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Rex Juba
  • Published: 6 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529947298
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304
Categories:

Rex Juba

15 Glimpses of an African King

Formats & editions
Hardback
6 Sept 2026
EBook
6 Aug 2026
Audiobook
6 Aug 2026
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Raised by Julius Caesar. Best friends with Octavian. Married to Anthony and Cleopatra's daughter. Experience the heyday of the Roman Mediterranean through the rediscovered story of Juba II, the Most Scholarly King.

In 46 BC, during the Roman conquest of North Africa, a young boy's father was killed by Julius Caesar. At just two years old, Juba was paraded through the streets of Rome as part of Caesar’s triumph. This traumatic beginning, however, did not define his future. As a young man, Juba fought alongside Octavian, now Emperor Augustus. In recognition of his service, he was sent back to his birthplace to rule over Mauretania as king.

Juba's reign was not marked by tyranny, but by scholarship. A famed antiquarian, travel writer, and explorer, he discovered and named the Canary Islands, penned histories of Arabia and Libya, and led diplomatic missions to his fellow kings. Ruling alongside his wife, Cleopatra Selene, the daughter of Anthony and Cleopatra, these heirs to old African dynasties were potent symbols of Romanisation.

Their dynasty would be cut dramatically short by the mad emperor Caligula, their history buried for centuries. In this ambitious and breathtakingly original work of historical recovery, Dr Andrew Kenrick invites us to shift our gaze to the southern shores of the Mediterranean, revealing a Roman civilization that flourished just as much in Africa as it did in Europe. Rex Juba allows a new story of the ancient world to be told, one that has too often been pushed to the margins.
  • Published: 6 August 2026
  • ISBN: 9781529947298
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 304
Categories:

About the author

Andrew Kenrick

Dr Andrew Kenrick teaches Creative Non-Fiction at the University of Cambridge. His interdisciplinary studies have taken him from ancient history and archaeology to the movie Gladiator and Roman cooking, as well as researching new methods for writing ancient biography. His proposal for Rex Juba won the Biographers' Club Tony Lothian Prize.
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Praise for Rex Juba

Colourful, engaging and timely, this portrait of a man caught between two worlds captures the full beauty and complexity of the ancient world.

Paul M.M. Cooper, host of the Fall of Civilizations podcast and Sunday Times bestselling author

Juba II of Mauretania and his wife, Cleopatra Selene – daughter of the famous Cleopatra – are astonishing figures of history, and far too little known. With so much focus on Rome and the beginnings of empire in Italy, there’s hardly any talk of these two gritty and powerful rulers who ruled in north Africa in the wake of the devastating wars of the Republic. In Rex Juba, Kenrick has penned a gripping read, packed with historical detail, that offers insights into an extraordinary ruler at an extraordinary period of history.

Emily Hauser, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mythica

Seventeen images of ancient artefacts introduce Juba, North African client king and Greek intellectual, and place him in the limelight of Roman history. With its striking arrangement, Rex Juba is a fine piece of storytelling, written with verve and style.

Harry Sidebottom, bestselling author of the Warrior of Rome series

Few lives in the ancient world were as improbable as that of Juba II – African prince, Roman hostage, turned scholar-king of Mauretania, who navigated power, identity, and empire at one of history's great turning points. Andrew Kenrick has written a textured and richly sourced story that showcases his complex and fascinating life.

Dr Eve MacDonald, author of Carthage

This is terribly good. I've wanted to read a biography of Juba II of Mauretania all my life and here it is. The African scholar-king married to Cleopatra Selene, daughter of the triumvir Mark Antony & Cleopatra VII, queen of Egypt. It's a delight and a must-read.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity

A wonderful biography of a man who lived many lives - as a hostage, a scholar, a soldier, a king, a father and a husband - and a fascinating exploration of identity and empire building across the full sweep of the ancient Mediterranean. A brilliantly told story of an important and much overlooked Roman king which expands our conception of the Roman Empire.

Emma Southon, author of A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women