Massinissa - Massinissa (English spelling)

King of Numidia (reigned 202-148 BC). During the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), he was a prince of the Kingdom of Massary, one of the indigenous Berber kingships in North Africa. He joined the Carthaginian army on the Iberian front and made contact with the enemy Roman general Scipio Africanus (Scipio the Elder) and pledged his cooperation. After the death of his father, he had a hard time against the neighboring Masaesyli king Syphax, who had invaded in support of Carthage, but with the help of the Roman army under the command of Scipio the Elder, who had just landed in Africa, he defeated the combined Syphax-Carthage army and ascended to the throne. He annexed the former Masaesyli territory and formed a large kingdom that stretched from the Gulf of Sidra in the east to the border of Mauretania (near present-day Morocco) in the west. After the Second Punic War ended, with the tacit approval of Rome, the Berbers encroached on the grain belt of the defeated Carthage, and using this agricultural management as a basis for their exchanges with Hellenistic countries, heralding the height of the ancient Berber kingdom. However, their blatant policy of aggression eventually led to a military counterattack from Carthage, and Rome used this as an excuse to declare war on Carthage, which led to the Third Punic War (149 BC - 146 BC).

[Nobuko Kurita]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ヌミディア王（在位前202～前148）。第二次ポエニ戦争（前218～前201）期に、北アフリカ先住民ベルベル系諸王権の一つ、マッシュリー王国の王子であった彼は、カルタゴ軍に加わって従軍したイベリア戦線でローマの敵将スキピオ・アフリカヌス（スキピオ（大））と接触、協力を誓った。父王の死後、カルタゴの意を迎えて侵入した隣国マサエシュリー国王シュファックスを相手に苦戦したが、おりしもアフリカ上陸を果たしたスキピオ（大）指揮下のローマ軍の助力で、シュファックス・カルタゴ連合軍を打倒して即位。旧マサエシュリー領をも併合して、東はシドラ湾岸から西はマウレタニア（現モロッコ付近）国境に達する大王国を形成するに至った。第二次ポエニ戦争終結後は、ローマの黙認の下で敗者カルタゴの穀倉地帯を蚕食、この地の農業経営を基礎としてヘレニズム諸国とも交流し、古代ベルベル王権の最盛期を現出。しかし、その露骨な侵略政策はついにカルタゴの武力反撃を招き、これを口実としたローマの対カルタゴ宣戦布告により、第三次ポエニ戦争（前149～前146）となる。

［栗田伸子］

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