An exploration of the complex culture and legacy of the north African kingdom of Mauretania, ruled by the scholarly client king Juba II and his wife Kleopatra, daughter of Mark Anthony and Kleopatra VII. It provides a critical analysis of the king as an implementer of the Augustan political, artistic and intellectual programme and as a scholar.

Raised and educated in Rome, Juba II (48BC - AD 23) was sent to uphold Roman interests in northwest Africa as ruler of the new client kingdom of Mauretania. Together with his wife Kleopatra Selene, daughter of Mark Anthony and Kleopatra VII, he established a rich, multi-cultural environment at their capital, renamed Caesarea, where Egyptian, Hellenistic Greek and indigenous elements came together. Juba combined a reign of more than half a century with a career as a distinguished scholar and writer, producing an extensive collection of works and shaping Roman knowledge of the southern half of the known world, from the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa to India. The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene explores the complex culture and legacy of the kingdom, with emphasis on Juba's scholarship and the world created by these two remarkable monarchs. This detailed and comprehensive study is not only the first examination in English of Juba's life and career, but the first critical analysis of the king both as an implementer of the Augustan political, artistic and intellectual programme and as a notable scholar.