elephants at the end of the Punic Wars, used them in its campaigns for many years afterwards; the conquest of Greece saw many battles in which the Romans deployed war elephants, including the invasion of Macedonia in 199 BC, the battle of Cynoscephalae 197 BC, the battle of Thermopylae, the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, during which Antiochus III's fifty-four elephants took on the Roman force of sixteen. In years the Romans deployed twenty-two elephants at Pydna in 168 BC; the role of the elephant force at Cynoscephalae was decisive, as their quick charge shattered the unformed Macedonian left wing, allowing the Romans to encircle and destroy the victorious Macedonian right. A similar event transpired at Pydna.
The Romans' successful use of war elephants against the Macedonians might be considered ironic, given that it was Pyrrhus who first taught them the military potential of these beasts. They featured throughout the Roman campaign against the Celtiberians in Hispania and against the Gauls. Famously, the Romans used a war elephant in the invasion of Britain, one ancient writer recording that "Caesar had one large elephant, equipped with armor and carried archers and slingers in its tower; when this unknown creature entered the river, the Britons and their horses fled and the Roman army crossed over," - although he may have confused this incident with the use of a similar war elephant in Claudius' final conquest of Britain. At least one elephantine skeleton with flint weapons, found in England was misidentified as these elephants, but dating proved it to be a mammoth skeleton from the stone age. By the time of Claudius however, such animals were being used by the Romans in single numbers only—the last significant use of war elephants in the Mediterranean was against the Romans at the battle of Thapsus in 46 BC, in which 60 of them were used, where Julius Caesar armed his fifth legion with axes and commanded his legionaries to strike at the elephant's legs.
The legion withstood the charge, the elephant became its symbol. Thapsus was the last significant use of elephants in the West; the remainder of the elephants seemed to have been thrown into panic by Caesar's archers and slingers
Plutarch
Plutarch named, upon becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, was a Greek biographer and essayist, known for his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He is classified as a Middle Platonist. Plutarch's surviving works were intended for both Greek and Roman readers. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in the small town of Chaeronea, about 80 kilometres east of Delphi, in the Greek region of Boeotia, his family was wealthy. The name of Plutarch's father has not been preserved, but based on the common Greek custom of repeating a name in alternate generations, it was Nikarchus; the name of Plutarch's grandfather was Lamprias, as he attested in Moralia and in his Life of Antony. His brothers and Lamprias, are mentioned in his essays and dialogues, which speak of Timon in particular in the most affectionate terms. Rualdus, in his 1624 work Life of Plutarchus, recovered the name of Plutarch's wife, from internal evidence afforded by his writings. A letter is still extant, addressed by Plutarch to his wife, bidding her not to grieve too much at the death of their two-year-old daughter, named Timoxena after her mother.
He hinted at a belief in reincarnation in that letter of consolation. The exact number of his sons is not certain, although two of them and the second Plutarch, are mentioned. Plutarch's treatise De animae procreatione in Timaeo is dedicated to them, the marriage of his son Autobulus is the occasion of one of the dinner parties recorded in the "Table Talk". Another person, Soklarus, is spoken of in terms which seem to imply that he was Plutarch's son, but this is nowhere stated, his treatise on marriage questions, addressed to Eurydice and Pollianus, seems to speak of the latter as having been an inmate of his house, but without any clear evidence on whether she was his daughter or not. Plutarch studied mathematics and philosophy at the Academy of Athens under Ammonius from 66 to 67. At some point, Plutarch received Roman citizenship; as evidenced by his new name, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, his sponsor for citizenship was Lucius Mestrius Florus, a Roman of consular status whom Plutarch used as a historical source for his Life of Otho.
He lived most of his life at Chaeronea, was initiated into the mysteries of the Greek god Apollo. For many years Plutarch served as one of the two priests at the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the famous Delphic Oracle, twenty miles from his home. By his writings and lectures Plutarch became a celebrity in the Roman Empire, yet he continued to reside where he was born, participated in local affairs serving as mayor. At his country estate, guests from all over the empire congregated for serious conversation, presided over by Plutarch in his marble chair. Many of these dialogues were recorded and published, the 78 essays and other works which have survived are now known collectively as the Moralia. In addition to his duties as a priest of the Delphic temple, Plutarch was a magistrate at Chaeronea and he represented his home town on various missions to foreign countries during his early adult years. Plutarch held the office of archon in his native municipality only an annual one which he served more than once.
He undertook the humblest of duties. The Suda, a medieval Greek encyclopedia, states that Emperor Trajan made Plutarch procurator of Illyria. However, most historians consider this unlikely, since Illyria was not a procuratorial province, Plutarch did not speak Illyrian. According to the 8th/9th-century historian George Syncellus, late in Plutarch's life, Emperor Hadrian appointed him nominal procurator of Achaea – which entitled him to wear the vestments and ornaments of a consul. Plutarch spent the last thirty years of his life serving as a priest in Delphi, he thus connected part of his literary work with the sanctuary of Apollo, the processes of oracle-giving and the personalities who lived or traveled there. One of his most important works is the "Why Pythia does not give oracles in verse". More important is the dialogue "On the E in Delphi", which features Ammonius, a Platonic philosopher and teacher of Plutarch, Lambrias, Plutarch's brother. According to Ammonius, the letter E written on the temple of Apollo in Delphi originated from the following fact: the wise men of antiquity, whose maxims were written on the walls of the vestibule of the temple, were not seven but five: Chilon, Thales and Pittakos.
