Saturday, September 19, 2015

Juba II and Kleopatra Selene (2003, 2015)





Duane W. Roller was Professor of Classics at Ohio State University. Now he has retired and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is the author of several books about the history of the ancient world, including The Building Program of Herod the Great (1998) and Cleopatra: A Biography (2010, 2012).

His book about the world of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene was published in 2003 (hardcover) and in 2015 (paperback). 
 
The book begins with a brief introduction and ends with a brief epilogue. The main story in between is divided into eleven chapters. Here is the table of contents:

** Chapter 1 – Juba’s Numidian Ancestry

** Chapter 2 – Mauretania

** Chapter 3 – Juba’s youth and education

** Chapter 4 – Kleopatra Selene

** Chapter 5 – The Mauretanian client kingdom: foundation, military history, and economy

** Chapter 6 – The artistic and cultural program of Juba and Kleopatra Selene

** Chapter 7 – Rex Literatissimus [a most learned king]

** Chapter 8 – Libyka [Juba’s work about North Africa]

** Chapter 9 – The eastern expedition with Gaius Caesar

** Chapter 10 – On Arabia

** Chapter 11 – The Mauretanian dynasty

When a chapter is longer than 10-15 pages, the text should be divided into shorter sections by means of subheadings. Roller is aware of this golden rule. He follows it in the introduction and in chapters 5, 6, and 7, but in the remaining chapters the rule is ignored. This is a shame. He should have been consistent. He should have followed this rule in every chapter. This would have made his book more reader-friendly than it is now.

Chapters 1 and 2 cover the geography of the region (Numidia and Mauretania), while chapters 3 and 4 are biographical (Juba II and Kleopatra Selene). 
 
Chapters 5 and 6 cover the kingdom of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene, while chapters 7-10 cover Juba’s scholarly production. 
 
Chapter 11 – the final chapter - covers the short history of the Mauretanian kingdom, from Juba II to his son Ptolemaios.

At the end of the book we have the following items:

** Appendix 1 – The published works of Juba II

** Appendix 2 – Stemmata [family trees]

** Appendix 3 – Client kingship

** Bibliography

** List of passages cited [index locorum]

** Index

The bibliography covers more than thirty pages (276-309). There are books and articles in several languages, not only in English. The standard work Rome in Africa by Susan Raven (third edition, 1993) is included, but one important work is missing: The North African Stones Speak by Paul MacKendrick (hardcover 1980, paperback 2000).

What about illustrations? There are four maps and 26 figures. All illustrations are in black-and-white. Figures 25 and 26 show several coins from Numidia and Mauretania: figure 25 offers seven small pictures, while figure 26 offers eight small pictures.

Nineteen of the 26 figures are photos taken by the author himself in different locations - Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Spain – which shows that the author has travelled extensively in the region whose ancient history he is describing in the book. 
 
This is quite impressive.

Unfortunately, the quality of his photos is not very high. In fact, some of them are so poor that it is almost impossible to see what they are supposed to show. The worst cases are figure 2 from Zama, figure 10 from Volubilis in Morocco, figure 22 from the Canary Islands, and figure 23 from the Atlas Mountains.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE BOOK
Juba II was born in 48 BC. He was the son of Juba I, king of Numidia. One of his ancestors was Massinissa. Another ancestor was Jugurtha. In the civil war between the populares and the optimates – between Caesar and Pompeius, known in English as Pompey – Juba I chose the wrong side, the losing side. 
 
When Juba I died in 46 BC, Caesar rescued his son and brought him to Rome. He was displayed in Caesar’s African triumph in 46 BC, although he was only two years old.

When Caesar was killed in 44 BC, the young Juba was placed in the house of Octavian, the future emperor Augustus. He was raised in the house of Octavia – sister of the future emperor – where he received a Roman education. He was the son of an enemy, but from now on he was treated as a friend, as a member of the imperial family.

Kleopatra Selene was born in 40 BC. She was the daughter of the Egyptian Queen Kleopatra and the Roman politician Marcus Antonius, known in English as Mark Antony. Kleopatra and Antonius lost the civil war with Octavian in 31 BC and committed suicide in the following year. 
 
When Octavian arrived in Egypt, he rescued their daughter and brought her to Rome. She was also placed in the house of Octavia where she received a Roman education. She was the daughter of an enemy, but from now on she was treated as a friend, as a member of the imperial family.

Juba II could not become king of Numidia, because it had been turned into a Roman province, but there was another area in North Africa that had to be controlled: Mauretania in the western part of North Africa. 
 
Augustus decided that Juba II should be a Roman client king of this area. He needed a proper wife. For this purpose Augustus chose Kleopatra Selene. The marriage took place in 25 BC. She was only 15, he was 23. Neither had any connection with their new kingdom, but both had strong ties to North Africa: Juba II was the son of a Numidian king, while Kleopatra was the daughter of an Egyptian queen.

