king of Numidia and Mauritania. He had succeeded his father Hiempal, and he favoured the cause of Pompey against Julius Caesar. He defeated Curio whom Caesar had sent to Africa, and after the battle of Pharsalia he joined his forces to those of Scipio. He was conquered in a battle at Thapsus, and totally abandoned by his subjects. He killed himself with Petreius, who had shared his good fortune and his adversity, in the year of Rome 797. His kingdom became a Roman province, of which Sallust was the first governor.

Juba II, son of the former, was led among the captives to Rome to adorn the triumph of Caesar. His captivity was the source of the greatest honours, and his application to study procured him more glory than he would have obtained from the inheritance of a kingdom. He gained the hearts of the Romans by the courteousness of his manners, and Augustus rewarded his fidelity by giving him in marriage Cleopatra the daughter of Antony, and conferring upon him the title of king, and making him master of all the territories which his father once possessed, in the year of Rome 723. His popularity was so great, that the Mauritanians rewarded his benevolence by making him one of their gods. The Athenians raised him a statue, and the Ethiopians worshipped him as a deity. Juba wrote an history of Rome in Greek, which is often quoted and commended by the ancients. Of it only few fragments remain. He also wrote on the history of Arabia, and the antiquities of Assyria, chiefly collected from Berossus. Besides these, he composed some treatises upon the drama, Roman antiquities, the nature of animals, painting, grammar, &c. now lost.