Reclaiming Massinissa: Twentieth-century Algerian nationalist historians and the ancient Numidian past

• Cazeaux, Mathilde ^[1]
  1. [1] École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

     École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

     Arrondissement de Lyon, Francia

     
• Localización: Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, ISSN 0076-0730, Vol. 68, Nº. 2, 2025, págs. 267-282
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This chapter looks at the reappropriation of the figure of Massinissa, king of Numidia between 202 and 148 Bce, by two Algerian reformist historians of the early twentieth century, al-Mīlī and al-Madanī. It explores what is at stake when they integrate into the narrative of the nation-to-be this hero who was valued by the Greeks and Romans, and even more so by colonial French historians, precisely because he was an ally of, or even submissive to, Rome. Their strategies to counter the disparaging stereotypes showcase how they engage with colonial knowledge and its relationship to antiquity.