Sosus (Mastanesosus)
Sosus or Mastanesosus is a Berber king of Mauritania from the first century BC. AD
The name of Sosus is known to us from four coins, the right of which bears the following inscription: "REX BOCCHVS SOSI F", accompanied by a Bocchus bearded head on the right or, sometimes, a janiform head surmounted an upright spike and a flower on either side of the ear. Following James-Germain February 1, the inscription is understood as "Rex Bocchus, Sosi f (ilius)", that is, "King Bocchus, son of Sos (i) us". And, following Maurice Euzennat2, this Sosius or, rather, Sosus is regarded as the father of Bocchus II.
The name of Mastanesosus is known to us also by a speech of Cicero directed against Publius Vatinius and dated 57 BC. J.-C .. Named legate in later Hispania to serve the proconsul Caius Cosconius, Publius Vatinius would have joined his assignment after passing through Sardinia, then Africa, the kingdom of Hiempsal, that of Mastanesosus that of Mauretania, and crossed the strait of Gades.
François Decret and Mhamed Fantar equate the name of Mastanesosus with that of Mastennisa I, sovereign of a principality between the kingdom of Juba I, his suzerain, and eastern Mauretania.
But, according to Gabriel Camps, Mastanesosus identifies with Sosus.
Michel Amandry proposes to see in Sosus the father of Bocchus II.
References[edit]
↑ Février (James-Germain), « Bocchus le Jeune et les Sosii », Semitica, XI, 1961, pp. 9-15.
↑ Euzennat (Maurice), « Le roi Sosus et la dynastie maurétanienne », Mélanges d'archéologie, d'épigraphie et d'histoire offerts à Jérôme Carcopino, Paris, Hachette, 1966, pp. 333-339. ↑ Cicéron, In P. Vatinium testem interrogatio, 5, 12. ↑ Decret (François) et Fantar (Mhamed), L'Afrique du Nord dans l'Antiquité : Histoire et civilisation des origines au ve siècle, Paris, éd. Payot, coll. Bibliothèque historique, 1981, p. 130. ↑ Camps (Gabriel), « Sosus ou Mastanesosus, roi de Maurétanie », Encyclopédie berbère. ↑ Amandry (Michel), « Notes de numismatique africaine, IV. 6 : Le monnayage de Bocchus, fils de Sosus, ou le prétendu monnayage de l'interrègne de Maurétanie », Revue numismatique, XXXI, 1989, pp. 80-85.
This article "Sosus (Mastanesosus)" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Sosus (Mastanesosus). Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
