A: HUNTING PARTY
A1 & A2: Numidian tribesmen
Based upon Strabo’s description (17.3.7) of Numidian and other North Africans, these tribesmen are depicted at the conclusion of a successful hunting trip in central Numidia, mid-3rd century bc. They are dressed in animal skins. The hair and beard of A1 are copied from a portrait of the Numidian king Masinissa on a coin. The horse is a typical Numidian animal, as described by Aelian (3.2). The neck collar the horse wears instead of a bridle is copied from that shown on the Numidian cavalry horses depicted on Trajan’s Column.
A3: Numidian chieftain
This chieftain’s unusual hairstyle is based on that portrayed on one of the Tirekbine steles, and Strabo’s description (17.3.7). The Numidians took enormous care over their hair, and often avoided touching each other in case they disturbed their elaborate coiffures. His fringed leather tunic is similar to that worn by the Numidian ‘chieftain’ terracotta statuette in the Louvre (Cp 5223), and his javelins and elephant-hide shield are the weapons of the horsemen on the Abizar steles.
B: TRAINING THE NUMIDIAN ARMY
B1: Quintus Statorius
Depicted in 213 bc during the training of the Numidian king Syphax’s army, the Roman centurion Quintus Statorius holds a vitis, or ‘vine staff’, the traditional symbol of rank carried by Roman centurions. His mail tunic is similar to those worn by Roman legionaries depicted on the Domitius Ahenobarbus monument base reliefs, and his helmet is of the Montefortino type, with a red transverse crest of horsehair like those shown on the San Omobono monument base.
B2: Numidian infantry recruit
This young man wears the short woollen tunic of the Numidian horsemen depicted on Trajan’s Column. He is trying to hold the stance that Livy tells us (8.8) was adopted by the Roman triarii spearmen. His oval shield is based on one of the reliefs on the Numidian ‘royal monument’ at Chimtou.
B3: Numidian infantry recruit
A second recruit carries the round elephant-hide shield and ‘atrophied antennae’ sword depicted on one of the steles excavated from the El Hofra sanctuary in Cirta and held by the National Museum Cirta (inv. 3.C). In the background is a sprawling camp of traditional Numidian thatched huts, or mapalia, as described by Livy (30.4).
C: THE DEATH OF SOPHONISBA, 203 bc
In a sumptuously decorated room in the palace of the recently captured Numidian king Syphax, his former wife Sophonisba lies dying. She has collapsed in the arms of her new husband, the rival Numidian king Masinissa, whom she has married earlier that day. Sophonisba has taken poison given to her by Masinissa, who wants to save her from being taken to Rome with Syphax as a prisoner of the Roman general Scipio. Scipio himself has just entered the room to remonstrate with Masinissa for his hasty marriage, only to find Sophonisba dying and Masinissa defiant.
‘The death of Sophonisba’, as recounted by Livy (30.12–15), has inspired many artists. This plate is a copy of two famous Roman wall paintings from houses in Pompeii. The first was removed from the wall in the Casa de Guiseppe II on which it was found and moved to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, where it underwent some restoration and is fairly well preserved. The other has remained in place on the wall of the Casa del Fabbro in Pompeii and has not survived in such good condition. They were probably painted during or just after the reign of the emperor Augustus, 200 years after the event they depict, and were painted for a wealthy Roman audience. Masinissa’s shield bears the ‘aegis and gorgon’ decoration of one of the shield reliefs on the Numidian ‘royal monument’ at Chimtou.
C1: Masinissa
Masinissa’s appearance is based upon his coin portraits, rather than the wall paintings in Pompeii. He wears a diadem, a white ribbon worn by Hellenistic monarchs as symbol of monarchy. His purple mantle is Roman.
C2: Sophonisba
Livy describes Sophonisba as ‘blooming with all the beauty of youth’ (30.12), and this is how she is portrayed here, rather than the rather ‘matronly’ figure in the wall paintings. Her clothing is Roman.
C3: Publius Cornelius Scipio ‘Africanus’
Scipio wears a red military tunic and a purple paludamentum, the cloak worn by Roman generals instead of a toga while on campaign. His appearance is based on a marble bust in the Musei Capitolini, Rome (inv. MC 562), which scholars believe could show Scipio Africanus.
C4: African slave
The Numidians’ southern neighbours, the Garamantes, captured tribespeople from the edges of the Sahara and Nubia and sold them as slaves throughout North Africa.
D: MASINISSA AND HIS BODYGUARD BEFORE ZAMA, 202 bc
D1: Masinissa
The Numidian king Masinissa greets soldiers of his royal guard outside his tent as he prepares to inspect his troops. He is wearing some of the clothing that Livy (30.15; 30.17) tells us was given to him as a gift by Scipio and the Roman senate after the capture of Syphax in 203 bc. Other senatorial gifts, including furniture and armour, are shown in the background. Masinissa’s purple tunic is the tunica palmata, decorated with golden palm branches, which was worn by Roman generals celebrating a triumph, normally in conjunction with a toga picta, or ‘painted toga’. Masinissa has chosen to wear a paludamentum instead. He is carrying a Roman ivory sceptre.