Juba II ruled Mauretania for almost fifty years, from 25 BC until his death in AD 23 or 24. Kleopatra Selene was his queen for ca. twenty years, from 25 BC until her death around 5 BC.

Their son Ptolemaios was born sometime between 13 and 9 BC. He ruled with his father during the last years of his father’s life. When Juba died in AD 23 or 24, Ptolemaios ruled alone for more than ten years. He was killed by the Roman emperor Caligula, probably in AD 40. This was the end of the Mauretanian dynasty.

The kingdom of Mauretania had two capitals: 
 
(1) Lol, which is located on the coast, and which was renamed Caesarea. Today it is known as Chercell in Algeria. 
 
(2) Volubilis, which is located inland. The remains of this ancient city are found in present-day Morocco.

Juba II was not only king of Mauretania, he was also a scholar. He wrote several books while he was a prince in Rome, He wrote more books while he was a king in North Africa. As a member of the Roman elite, he knew both Latin and Greek. Most of his works are written in Greek.

The late American scholar Paul MacKendrick sums up the role of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene with these words:

“He was Numidian born, Punic in culture, Greek by education, Roman in experience; having walked as a small boy in Caesar’s triumph, he was brought up in the Julio-Claudian circle and married to the fifteen-year-old Cleopatra Selene, daughter, as we saw, of Cleopatra by Mark Antony. This piece of canny Augustan matchmaking turned the children of two enemies into devoted vassals.”

[The North African Stones Speak (1980, 2000), page 205.]

A REVIEW OF THE BOOK
Josephine Crawley Quinn (St. John’s College, Oxford University) reviewed the hardcover version of this book for the online magazine Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2004.07.31). The general tone of her review is positive. She says:

“Duane Roller’s study of the client kings of Mauretania -- the first in English -- is a welcome addition to the list [of recent books about Roman North Africa]: its judicious combination of material and literary evidence (not a feature of other recent books) makes for a rewarding exercise in cultural and political history.”

The “generous level of speculation” in the biographical chapters about Juba II and Kleopatra Selena is described as “refreshing, though not always entirely convincing.” As an example she asks: “do Strabo's occasional references to Juba, for instance, necessarily ‘indicate strong friendship’ (page 69)?”

As for the illustrations, she says: “The book is well produced, although some of the landscape photos lack contrast.” This is a very polite way of saying what I have already said above: the quality of the photos is poor and some of them are simply hopeless.

Quinn likes this book. At the end of her review she says she has only two minor quibbles:

# 1. “Sallust is not the first author to use ‘Numidia’ as a toponym (page 41 note 4): for that, see Polybius 36.16.7 (‘Nomadia’).”

# 2. “The Medracen is not the location of a Numidian tomb (page 130), but the name of the tomb itself.”

[For more information about Medracen, see The North African Stones Speak by Paul MacKendrick (1980, 2000), pp. 190-191.]

MY COMMENTS ABOUT THE BOOK
I agree with Quinn’s review (the positive as well as the negative remarks). I like this book as much as she does. And, like Quinn, I have a few minor quibbles:

# 1. On page 1 Roller mentions Massinissa, the famous warrior king of Numidia, who was born in 240 or 238 BC. According to Roller, he “lived to the age of 90, surviving both the Second and the Third Punic Wars.”

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 to 201 BC, while the Third Punic War lasted from 149 to 146 BC. The king of Numidia lived to be very old. When he died in 148 BC, he was 90, perhaps 92. 
 
Roller knows Massinissa died in 148 BC, because it is mentioned on page 16. But he seems to have forgotten when the Third Punic War ended. Since it lasted until 146 BC, Massinissa did not survive this war.

# 2. On page 1 Roller mentions “the faction of Gaius Pompeius.” The first name of this famous politician is Gnaeus, not Gaius. Elsewhere in the book and in the index, Roller uses the right name, so why does he give a wrong name on the very first page of the book?

# 3. On page 41, note 6, Roller says Strabo’s placement of a boundary “may reflect the heresay nature of his information.” When I type the word “heresay,” a red line appears below it, to tell me that it is wrong. The correct word is “hearsay.” Did Roller use a typewriter when he wrote his book? How could he make a mistake like this? How could his book editor fail to correct it?

# 4. On page 73 Roller mentions something that happened “in the latter first century BC.” The word “latter” is wrong. It should be “later.”

Roller seems to have a big problem distinguishing between these two words, because the same mistake appears on page 165 when he talks about “the latter years of Juba’s kingship” and on page 227 when he talks about “the latter Augustan period.” In both cases the word “latter” should be replaced with the word “later.”

# 5. On page 117 Roller mentions “the fifth century AC.” The correct abbreviation is AD. Roller knows this, because he uses it on many occasions. However, he seems to be very fond of AC, because it pops up more than ten times: 132, 135, 146, 156 (note 209), 164, 173, 178, 195, 197, 206, 235, 238, 251, 252, 257, and 271.

