Andrew Kenrick writes about ancient history, archaeology, food and travel, sometimes all at once. His debut work of biography, Rex Juba: 15 Glimpses of an African King, is out now from Penguin/Torva.

Rex Juba: 15 Glimpses of an African King

In 46 BC, at just two years old, a young North African prince named Juba was paraded through the streets of Rome as part of Julius Caesar’s victory parade. This traumatic beginning, however, did not define his future. As a young man, Juba fought alongside Emperor Augustus and was sent back to rule over Mauretania as king.

Juba’s reign was marked not by tyranny, but by scholarship. A famed antiquarian, travel writer, and explorer, he discovered and named the Canary Islands, penned histories of Arabia and Libya, and led diplomatic missions to his fellow kings. Ruling alongside his wife, Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of Antony and Cleopatra, these heirs to African dynasties were potent symbols of Romanisation.

Their dynasty would be cut dramatically short by the mad emperor Caligula, their history buried for centuries. In this ambitious work of historical recovery, Dr Andrew Kenrick pieces together clues etched in coin and stone to reveal a Roman civilization that flourished just as much in Africa as it did in Europe. By inviting us to shift our gaze to the southern shores of the Mediterranean, Rex Juba offers a surprising new perspective on the heyday of the ancient world.

Out 6th August from Penguin/Torva

Articles

Gladiator II: a historian on the real north African kingdom of Numidia – and the men who ruled it, The Conversation, 16th December 2024

Museum classifies Roman emperor as trans – but modern labels oversimplify ancient gender identities, The Conversaton, 28th November 2023