The archaeological site of Zama Regia

The town of Zama, also known as Xama, is best known for its association with the Battle of Zama. In this battle on 19 October 202 BC, Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal, a victory for the Roman Republic that diminished the power of Ancient Carthage. However, the battle did not take place in the vicinity of Zama. Polybius states that Hannibal moved to another camp just before the battle, and Livy says that Scipio's camp was at Naraggara, present-day Sakiet Sidi Youssef on the border between Tunisia and Algeria.

The town associated with the battle is likely to be Zama Regia, mentioned in Sallust's account of the Jugurthine War as besieged unsuccessfully by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus. Under Hadrian, it was granted the rank of colonia. In 41 BC, Zama Regia was captured by Titus Sextius, who was then governor of the province of Africa on behalf of the Second Triumvirate.

It is agreed that one Zama must have been at present-day Jama, 30 kilometres north of Maktar. Recent systematic excavation of Jama has discovered another incomplete inscription that appears to refer unambiguously to it as "Zama Regia". This seems to put paid to the views expressed by Scullard and others that Jama corresponds neither to Sallust's description of Zama Regia nor to the distances indicated in the Tabula Peutingeriana. It appears also to indicate that the towns called Zama were two, not three.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons