Writings Juba wrote a number of books in
Greek on history, natural history, geography, grammar, painting and theatre. He compiled a comparison of Greek and Roman institutions known as Όμοιότητες (
Resemblances). His guide to Arabia became a bestseller in Rome. Only fragments of his works survive. He collected a substantial library on a wide variety of topics, which no doubt complemented his own prolific output.
Pliny the Elder refers to him as an authority 65 times in the
Natural History and in
Athens, a monument was built in the
Gymnasium of Ptolemy in recognition of his writings. Ten works by Juba II have provisionally been identified, but all are fragmentary: •
Roman Archaeology, in two books •
Resemblances, in at least fifteen books •
On Assyria, in two books A treaty on metrics was formerly ascribed to him, but is now generally thought to have been written by an
homonym.
Patron of arts and sciences Juba II was a noted patron of the arts and sciences and sponsored several expeditions and biological research. According to
Pliny the Younger, Juba II sent an expedition to the
Canary Islands and
Madeira. He named them the Canary Islands for the particularly ferocious dogs (
canarius – from
canis – meaning
of the dogs in Latin) the expedition found there.
Flavius Philostratus recalled one of his anecdotes: "And I have read in the discourse of Juba that elephants assist one another when they are being hunted, and that they will defend one that is exhausted, and if they can remove him out of danger, they anoint his wounds with the tears of the aloe tree, standing round him like physicians." Juba's Greek physician
Euphorbus wrote that a
succulent spurge found in the High Atlas was a powerful
laxative. In 12 BC, Juba named this plant
Euphorbia after Euphorbus, in response to
Augustus dedicating a statue to
Antonius Musa, Augustus's own personal physician and Euphorbus's brother.
Euphorbia was later called
Euphorbia regis-jubae ("King Juba's euphorbia") to honour the king's contributions to natural history and his role in bringing the genus to notice. The
palm tree genus
Jubaea is also named after Juba. The following plant genera, species and varieties have been named after Juba: •
Callitriche regis-jubae - an aquatic plant from the western Mediterranean. •
Euphorbia ×jubaeaphylla - a named hybrid between two
Euphorbia species on Tenerife, Canary Islands. •
Euphorbia regis-jubae - another spurge from the Canary Islands and Western Sahara •
Jubaea - a native palm from Chile, with one species. •
Jubaeopsis - a native palm from South Africa, with one species. •
×Jubautia - a hybrid reported in cultivation between
Jubaea chilensis and
Butia capitata. •
Parajubaea - a genus of palm trees from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. •
Phoenix dactylifera var.
jubae - a variety of palm from the Canary Islands, now known as
P. canariensis. •
Sonchus regis-jubae - a sow thistle from La Gomera, Canary Islands. ==Gallery==