As most people know, AC is the abbreviation for Alternate Current; hardly relevant in a book about the history of the ancient world.

# 6. On page 198 Roller says: “… there was to be no settlement or exploitation (as these was of the Purple Islands)…” The sentence in brackets should read: “as there was of the Purple Islands.”

FROM HARDCOVER TO PAPERBACK
The paperback version from 2015 is a faithful reproduction of the hardcover version from 2003. This is a shame. Between 2003 and 2015 the author and the publisher had more than ten years to identify and correct minor mistakes in the text of the first version. They also had more than ten years to replace the hopeless illustrations with some better photos. Unfortunately, they did neither.

They must have read Quinn’s review from 2004, because the Bryn Mawr Classical Review is an important source of information in the world of classical studies. But her objections were ignored. She pointed out that some photos were not as good as they should be. She was right, but they were not replaced. She mentioned two minor quibbles. She was right, but they were not corrected.

I can understand that there are some minor flaws in the first version from 2003. But I fail to understand why the author and or the publisher decided that all minor flaws should be repeated in the paperback version from 2015.

These days, when we work with computers, it is easy to open a file and correct a mistake before a new version of a document is printed. I do not understand why the author and or the publisher failed to take advantage of this opportunity to publish an improved version of the book from 2003. This is a shame.

CONCLUSION
The ancient literary evidence about Juba II and Kleopatra Selene is limited. None of Juba’s numerous works have been preserved in toto. All we have are fragments that are quoted by other ancient authors. 
 
The ancient archaeological evidence from the capital cities of Mauretania – Caesarea and Volubilis – is also limited, and it is difficult to date what has been preserved, so we cannot always tell if an ancient monument is from the time of Juba II or from a later period.

In the light of this deplorable situation, it is almost a miracle that Roller has been able to write a whole book about “the World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene.” His account is based on a wide range of evidence: literary texts, inscriptions, and coins, as well as the remains of ancient cities.

There are many assumptions in chapters 3 and 4 about the lives of Juba II and Kleopatra, but they are based on similar cases about which we have more solid information, and Roller is careful to distinguish between what is true according to our sources and what could be true, even though it is not supported by any direct evidence.

The subtitle of the book is Royal Scholarship on Rome’s African Frontier. Roller is a classical scholar and he has written a scholarly account about the world of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene. His book was the first full-scale study in English of this topic, and twelve years later this description is still true.

Who is the target group? This book is not recommended for the beginner, because the topic may be too special. But it is highly recommended for the general reader who already has some knowledge about the history of ancient Rome and who wants to learn more. 
 
It is also recommended for the academic specialist. I am sure that even an expert in the field will learn something new and important about the world of ancient Rome by reading this book.

PS # 1. A few words about the price: the hardcover version from 2003 was and is very expensive. Amazon UK charges £ 85 for it. The paperback version from 2015 is much cheaper. Amazon UK charges only £ 30 for it.

If you were waiting for the paperback version to appear, you made a wise decision, even though you had to wait a long time, because now it is finally available, and the price is less than half of what you have to pay for the hardcover version.

PS # 2. In my review, I blame the author and/or the publisher for not correcting the minor flaws in the first edition from 2003. Since I wrote my review, I have been in contact with the author, and now I know that he should not be blamed for this. 
 
When the paperback version was to be published, he sent a list of typographical errors (including those mentioned in my review) to the publisher, but the response was that no changes could be made to the paperback. The publisher is responsible for this deplorable situation!

PS # 3. For more information about Juba’s capital Caesarea (modern Cherchell), see Sites et monuments antiques de l’Algérie by Jean-Marie Blas de Roblès & Claude Sintes (2003), pp. 30-48. An English version of this volume is available:
 
Classical Antiquities of Algeria: A Selective Guide
Translated and updated by Philip Kenrick
(2019)

PS # 4. The spectacular monument at Nemrut Dag in present-day Turkey is mentioned on pp. 137-138. It was built by King Antiochus, I who ruled Commagene from 70 or 69 to 38 or 36 BC.
 
Mount Nemrut: The Throne of the Gods is an excellent documentary film about this monument – written and directed by the Turkish filmmaker Tolga Örnek (produced in 2001, released on DVD in 2008).

PS # 5. These days the level of tourism in North Africa is not so high because of internal conflicts in several countries. 
 
If you want to visit the Roman remains of North Africa and if you think it is possible to go there, you should know that there is a travel guide that may help you find the way: North Africa: The Roman Coast - written by Ethel Davies and published by Bradt Travel Guides in 2009.

PS # 6. Cleopatra’s Daughter by Michelle Moran is a fictional account of the life and times of Kleopatra Selene (published in 2009). This historical novel has received mixed reviews on Amazon UK (all the way from 1 star to 5 stars).

***
Duane W. Roller,
The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene:
Royal Scholarship on Rome’s African Frontier,
Routledge, hardcover 2003, paperback 2015, 335 pages
 
***
 
 
 

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