Massiva

1. A Numidian, grandson of Gala, king of the Massylians, and nephew of Masinissa, whom he accompanied while yet a mere boy into Spain. At the battle of Baecula (B. C. 209), on which occasion he had for the first time been allowed to bear arms, he was taken prisoner; but Scipio, on learning who he was, treated him with the utmost distinction, and sent him back without ransom to his uncle. This generous conduct of the Roman general is said to have had a great share in gaining over Masinissa to the Roman alliance. (Liv. 27.19, 28.35; V. Max. 5.1.7.)

2. Son of Gulussa, and grandson of Masinissa. Having taken part with Adherbal in his disputes with Jugurtha, he fled to Rome after the capture of Cirta and death of Adherbal (B. C. 112). When Jugurtha himself came to Rome in B. C. 108, Massiva was induced by the unfavorable disposition of the senate towards that monarch, and by the instigations of the consul Sp. Albinus, to put in his own claim to the kingdom of Numidia. Jugurtha, alarmed at his pretensions, determined to rid himself of his rival, and, through the agency of his minister Bomilcar, succeeded in effecting the assassination of Massiva. (Sal. Jug. 35; Liv. Epit. lxiv.; Florus, 3.2.) [E.H.B]

(1) A Numidian, grandson of Gala, king of the Massylians, and nephew of Masinissa, whom he accompanied into Spain.

(2) Son of Gulussa, and grandson of Masinissa. He was assassinated at Rome by order of Iugurtha, because he had put in a claim to the kingdom of Numidia.