However, the tyrants Cleobulos and Periandros used their political power in order to be incorporated in the list. Thus, the E, which corresponds to number 5, constituted an acknowledgment that the Delphic maxims originated from the five real wise men; the portrait of a philosopher exhibited at the exit of the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, dating to the 2nd century AD, had been in the past identified with Plutarch. The man, although bearded, is depicted at a young age, his hair and beard are rendered in thin incisions. The gaze is due to the heavy eyelids and the incised pupils; the portrait is no longer thought to represent Plutarch. But a fragmentary hermaic stele next to the portrait did once bear a portrait of Plutarch, since it is inscribed, "The Delphians along with the Chaeroneans dedicated this to Plutarch, following the precepts of the Amphictyony". Plutarc
Juba I of Numidia
Juba I of Numidia was a king of Numidia. He was the son and successor to Hiempsal II. Juba I was the father of King of Numidia and Mauretania, Juba II, father-in-law of Juba II’s wives Greek Ptolemaic princess Cleopatra Selene II, Cappodocian princess Glaphyra and paternal grandfather to King Ptolemy of Mauretania and the princess Drusilla of Mauretania the Elder. In 81 BC Hiempsal had been driven from his throne; this alliance was strengthened during a visit by Juba to Rome, when Julius Caesar insulted him by pulling on his beard during a trial when Caesar was defending his client against Juba's father, still further in 50 BC, when the tribune Gaius Scribonius Curio proposed that Numidia should be sold privately. In August 49 BC, Caesar sent Curio to take Africa from the Republicans. Curio was held Publius Attius Varus, the governor of Africa, in low esteem. Curio took fewer legions. 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, 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 annihilated by Saburra. Curio was died in the fighting. Only a few escaped on their ships, King Juba took several senators captive back to Numidia for display and execution. With the arrival of Caesar in Africa, Juba planned to join Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica, but his kingdom was invaded from the west by Caesar's ally Bocchus II and an Italian adventurer, Publius Sittius, he therefore marched home to save his country. Scipio knew he could not fight without more troops, sent a desperate message to Juba for assistance. Juba left the command of his kingdom's defence with Sabura, joined Scipio with three legions, around 15,000 light infantry, 1000 cavalry and 30 elephants for the Battle of Thapsus. However, he camped away from Scipio's main lines.
Seeing the certain defeat of Scipio's army, Juba did not take part in the battle and fled with his 30,000 men. Having fled with the Roman general Marcus Petreius and finding their retreat cut off, they made a suicide pact and engaged in one on one combat; the idea was. Sources vary on the outcome, but it is most that Petreius killed Juba and committed suicide with the assistance of a slave; the genus of the endangered Chilean wine palm, Jubaea, is named for him. Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars - Caesar. Appian, B. C. i. 80. Marcus Velleius Paterculus ii. 54. Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili 2.40 Huss, Geschichte der Karthager, Munich: C. H. Beck
Cohort (military unit)
A cohort was a standard tactical military unit of a Roman legion, though the standard changed with time and situation, was composed of between 360-800 soldiers. A cohort is considered to be the equivalent of a modern military battalion; the cohort replaced the maniple following the reforms attributed to Gaius Marius in 107 BC. Shortly after the military reforms of Marius, each legion formed 10 cohorts; the cohorts were named "first cohort," "second cohort" etc. The first cohort gathered the most experienced legionaries, while the legionaries in the tenth cohort were the least experienced; until the middle of the third century AD, 10 cohorts made up a Roman legion. A cohort consisted of six centuriae, each commanded by a centurion assisted by junior officers. At various times prior to the reforms, a century might have 100 men; the cohort had no permanent commander. In order of seniority, the six centurions were titled hastatus posterior, hastatus prior, princeps posterior, princeps prior, pilus posterior and pilus prior.
The first centurion of the first cohort was called primus pilus. During the reforms in the 1st century AD, the command structure and make-up of the legions was formally laid down, in a form that would endure for centuries. Standard centuriae consisted of 80 men each; the first cohort was made up of five double-strength centuries. The centurion of its first century automatically was the most senior in the legion was known as the primus pilus; the primus pilus could be promoted to praefectus castrorum. The praefectus castrorum was in charge of the daily running of a legion; these ranks followed the order of seniority in the earlier manipular legions, where the youngest and least experienced units were termed hastati, next principes, the oldest and most experienced triarii. The reformed legion numbered about 5,000 men, including officers, engineers and a small unit of cavalry. Cohors alaria: allied or auxiliary unit Cohors quinquagenaria: auxiliary, nominally 500 strong Cohors milliaria: auxiliary, nominally 1000 strong Cohors classica: auxiliary unit formed of sailors and marines Cohors equitata: unit of auxiliary infantry with attached mounted squadrons Cohors peditata: infantry unit Cohors sagittaria: infantry auxiliary unit of bowmen Cohors speculatorum: guard unit of Mark Antony composed of scouts Cohors torquata: auxiliary unit granted a torques Cohors tumultuaria: irregular auxiliary unit Some paramilitary corps in Rome consisted of one or more cohorts, though none were part of a legion: The nine cohortes praetoriae, never grouped to a legion, the infamous Praetorians.
