Jugurtha

Jugurtha or Jugurthen (c. 160 – 104 BC) was a King of Numidia, born in Cirta (modern-day Constantine).

Background

Until the reign of Jugurtha's grandfather Masinissa, the people of Numidia were semi-nomadic and indistinguishable from the other Libyans in North Africa. Masinissa established a kingdom (roughly equivalent to modern northern Algeria) and became a Roman ally in 206 BC. After a long reign he was succeeded in 148 BC by his son Micipsa. Jugurtha, Micipsa's adopted son (and Masinissa's illegitimate grandson), was so popular among the Numidians that Micipsa was obliged to send him away to Spain. Unfortunately for Micipsa, instead of quietly keeping out of the way, Jugurtha used his time in Spain to make several influential Roman contacts. He served at the siege of Numantia (134-133 BC) alongside Gaius Marius and learned of Rome's weakness for bribes. He famously described Rome as "urbem venalem et mature perituram, si emptorem invenerit" ("a city for sale and doomed to quick destruction, if it should find a buyer," Sallust, Jug. 35.10).

1248 Jugurtha

1248 Jugurtha (also known as 1932 RO, 1930 DU, A901 VE, and A915 XB) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 1, 1932, by Cyril V. Jackson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa, and independently rediscovered later in the same month by Grigory Neujmin at the Simeiz Observatory in Ukraine. It is named after Jugurtha, who was a king of Numidia, in North Africa, in the second century BC.

1248 Jugurtha is estimated to be approximately 76 km in diameter, and has a synodic period of rotation of approximately 12.19 hours.

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