D2: Numidian royal guardsman
This man wears the linen tunic or linothorax depicted on the ‘royal monument’ at Chimtou and the conical ‘eared’ helmet from the Soumaâ tomb. The shield is based upon the Numidian cavalry shields depicted on Trajan’s Column. His javelins are like those found in the Soumaâ tomb.
D3: Numidian royal guardsman
The linothorax-type cuirass shown on the ‘royal monument’ at Chimtou may have been made from mail, and is recreated here in this material. The helmet and javelins are those found in the Soumaâ tomb, and the shield decoration is taken from the ‘royal monument’ at Chimtou.
E: NUMIDIAN LIGHT CAVALRY ATTACK A LIGURIAN VILLAGE
This plate recreates an episode described by Livy (35.11), when a Numidian auxiliary cavalry force saved a Roman column that had been trapped in a narrow pass by a Ligurian army in 193 bc.
E1: Numidian chieftain
The wounded chieftain is based upon a terracotta figurine of a mounted Numidian on display in the Louvre (Cp 5223). He wears a short, fringed leather tunic, and holds a round, hide shield like those carried by the horsemen depicted on Trajan’s Column. His empty scabbard is copied from the example found in the Soumaâ tomb.
E2: Numidian cavalryman
The appearance of this figure is based upon a photograph of a terracotta statuette that was formerly held by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The horseman wears a woollen cloak over his tunic, and carries water in a calabash, a dried and hollowed gourd.
E3: Ligurian tribesman
The Ligurians lived in north-west Italy, and they fought many wars against the Romans before their territory was incorporated into the Roman Empire. This tribesman is based on a description by the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus (5.39).
E4: Numidian cavalryman
A Numidian cavalryman leaps from one galloping horse to another, in the manner described by Livy (23.29).
F: THE ROMAN–SELEUCID WAR, 190 bc
F1: Numidian mahout riding an elephant
The elephant and rider depicted here are based upon an image on a Punic coin. The mahout holds an ankus, or goad, used to control the animal. He also carries a heavy mallet and a bag containing a carpenter’s chisel. According to Livy (27.49), if the mahout lost control of the elephant in battle, he would ram the chisel into the joint where its head and neck met with a hefty blow from the mallet in order to kill the animal before it could do further damage.
F2: Numidian infantryman
This foot soldier is much more heavily equipped than the average Numidian light infantryman. He is armed with the shield, sword and javelins depicted on one of the El Hofra steles held in the National Museum Cirta (inv. 3.C). He also wears a mail cuirass and Montefortino-type helmet.
G: JUGURTHA AT THE SIEGE OF NUMANTIA, 134 bc
In 134 bc, during the final stages of the Roman siege of Numantia in northern Spain, the Numidian king Micipsa sent his nephew Jugurtha to help the Romans. The Numidian contingent included slingers and archers, as well as javelinmen, cavalry and elephants.
G1: Jugurtha
The Numidian prince Jugurtha is described by the historian Sallust (6.1) as strong and athletic: he excelled at javelin throwing, running and equestrianism. Here he is shown in the beautiful armour depicted on the San Omobono monument base, which may represent a gift given to Jugurtha’s uncle Micipsa by the Roman senate. His horse wears face armour, which is also shown on the San Omobono monument base.
G2: Numidian archer
This archer uses a composite bow made of wood, horn and sinew. His dagger is of an Iberian pattern, probably collected locally. Daggers of this kind may have provided the prototype for the pugio, the dagger carried by Roman legionaries.
G3 & G4: Numidian slingers
These two Numidians use slings made of woven vegetable fibre to hurl missiles made of baked clay over the city walls. Missiles could also be made of natural stone or moulded from lead. In the background a unit of Numidian light infantry launches a volley of javelins, and Numidian cavalry and elephants prepare to assault the city walls.
H: AFRICAN CAVALRY IN THE FIRST DACIAN WAR
By the beginning of the 2nd century ad Numidia as a kingdom no longer existed, as it had been absorbed by the Roman Empire, but it is surprising how little the appearance of the light cavalry from the region appears to have changed since the Punic Wars. The North Africans depicted on Trajan’s Column wear woollen tunics, knotted over the right shoulder. All the original paint has been lost, therefore it is not possible to know whether the tunics were originally dyed a particular colour, so here they are shown as undyed wool. Note the carrying straps on the back of the shields. The construction of the shields is conjectural. The horses have no saddles or bridles, and wear only a simple collar of plaited vegetable fibre.
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