The Berber Latin King: Juba II of Mauretania

Before Morocco was Muslim, before the Idrisids, before the Arab conquest, there was a Berber king who married a Greek princess, wrote books in Greek, and ruled a kingdom that rivaled Rome. Juba II of Mauretania — raised as a child hostage in Caesar's Rome, educated by the finest scholars, and then sent back to North Africa to rule as a client king. But he was no puppet. He turned his capital at Iol (modern Cherchell) into a center of Hellenistic learning, wrote encyclopedic works on geography, natural history, and theater, and even sent an expedition to the Canary Islands. His wife Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony, co-ruled beside him. When she died, his son Ptolemy took over — until the emperor Caligula had him murdered and annexed the kingdom. This episode explores the life, the legacy, and the unanswered questions: Was Juba a collaborator or a true Hellenistic monarch? Why did Caligula kill Ptolemy? And what happened to the royal library of Mauretania? All that, plus the mysterious Purple Islands and the lost Berber alphabet. #JubaII #Mauretania #BerberKing #CleopatraSelene #RomanClientKing #Numidia #Iol #Cherchell #CanaryIslands #PurpleIslands #PtolemyOfMauretania #Caligula #HellenisticNorthAfrica #BerberHistory #FexingoHistory #History #NorthAfrica #MoroccoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo