Mauretania

[M�ller, Numismatique de l 'ancienne Afrique, iii, pp. 78 f. and Suppl., pp. 69 f.;
Babelon, Rev. Num., 1889, pp. 403 f.; Cagnat, op. cit.]

Kings

Syphax (circ. B.C. 213-202). �. Inscr. ספק הממלכת (Spq hammamlekent). Typesâ€"Diademed head of king, or Bare male head, rev. Horseman galloping (M�ller, iii, p. 90, 2-4, iv, p. 69).

Vermina, son of Syphax (circ. B.C. 200) (M�ller, iii. p. 88, iv, p. 69; Babelon, p. 403).

Bust of king, diademed (Fig. 398).

ורמנד הממלכת (Urmnd hammamleket) Horse galloping. AR 227.6 grs.

FIG. 398.

Bocchus I or II, or Bogud I (first half of first century B.C.).

Head of king, diademed. [M�ller, iv, Pl. III. 4 a.]	Prow of war-vessel. AR 228.4 grs.
Id. [M�ller, iv, Pl. III. 4 b.]	Id. AR 109.2 grs.

Bogud II (circ. B.C. 49-31), king of western Mauretania (M�ller, iii, p. 95).

Griffin devouring stag. [B. M. Guide, Pl. LXX. 40.]	REX BOCVT Griffin standing, above which, winged disk. AR Denarius 64 grs.
Head of Africa in elephant-skin.	Id. AR Denarius 45 grs.
Bearded head.	REX BOCVT Prow. � .95

Bocchus II (III), king of eastern Mauretania, circ. B.C. 49-38, and of eastern and western Mauretania B.C. 38-33. Bronze. Inscr., בקש (Bqs) or פקש (Pqs), rev. שיגען (= Sigan), indicating that they were struck at the town of Siga. Also בקש הממלכת and שמש = ‘Bocchus the king’, struck at Semes. Typesâ€"Male head with pointed beard, rev. Bacchus (?) holding a small bull by one horn; Star, grapes, and ear of corn (M�ller, iii, p. 98, iv, p. 72).

There are also � coins with inscr. בקש הממלכת (or פקש), REX BOCCHVS, and SOSI F?; types, Bust of Africa in elephant-skin, rev. Head of Janus, or Male head, rev. Elephant. These M�ller (iv, p. 73) attributes to the Interregnum of B.C. 33-25.

Juba II, B.C. 25-A. D. 23. This king was the son of Juba I, who lost his kingdom at the battle of Thapsus. He was made king of Mauretania by Augustus, and married first Cleopatra Selene, daughter of M. Antonius and the famous Cleopatra, and afterwards Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia, on whose coins some of his own are modelled. His silver coins, denarii of light weight, are very plentiful (see Dieudonn�, M�l. Num., i, pp. 320 ff). They read REX IVBA, and in the latter part of his reign the regnal year is added on the reverse (e.g. R. XXXI, etc.). They bear as a rule the head of Juba on the obverse and various types on the reverse : Head of Africa; Elephant; Lion; Eagle holding hare; Head of Herakles; Club, and other symbols of Herakles; Horseman spearing boar; Cornucopiae; Star and Crescent; Altar, on which Uraeus; Altar between trees (LVCV[s] AVGVSTI); Capricorn; Temple of Augustus; Nike, &c.; and sometimes a wreath, within which is the name of the capital of Mauretania, Caesarea, the ancient Iol. The bronze coins are less numerous. On some of these the inscription is in Greek ΒΑCΙΛΕWC ΙΟΒΑ (M�ller, p. 107).

The city of Carthago Nova conferred upon Juba the honorary title of Duumvir quinquennalis. Cf. M�ller, iii, p. 111.

Juba II and Cleopatra, or Cleopatra alone. Denarii and bronze; inscr., REX IVBA (sometimes also REGIS IVBAI F) on the obverse, and

FIG. 399.

ΒΑCΙΛΙCCΑ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ on the reverse; types, portraits of Juba and Cleopatra (Fig. 399), or types referring to the worship of Isis, and other Egyptian divinities. Others bear the head and name, always in Greek, of Cleopatra alone.

Ptolemy, A. D. 23-40, the son of Juba and Cleopatra, was co-regent with his father before the death of the latter, as is evident from denarii bearing the joint names and portraits REX IVBA, rev. REX PTOLEMAEVS and dates. He issued also some rare gold coins.

REX PTOLEMAEVS Diademed head. [Mommsen, Sitzungsber. Berl. Akad., 1883, xliii.]	R A XVIII Wreath on sella curulis, with sceptre leaning against it. AV 48.8 grs.
Id. [British Museum.]	PIETATI R A XV (?) Altar. AV 48 grs.

The denarii of this king are all of very light weight and inferior in execution to those of his father. Inscr., REX PTOLEMAEVS, and date R(egni) A(nno) I, II, etc. Typesâ€"Palm-tree, Elephant, Cornucopiae, Club, etc., etc.

The bronze coins read REX PTOLEMAEVS REGIS IVBAE F. or REG(nante) REGE PTOLEMAEO.

The inscr. REX PTOL in the center of certain bronze coins of Carthago Nova proves that that city paid the king of Mauretania the compliment of electing him as one of the municipal Duumviri quinquennales. Ptolemaeus was invited to Rome by Caligula A. D. 40, and there assassinated, after which Mauretania was constituted a Roman province.

