Average Otherness? Numidia and Numidians in Sallust and Livy

• Méry, Liza ^[1]
  1. [1] Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

     Paris West University Nanterre La Défense

     París, Francia

     
• Localización: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, ISSN 0076-0730, Vol. 68, Nº. 2, 2025, págs. 190-209
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • To our knowledge, Roman authors did not write any historical or ethnographic works devoted solely to Numidia and the Numidians. However, Sallust and Livy do narrate episodes in the history of Rome in which the Numidians played a role. While they are not historical sources that allow us to reconstruct fully the history of Numidia, Sallust and Livy are important because they help us to understand how the Romans represented Numidians and Numidia towards the end of the first century BCE, a pivotal moment in the formation of Roman identity. Unsurprisingly, the relationship between Romans and Numidians, which overlaps with the opposition between ‘civilized peoples' and ‘barbarians', is highly asymmetrical. However, the otherness of the Numidians is not accentuated or even exaggerated: unlike other peoples who were formidable enemies of the Romans, the Numidians display an ‘average’ otherness, not a radical one.