King Ailymas is the oldest proven historical king known about the Kingdom of Al-Masiel
King Ailymas is the oldest proven historical king known about the Kingdom of Al-Masiel (Eastern Numidia), but he is not its first king, rather he is only one of the kings who lived in the fourth century BC, and he is most likely one of the ancestors of the Numidian king Masinissa (Masinissa) who will unite Numidia after That at the end of the third century BC.
The only source that talks about this king is Diodorius_the Sicilian Diodore de Sicile, in his talk about the campaign of the tyrant Agathocle de Syracuse, who wanted to imitate Alexander the Great in his conquests, so Agathocles declared war against Carthage and settled in Ifriqiya in the year 310 BC and invaded The city of Neapolis (Nabeul in Tunisia) and then besieged the city of Hadruméte (Sousse in Tunisia) and here he meant King Elimas, who is mentioned as the king of the Libyans (the ancient Berbers in general) who are not subject to the authority of Carthage and his kingdom is located west of the Carthaginian lands from about the middle of the lands Tunisia is to the west on the side of Algeria, and therefore it corresponds to eastern Numidia and the Masile crown.
Agathocles allied with Aelimas against Carthage, but the alliance did not last long for unknown reasons, but it is likely that Aelemas knew that there was no point in getting rid of a stranger to replace him with another stranger, and Aelemas turned on Agathocles, so the latter invaded the Libyan lands under his control, and King Aelemas was killed during one of Then Agathocles invaded the Numidian city of Dougga (western Tunisia), which was mentioned as a large and prosperous city, and will remain one of the most important Numidian cities even after the unification of the kingdom in 202 BC. In it, the honorary tomb of King Massensen was found, which was built for him by his son, the king. Mkwasin in the second century BC.
After the killing of King Aelimas, the source mentions that Agathocles kept Numidian cavalry with him, and that he used Numidian horse-drawn chariots in his wars, which indicates that Aelemas' army was regular and sophisticated, but Agathocles was forced to retreat to Sicily to confront his rivals in power and make peace with Carthage. .
It should also be noted that the period of time dating back to King Aelimas in the fourth century BC is the same as that of the Masili shrine of Imdgasn in Batna, eastern Algeria.
the reviewer:
_Gabriel Camps, "Ailymas" Encyclopédie berbère 3 Ahaggar – Alī ben Ghaniya
_Diodore de Sicile, Histoire universelle