page_title: Tacfarinas
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Tacfarinas / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Coin of King Juba II of the ancient Kingdom of Mauretania. Español: Moneda del antiguo Reino de Mauretania, con el perfil de Juba II de Numidia en el anverso.
context_page_description: Tacfarinas was a Numidian Berber deserter from the Roman army who led his own Musulamii tribe and a loose and changing coalition of other Berber tribes in a war against the Romans in North Africa during the rule of the emperor Tiberius. Though Tacfarinas' personal motivation is unknown, it is likely that the Roman occupation under Augustus of the traditional grazing grounds of the Musulamii was the determining factor.
  The war lasted from c. AD 15 to 24 and engaged four successive proconsuls of the Roman province of Africa, which, although a small part of the empire, was an important source of Rome's grain supply. It is unlikely that the Romans were ever in danger of being driven out of the province altogether, although in at least two periods, Tacfarinas' forces greatly outnumbered the local Roman garrison. However, the incapacity of Tacfarinas' lightly armed forces to defeat the Romans in set-piece battles or to assault Roman fortifications prevented him from achieving a decisive victory.
  Nevertheless, Tacfarinas' large-scale raids caused severe disruption of the province's grain production, which in turn threatened civil disorder in Rome.
caption: Coin of Juba II, king of Mauretania (ruled 25 BC – AD 23). Reverse: Idealised bust of Juba, with legend REXIUBA ("King Juba"). Educated in Rome, he was a personal friend of the emperor Augustus and a reliable Roman client-king.
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