Die Erfindung eines Mythos: Der Numider-Logos Hiempsals II (Sallust, Bellum Iugurthinum 17,7-18,12)

The African excursus in Sallust's Bellum Iugurthinum is mostly seen as a unity. But the central part of the excursus contains a Numidian myth of origin, which - if we take Sallust's reference seriously - was written and, it will be argued, even invented by the Numidian king Hiempsal II sometime between 80 and 60 BC. In his myth, Hiempsal shows a strong familiarity with Greek mythology and concepts of culture. But he turns several of the Greek key concepts upside down. The myth represents the Numidians as victorious nomads who had the power to absorb immigrants to Africa from 'higher' cultures, and who obtained hegemony over most of North Afrcia because of their invincibility. Hiempsal, so it is argued, pursued three main goals: 1) to construct a 'national myth' of the Numidians to serve as a place of identity; 2) a demarcation against tendencies, of Hellenistic writers mainly from the city of Cyrene, to Graecize the history of the North African tribal world; 3) reestablishment of the Numidian kingdom, which lost most of the influence it had during the time of Massinissa, as a political power of the Mediterranean.