Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/471

 NU5IIDIA NOVA. senators, many of whom were bribed by Jus;urtha, sent commissioners, who divided the kingdom in such a manner that Jugurtha obtained the most warlike and most productive portion of it. New qu;irrels broke out between the rival princes, when Jugurtha besieged Adherbal in Cirta, and, after compelling him to surrender, put him to a cruel death. War was declared against Jugurtha by Kome, which, after being carried on with varying success, was finished by his capture and death in B.C. 106. The kingdom was given to Hiempsal II., who was succeeded by liis s(in Jnba I., who in the civil wars allied himself to the Pompeians. On the death of Juba I., b. c. 46, Numidia was made a Kiiman province by Julius Caesar, who put it in the hands of Sallust, the historian. A. d. 39, Cali- gula changed the government of the province, giving apparently, co-ordinate powers to the proconsul and the legatus. [See the article Africa, Vol. I. p. 70, where the arrangements are fully de-cribed.] The "legatus Aug. pr.pr. Numidiae"(Orelli. Imcr. 3672) resided at Cirta, the capital of the old Numidian kings, which, since the time of Augustus, had ac- quired the " jus coloniae." Besides Cirta, there were many other " coloniae," of which the following names are known: — Sicca: Tiiamucadis; Aphro- DisiUM; Calcua; Tabraca ; Tibiga ; Tyri- DKOMUM ; TUBURNICA ; ThEVESTE ; MkdAURA ; Ajimedera ; SiMiTTU ; EusiCADE ; Hippo Ke- GiL's; JIiLEUM; Lambaesa; Thelepte Lares. Bulla Regia was a " liberum oppidum." The number of towns must have been considerable, as, according to the " Notitia," Numidia had in the fifili century 123 episcopal sees. (JMarquardt, in Bekker's Handbuch der Rom. Alt. pt. iii. p. 229.) During the Roman occupation of the country, that people, according to their usual plan, drove several ro:ids through it. Numerous remains of Rom;m posts and stations, which were of two kinds, those which secured the roads, and others which guarded the estates at some distance from them, are still remaining (Londoti Geog. Journ. vol. viii. p. 53) ; and such was their excellent ar- rangement that, at first, one legion, " Ilia Aug.," to which afterwards a .second was added, " Macri- ana liberatrix " (Tac. Hist. i. II), served to keep the African provinces secure from the incursions of the Moorish tribes. The long peace which Africa en- joyed, and the flourishing corn trade it carried on, had converted the wild Numidian tribes into peace- ful peasants, and had opened a great field for Chris- tian exertion. In the fourth century, Numidia was the chosen seat of the Donatist schism. The ra- vages of the Circumcellions contributed to that destruction, which was finally consummated by the Vandal invasion. Justinian sent forth his troops, with a view of putting down the Arians, more than of winning new provinces to the empire The work was a complete one; the Vandals were exterminated. Along with the temporary rule of Constantinople, the native population of Africa reappeared. The most signal victory of the cross, as it appeared to that generation, prepared the way for the victory of the crescent a centuiy afterwards. [E. B. J.] NUMIDIA NOVA. [Africa, Vol. I. p. 71, a.] NUMI'DICUS SINUS. [Numidia.] NUMISTRO (Nou^uio-Tpwr, Ptol.; NoixicrTpaiv Plut.: Eth. Numestraiius), a town of Lucania, ap- parently near the frontiers of Apulia, near which a battle was fought between Hannibal and Marcellus, in B.C. 210, without any decisive result (Liv. xxvii. NURSIA. 455 2 ; Plut. 3farc. 24). From the narrative of Livv which is copied by Plutarch, it is clear that Nu- mistro was situated in the northern part of Lucania as Marcellus marched out of Samnium thither, and Hannibal after the battle drew off his forces, and withdrew towards Apulia, but was overtaken by Marcellus near Venusia. Pliny also enumerates the Nume^trani (evidently the same people) among the municipal towns of Lucania, and places them in the neighbourhood of the Volcentani. Hence it is cer- tainly a mistake on the part of Ptolemy that he transfers Numistro to the interior of Bruttium, un- less there were two towns of the name, which is scarcely probable. Cluverius, however, fullows Pto- lemy, and identifies Numistro with Nicastro in Ca- labria, but this is certainly erroneous (Plin. iii. 11. s. 15; Ptol, iii. 1. §74; Cluver Ital. p. 1319). The .site conjecturally assigned to it by Eomanelli, near the modern Muro, about 20 miles NV. from Pvtenza, is plausible enough, and agrees well with Pliny's statement that it was united for municipal purposes with Volceii {Bticcino), which is about 12 miles dis- tant from Muro (Romanelli, vol. i. p. 434). Some ancient remains and inscriptions have been found on the spot. [E. H. B.] NURA. [Baleares, p. 374, a.] NU'RSIA {Hovpaia.: Eth. Nursinus: Norcia), a city of the Sabines, situated in the upper part of the valley of the Nar, at the foot of the lofty group of the Apennines, now known as the Monti della Stbilla. The coldness of its climate, resulting from its position in the midst of high mountains, is cele- brated by Virgil and Silius Italicus. (Virg. Ae7i. vii. 716; Sil. Ital. viii. 417.) Tiie first mention of it in history is in the Second Punic War (b. c. 205), when it was one of the cities which came forward with volunteers for the amiaments of Scipio. (Liv. xxviii. 45.) As on this occasion the only three cities of the Sabines mentioned by name are Nursia, Reate, and Amiternum, it is probable that Nursia was, as well as the other two, one of the most con- siderable places among the Sabines. It was a municipal town under the Roman government (Orell. Inscr. 3966; Plin. iii. 12. s. 17; Ptol. iii. 1 § 55), and we learn that its inhabitants were punisben by Octavian for their zealous adherence to the republican party, and the support they afibrded to L. Antonius in the Perusian War. (Suet. Avg. 12; Dion Cass, xlviii. 13.) It was the birthplace of Vespasia Polla, the mother of the emperor Vespasian; and the monuments of her i'amily existed in the time of Suetonius at a place called Vespasiae, 6 miles from Nursia on the road to Spoletinm. (Suet. Vcyj. 1.) The " ager Nursinus" is mentioned more than once in the Liber Coloniarum (pp. 227, 257), but it does not appear that it ever received a regular colony. We learn from Columella and Pliny that it was celebrated for its turnips, which are also alluded to by Martial (CoUim. x. 421; Plin. xviii. 13. .s. 34; Martial, xiii. 20.) From its secluded position Nursia is not mentioned in the Itineraries, but there is no doubt that it continued to exist throughout the period of the Roman Empire. It became .an episcopal see at an early period, and is celebrated in ecclesias- tical history as the birthplace of St. Benedict, the founder of the first great monastic order. It is said that remains of the ancient walls still exist at Norcia, in the same massive polygonal style as those near Reate and Amiternum (Petit-Radel, Ann. d. Inst Arch. 1829, p. 51), but they have never been described in detail. [E. H. B.] G G 4