Towns

Babba, a Roman colony founded by Augustus, under the title Colonia Campestris Julia Babba, abbreviated on coins C. C. I. B. Other inscriptions are D. D. PVBL. (Decreto Decurionum publico), and EX CONSENSV D(ecurionum). Bronze of Augustus (Rev. Num., 1889, p. 506), Claudius, Nero, and Galba. Typesâ€"Bull swimming; Bridge of three arches, &c.

Camarata, a maritime town not far from Siga. Bronze of barbarous work. Inscr., כמא (Km 'a), obv. Rude head, rev. Grapes and ear of corn (M�ller, iii, p. 143).

Iol, a town of Phoenician origin, was the residence of Juba II, by whom its name was changed to Caesarea. The inscr. CAESAREA occurs on denarii and bronze of Juba II, and on autonomous bronze of abou the same time (M�ller, iii, p. 138).

Lix, the most important town on the western or Atlantic coast of Mauretania. The coins are of the late autonomous period, with the Neo-Punic inscr. לכש and מבעל לכש (= Lks and Mbal Lks, the people of Lix), also LIXS and LIX. Typesâ€"Head of divinity in conical hat with cord hanging from the top, rev. Two bunches of grapes; Two fishes; Altar, &c. (M�ller, iii, p. 155).

Rusadir (M�ller, iv, p. 78). Late autonomous bronze Inscr., רשאדר (Rs 'dr), Bearded head, rev. Bee between ears of corn.

Sala, on the Atlantic coast, bordering upon the desert. Late autonomous bronze coins with Neo-Punic inscr. שעלת (S 'lt), Bearded head, rev. Grapes with ear of corn and disk within crescent (M�ller, iii, p. 163).

Semes. Site unknown. Bronze with name of Bocchus II (III) and autonomous, probably of the time of Juba II. Inscr., מקם שמש (Maqom Sms, City of the Sun), usually with bearded head of the Sun-god facing, rev. Star; Grapes and corn.

Siga, on the Mediterranean coast, near the mouth of a little river of the same name, between Caesarea and Tingis. Regal bronze of Bocchus II (III), q. v.

Tamusida or Tamusia, on the Atlantic coast, about thirty miles north of Sala, probably identical with the Thymiateria of Scylax. Late autonomous bronze with Neo-Punic inscr. תמדעת (Tmd 't ?), Head of bearded divinity, rev. Two ears of corn (M�ller, iii, p. 162).

Timici, an inland town in the western part of Mauretania Caesariensis. Late autonomous bronze. Inscr., תמכי (Tmki), Bearded head, rev. Grapes between two laurel branches (M�ller, iii, p. 143).

Tingis, now Tangiers, on the straits of Gibraltar, the chief town of Mauretania Tingitana. Late autonomous bronze with Neo-Punic legends, בעלת תתגא (B 'lt Ttg ') בעלת תינגא (B 'lt Ting '), or מבעל תינגא (Mb 'l Ting '), etc. (city or citizens of Tingis) (M�ller, iii, p. 144), Bearded head of Baal without neck, or of Demeter, &c., rev. Ears (or ear) of corn. Also Imperialâ€"Augustus and Agrippa, with Neo-Punic and Latin legend, IVL TIN, rev. Bearded head of Baal facing.

Zilis, about twenty miles south of Tingis. Late autonomous bronze, with Neo-Punic inscr., אשלית (‘slit), Head of Hermes with caduceus, rev. Two upright ears of corn (M�ller, iii, p. 153).

DICTIONARY| OF ROMAN| COINS|

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MAVRETANIA.----An inhabitant of this province stands with a spear in his left hand, and holds with the other a horse by the bridle.----This name and appropriate type of the Moorish race, appears on a large brass of Hadrian, of which an illustration is here given.

The cavalry of the Mauri was renowned of old both for the excellence of the horses and the skill of the riders.----Accordingly we find the figures of horses stamped even on the earliest coins of the Mauretanian Kings. That this equestrian people were employed, under their leader Lusius Quintus, in the various wars of Trajan, is attested in several passages of Dion; and the Trajan column itself affords a lasting testimony to this fact, in that compartment of its sculptured shaft, on which the Moorish horsemen are represented making a furious charge upon the Dacians.
    The Mauretanian is depictured on the coin, walking with bridle and lance in his hand, because that people, according to Strabo, generally fought with spears and on horseback.

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MAVRETANIA--Spelled with an E as well on inscribed marbles as on coins of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Commodus--a region of Africa, separated from Spain by the straits of Gibraltar (fretum Gaditanum), and from Numidia buy the river Ampsaga.  It is now Morocco. 

Mauretania was made a conquest by Julius Caesar, who vanquished its king, Juba, reduced the country to a Roman province, giving the government of it to the Pro-consul Crispus Sallustius.

Augustus afterwards exchanged it with Juba, the son, for Numidia. 

The region remained under subjection to the Romans until about A.D. 441, when Genseric, King of the Vandals, gained possession of it.  The Emperor Valentinian disputed with him its retention, sword in hand for three years, with various success; and at length peace was established between these two potentates, who divided Northern Africa between them.  At the death of Valentinian, Genseric not only recovered all which he had ceded, but overthrew the Empire of the West.  Justinian rec-conquered this territory ninety-five years after the Vandals had permanently occupied it. 

Spanheim (Pr. ii. p. 583) affirms that the ensigns of royalty were accustomed to be sent to the Mauretanian Kings by the Roman Emperors, and in no other way were they confirmed in their regal dignity.