an ancient kingdom of Africa, bounded on the W. by the Atlantic Ocean, on the S. by Getulia or Libya Interior, and on the N. by the Mediterranean, and comprehending the greater part of the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco. Its ancient limits are not exactly mentioned by any historian; nor can they now be ascertained by modern observations, these kingdoms being but little known to Europeans.

This country was originally inhabited by a people called Mauri, concerning the etymology of whose name authors are not agreed. It is probable, however, that the country, or at least great part of it, was first called Phut, since it appears from Pliny, Ptolemy, and St Jerome, that a river and territory not far from Mount Atlas went by that name. It likewise appears, from the Jerusalem Targum, that part of the Mauri may be deemed the offspring of Lud, the son of Mizraim, since his descendants, mentioned in Genesis, are there called Mauri, or Mauritani. It is certain that this region, as well as the others to the eastward of it, had many colonies planted by the Phoenicians. Procopius tells us that in his time two pillars of white stone were to be seen containing the following inscription in the Phoenician language and character:—"We are the Canaanites who fled from Joshua the son of Nun, that notorious robber." Ibn Rachic, or Ibn Raquig, an African writer cited by Leo, and also Evagrius and Nicephorus Callistus, make the same statement.

The Mauretanians were, according to Ptolemy, divided into several cantons or tribes. The Metapontaritae were situated near the Straits of Hercules, now those of Gibraltar; the Saccocii, or Cossici, occupied the coast of the Iberian Sea; and under these two petty nations the Masices, Verues, and Verbicre or Vercire, were settled. The Salassi or Salinse were situated lower, towards the ocean; and still more to the south were the Volubiliani. The Manrenaii and Herpiditanii possessed the eastern part of this country, which was terminated by the Mulucha. The Angaucani or Jangaucanai, Nectiberei, Zagrenesi, Banubae, and Vacantae, extended from the southern base of Ptolemy's Atlas Minor to his Atlas Major. Pliny mentions the Banuriar, whom Father Hardouin takes to be Ptolemy's Banubae; and Mela speaks of the Atlantes, whom he represents as possessing the western part of this district.

The earliest Prince of Mauretania mentioned in history is Neptune; and next to him were Atlas and Antaeus his two sons, both famous in the Grecian fables on account of their wars with Hercules. Antaeus, in his contention with that hero, seems to have behaved with great bravery and resolution. Having received reinforcements of Libyan troops, he cut off numbers of Hercules's men. But that celebrated commander, having at last intercepted a strong body of Libyans sent to the relief of Antaeus, inflicted on him a total overthrow, in which both he and the greater part of his forces were put to the sword. This decisive action put Hercules in possession of Libya and Mauretania, and consequently of the riches of these kingdoms. Hence arose the fable that Hercules, finding that Antaeus, a giant of enormous size with whom he was engaged in single combat, received fresh strength as often as he touched his mother earth when thrown upon her, at last lifted him up in the air and squeezed him to death. Hence likewise may be deduced the fable which intimates that Hercules took the globe from Atlas upon his own shoulders, overcame the dragon which guarded the orchards of the Hesperides, and made himself master of all the golden apples it produced, which were probably the treasures which fell into Hercules's hands upon the defeat of Antaeus; the Greeks giving to the oriental word ἀργυρον, riches, the signification affixed to their own term μήλα, apples.

With regard to the age in which Atlas and Antaeus lived, the supposition of Sir Isaac Newton seems to be the most probable. According to that illustrious author, Ammon, the father of Sesak, was the first King of Libya, or of that vast tract extending from the borders of Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, the conquest of which country was effected by Sesak in his father's lifetime. Neptune afterwards excited the Libyans to a rebellion against Sesak, and slew him, and then invaded Egypt under the command of Atlas or Antaeus, the son of Neptune, Sesak's brother and admiral. Not long after, Hercules, the general of Thebais and Ethiopia, reduced a second time the whole territory of Libya, having overthrown and slain Antaeus near a town in Thebais, from that event called Antea or Anteopolis. This happened about a thousand years before the birth of Christ.

From the defeat of Antaeus nothing remarkable occurs in the history of Mauretania till the times of the Romans, who at last brought the whole kingdom under their jurisdiction. With regard to the customs and manners of this people, it would seem, from what Hyginus intimates, that Maurice, they fought only with clubs, until one Belus, the son of Neptune (as that author calls him), taught them the use of the sword. Sir Isaac Newton is of opinion that this Belus was the same with Sesostris, King of Egypt, who overran a great part of the then known world. All persons of distinction in Mauritania went richly attired, wearing gold and silver on their clothes, and bestowed great care on the ornamenting of their persons. The Mauritanian infantry in time of action used shields made of elephants' skins, being clad in those of lions, leopards, and bears, which they kept on both night and day. The cavalry of this nation were armed with broad, short lances, and carried targets or bucklers made of the skins of wild beasts. They used no saddles. Their horses were small and swift, had wooden collars about their necks, and were so much under the command of their riders that they followed them like dogs. The habit of these horsemen was not much different from that of the foot already mentioned; they constantly wore a large tunic of the skins of wild beasts. The Phutati, of whom the Mauritanians were a branch, were eminent for their shields, and the excellent use they made of them, as we learn from Homer, Xenophon, Herodotus, and Scripture. Nay, Herodotus seems to intimate that the shield and helmet came from them to the Greeks.

Notwithstanding the fertility of their soil, the poorer sorts of the Mauritanians never took care to manure the ground, being strangers to the art of husbandry, but roved about the country in a wild and savage manner, like the ancient Scythians or Arabes Scenici, living in tents, or mopalia, inconveniently small. Their food was corn, herbs, &c., which they frequently ate green without any manner of preparation, being destitute of wine, oil, and all the elegancies as well as many necessaries of life. Their habit was the same both in summer and winter, consisting chiefly of a coarse, thick garment, and over it a rough tunic, which answered probably to that of their neighbours the Numidians. Most of them lay every night upon the bare ground, nor unlike the Kabyles and Arabs of the present day. If the most approved reading of Horace may be admitted, the Mauritanians shot poisoned arrows, which clearly intimates that they had some skill in the art of preparing poisons, and were excellent bowmen. This last observation is countenanced by Herodian and Aelian, who affirm that they were in such continual danger of being devoured by wild beasts, that they durst not stir out of their tents without their darts. Such perpetual exercise must have rendered them exceedingly skilful in hurling that weapon. The Mauritanians sacrificed human victims to their deities, like the Phenicians, Carthaginians, and other nations. The country people were extremely rude and barbarous; but those inhabiting cities must have had at least some acquaintance with the literature of the several nations from whom they derived their origin. That the Mauritanians had some knowledge of naval affairs seems probable, not only from the intercourse they had with the Phenicians and Carthaginians, as well as the situation of their country, but likewise from the statement of Orpheus or Onomacritus, who asserts that they had made a settlement at the entrance into Colchis, to which place they came by sea. To magic and sorcery, divination and witchcraft, they appear to have applied themselves in very early times. Cicero and Pliny say that Atlas was the inventor of astrology and the doctrine of the sphere, which he first introduced into Mauritania. This, according to Diodorus Siculus, gave rise to the fable of Atlas bearing the heavens upon his shoulders. The same author relates that Atlas instructed Hercules in the doctrine of the sphere and astrology, or rather astronomy, and that the latter afterwards brought these sciences into Greece.