kingdom · Egypt, North Africa and Sudan
Kingdom of the Moors and Romans
Origins
As Vandal control of the interior weakened in the late 5th century, Berber leaders in the former Mauretania Caesariensis set up their own states. An inscription at Altava (Ouled Mimoun) dated 508 names Masuna as 'king of the peoples of the Moors and Romans', the best evidence for this kingdom, which probably arose in the 470s or 480s.
Rule and society
The kingdom combined Berber tribal leadership with surviving Roman towns, Latin inscriptions and Christian communities, and kept Roman provincial dating. Procopius records that a Moorish ruler named Massonas, probably the same Masuna, allied with the Byzantine general Solomon against other Berber rulers in 535. Its exact borders are unknown, but it was centred on the Tlemcen region and the Oran plain.
Decline and legacy
Garmul, a later king, attacked Byzantine Africa in the 570s and was killed by the general Gennadius in 578. Power in the region then passed to the Kingdom of Altava, which survived until the Arab conquest.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kingdom of the Moors and Romans. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-the-moors-and-romans
- MLA
- “Kingdom of the Moors and Romans.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-the-moors-and-romans. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kingdom of the Moors and Romans.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-the-moors-and-romans.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kingdom of the Moors and Romans’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kingdom-of-the-moors-and-romans (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