Augusto e la politica limitanea in Africa: Cosso Cornelio Lentulo e il bellum Gaetulicum

Abstract

The present paper aims at analyzing the unrest of the tribes located in the south of the province of Africa and of the reign of Mauretania, that escaped Roman authority. In particular, the research dwells on the hostilities undertaken by the Gaetulians under the principate of Augustus, such as to determine the intervention of the proconsul of Africa Cossus Cornelius Lentulus, given the magnitude of the bellum and in view of the fact that the king of Mauretania Juba II was unable to quell the con+ict. Through the analysis of the sources (Florus, Cassius Dio, Orosius) we set ourselves the task of rebuilding the background, the phases of the war and the casus belli. The analysis stated the signi cance of the feeling of resistance, that induced the tribes to ally themselves against the insidious process of romanization, in order to maintain their equilibrium.