Zama (Tunisia)

Zama, also known as Xama, was an ancient town in what is now Tunisia, best known through the Battle of Zama of 19 October 202 BC, in which Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal and ended the Second Punic War. The battle did not in fact take place near the town: Polybius and Livy place the camps elsewhere, and Livy names Naraggara, present-day Sakiet Sidi Youssef on the Tunisia-Algeria border. More than one town in the Roman province of Africa carried the name. Zama Regia, besieged by Metellus in the Jugurthine War, was a capital of Juba I of Numidia and later a Roman colonia under Hadrian, and the smaller Zama Minor is implied by Polybius. The place became a Christian bishopric that survives as a titular see. Excavation points to Jama, north of Maktar, as the likely site of Zama Regia.