The term was first used to refer to the bodyguard of a general during the republic. Cohors togata was a unit of the Praetorian guard in civilian dress tasked with duties within the pomerium. Cohortes urbanae, "urban cohort": military police unit patrolling in the capital. Cohortes vigilum, "watchmen": unit of the police force, the fire brigade in the capital. Cohors Germanorum: the unit of Germani custodes corporis. Furthermore, the Latin word cohors was used in a looser way to describe a rather large "company" of people. Auxiliaries List of Roman auxiliary regiments
Tunisia
Tunisia is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa, covering 163,610 square kilometres. Its northernmost point, Cape Angela, is the northernmost point on the African continent, it is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia's population was 11.435 million in 2017. Tunisia's name is derived from its capital city, located on its northeast coast. Geographically, Tunisia contains the eastern end of the Atlas Mountains, the northern reaches of the Sahara desert. Much of the rest of the country's land is fertile soil, its 1,300 kilometres of coastline include the African conjunction of the western and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Basin and, by means of the Sicilian Strait and Sardinian Channel, feature the African mainland's second and third nearest points to Europe after Gibraltar. Tunisia is a unitary semi-presidential representative democratic republic, it is considered to be the only democratic sovereign state in the Arab world.
It has a high human development index. It has an association agreement with the European Union. In addition, Tunisia is a member state of the United Nations and a state party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Close relations with Europe – in particular with France and with Italy – have been forged through economic cooperation and industrial modernization. In ancient times, Tunisia was inhabited by Berbers. Phoenician immigration began in the 12th century BC. A major mercantile power and a military rival of the Roman Republic, Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 146 BC; the Romans, who would occupy Tunisia for most of the next eight hundred years, introduced Christianity and left architectural legacies like the El Djem amphitheater. After several attempts starting in 647, the Muslims conquered the whole of Tunisia by 697, followed by the Ottoman Empire between 1534 and 1574; the Ottomans held sway for over three hundred years. The French colonization of Tunisia occurred in 1881.
Tunisia gained independence with Habib Bourguiba and declared the Tunisian Republic in 1957. In 2011, the Tunisian Revolution resulted in the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, followed by parliamentary elections; the country voted for parliament again on 26 October 2014, for President on 23 November 2014. The word Tunisia is derived from Tunis; the present form of the name, with its Latinate suffix -ia, evolved from French Tunisie. in turn associated with the Berber root ⵜⵏⵙ, transcribed tns, which means "to lay down" or "encampment". It is sometimes associated with the Punic goddess Tanith, ancient city of Tynes; the French derivative Tunisie was adopted in some European languages with slight modifications, introducing a distinctive name to designate the country. Other languages remained untouched, such as Spanish Túnez. In this case, the same name is used for both country and city, as with the Arabic تونس, only by context can one tell the difference. Before Tunisia, the territory's name was Ifriqiya or Africa, which gave the present-day name of the continent Africa.
Farming methods reached the Nile Valley from the Fertile Crescent region about 5000 BC, spread to the Maghreb by about 4000 BC. Agricultural communities in the humid coastal plains of central Tunisia were ancestors of today's Berber tribes, it was believed in ancient times that Africa was populated by Gaetulians and Libyans, both nomadic peoples. According to the Roman historian Sallust, the demigod Hercules died in Spain and his polyglot eastern army was left to settle the land, with some migrating to Africa. Persians became the Numidians; the Medes settled and were known as Mauri Moors. The Numidians and Moors belonged to the race from; the translated meaning of Numidian is Nomad and indeed the people were semi-nomadic until the reign of Masinissa of the Massyli tribe. At the beginning of recorded history, Tunisia was inhabited by Berber tribes, its coast was settled by Phoenicians starting as early as the 12th century BC. The city of Carthage was founded in the 9th century BC by Phoenicians. Legend says that Dido from Tyre, now in modern-day Lebanon, founded the city in 814 BC, as retold by the Greek writer Timaeus of Tauromenium.
The settlers of Carthage brought their culture and religion from Phoenicia, now present-day Lebanon and adjacent areas. After the series of wars with Greek city-states of Sicily in the 5th century BC, Carthage rose to power and became the dominant civilization in the Western Mediterranean; the people of Carthage worshipped a pantheon of Middle Eastern gods including Tanit. Tanit's symbol, a simple female figure with extended arms and long dress, is a popular icon found in ancient sites; the founders of Carthage established a Tophet, altered in Roman times. A Carthaginian invasion of Italy led by Hannibal during the Second Punic War, one of a series of wars with Rome, nearly crippled the rise of Roman power. From the conclusion of the Second Punic War in 202 BC, Carthage functioned as a client state of the Roman Republic for another 50 years. F
