Algerian Radio
In her new book titled "Juba II... The Wives of Caesarea", published by Dar El Oumma, novelist Fadela Melhak offers a fictionalized retelling of Numidian history through the character of King Juba II, in a work that blends historical facts with literary fiction while revisiting the complex relationships between power, identity, and belonging.
The writer adopts an approach that breaks with classic historical narratives. Rather than making kings the center of her story, she shifts the narration to the "bottom of the ladder," in her own words, where slaves and the marginalized live—voices that have long been absent from history books. She believes that these individuals held the "essence of truth" regarding the journeys of peoples, palaces, and kings.
At the beginning of the novel, the author depicts nature through scenes that alternate between the sweetness of spring and a darkened sky torn apart by lightning, wind, and thunder. This staging serves as a metaphor for the ravages of war and the suffering it causes, before paving the way for the journey of Juba II, who was torn from his native land as a mere child following the fall of Numidia.
The novel also reflects on the transformation experienced by the Numidian king after taking the name Gaius Julius Juba, a name bestowed upon him by Octavian after he obtained Roman citizenship at the age of twelve, marking his transition from his native world to the Roman universe and the conflict between identity and belonging that accompanied this transition.
The book further captures the classist vision that governed Roman society, highlighting how Juba, despite his closeness to Octavian and the depth of his culture, enjoyed no official status within the power hierarchy. This led him to turn toward knowledge and scientific research, with the author highlighting his devotion to books and his attempts to explore the sources of the Nile, while also touching upon his union with Cleopatra Selene.
The novelist also devotes part of her work to social life in Numidia, particularly in the fourth chapter, titled "The Call of the Touiza." Here, she depicts the daily life of the "Tazirt" tribe, describing the weaving of baskets, laboring on steep slopes, and the harvesting of crops, thereby evoking the values of the Touiza—built on solidarity, mutual aid, and collective labor—that characterized Numidian society.
Through its various chapters, the novel presents Juba II as a figure who lived between two worlds: war and captivity on one hand, and education and knowledge on the other.
It offers a fresh reading of a pivotal period in Algeria's ancient history, delivering a literary narrative that revives memory and identity while giving a voice back to those whom history has left in the shadows.
