page_title: Ptolemy of Mauretania
section_title: Reign
hierarchical_section_title: Ptolemy of Mauretania / Life / Reign
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Busto, di restauro moderno, di Tolomeo re di Numidia e Mauretania. Musei Vaticani, Museo Chiaramonti - Braccio Nuovo; inv. 2253.
context_page_description: Ptolemy of Mauretania was the last Roman client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome. He was a member of the Berber Massyles tribe of Numidia; via his mother Cleopatra Selene II, he was also a member of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty.
context_section_description: When Ptolemy returned to Mauretania, Juba II made Ptolemy his co-ruler and successor. Coinage has survived from Juba II's co-rule with his son. On coinage, on one side there is a central bust of Juba II with his title in Latin  ‘King Juba’. On the other side there is a central bust of Ptolemy and the inscription stating in Latin  ‘King Ptolemy son of Juba’. Juba II died in 23 and was placed alongside Cleopatra Selene II in the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania. Then Ptolemy became the sole ruler of Mauretania.
  During his co-rule with Juba II, and into his sole rule, Ptolemy, like his father, appeared to be a patron of art, learning, literature and sports. In Athens, Greece, statues were erected to Juba II and Ptolemy in a gymnasium in Athens, and a statue was erected in Ptolemy's honor in reference to his taste in literature. Ptolemy dedicated statues of himself on the Acropolis. The Athenians honored Ptolemy and his family with inscriptions dedicated to them, and this reveals that the Athenians had respect towards the Roman Client Monarchs and their families which was common in the 1st century.
  In the year 17, the local Berber tribes, the Numidian Tacfarinas and Garamantes, started to revolt against the Kingdom of Mauretania and Rome. The war had ravaged Africa and Berber forces included former slaves from Ptolemy's household who had joined in the revolt. Ptolemy through his military campaigns was unsuccessful in ending the Berber revolt. The war reached the point where  Ptolemy summoned the Roman governor of Africa, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, and his army to assist Ptolemy in ending the revolt. The war finally ended in 24. Although Ptolemy's army and the Romans won, both parties suffered considerable losses of infantry and cavalry.
  The Roman Senate, impressed by Ptolemy's loyal conduct, had sent a Roman senator to visit Ptolemy. The Roman senator recognized Ptolemy's loyal conduct and awarded him an ivory scepter, an embroidered triumphal robe, and the senator greeted Ptolemy as king, ally, and friend. This recognition was a tradition which recognized and rewarded the allies of Rome.
  Ptolemy, through his military campaigns, had proven his capability and loyalty as an ally and Client King to Rome. He was a popular monarch with the Berbers and had travelled extensively throughout the Roman Empire, including Alexandria, Egypt and Ostia, Italy.
  In Caesaria, prayers were offered for the health of Ptolemy at the Temple of Saturn frugifer dues. Mauretania was a region that was abundant in agriculture and a god considered equivalent to Saturn was the god of agriculture. This cult was an important one in the kingdom. A temple and a sanctuary were dedicated to Saturn in Caesaria by 30 and, throughout Mauretania, various temples were dedicated to Saturn.
  Ptolemy's parents descended from backgrounds that had strong endemic traditions in claiming their descent from Hercules (see Heracleidae). His mother originated from Egypt where there were various imperial cults dedicated to the Pharaohs and their relatives, and there is a possibility that his father's Royal Numidian ancestors may have had imperial cults dedicated to them.
  A surviving inscription in Mauretania hints that either Juba II or Ptolemy established an imperial cult honoring Hiempsal II, a previous Numidian King and paternal grandfather of Juba II. According to inscription evidence, Ptolemy may have established a Royal Mauretanian cult honoring himself and his late parents (see Berber mythology). One inscription is dedicated to his genius and another inscription expressed wishes for his good health.
  Evidence suggesting that Ptolemy could have deified Juba II after his death is from the writings of the Christian author of the 3rd century Marcus Minucius Felix. In Felix's Octavius, the writer records a dialogue between a Christian and a pagan from Cirta. This dialogue was part of a Christian argument that divinity is impossible for mortals. Felix lists humans who were said to have become divine: Saturn, Jupiter, Romulus and Juba. Further literary evidence, suggesting the dei
caption: Bust of Ptolemy of Mauretania in the Vatican Museums (Museo Chiaramonti)
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