No mere figurehead in a crown, Juba was a founder. To build his power, he made use of circumstances Rome imposed upon him.

With Juba II, Africa's fate played out in its confrontation with Rome. He was still only a child when Numidia, his father’s kingdom, fell to Caesar. The new strongman of the Empire brought him, a young captive, back to Italy. There, the orphaned prince grew up in close proximity to the family of the future emperor Augustus. Juba’s future was now in the hands of the foremost Roman, who, when the time was ripe, granted him a new kingdom in adulthood, along with a wife—Cleopatra Selene, daughter of the great Cleopatra and Mark Antony.