Masinissa sent a force to siege the Carthaginian city of Oroscopa but they were repelled by a Carthaginian army led by a Hasdrubal.
Cirta's populace was as diverse as the Roman Republic itself — alongside native Numidians were Carthaginians displaced by the Second and Third Punic Wars, as well as Greeks, Romans, and Italians.
In 81 Hiempsal was driven from his throne by the Numidians themselves, or by Hiarbas, ruler of part of the kingdom, supported by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, the leader of the Marian party in Africa.
The grand tribal identities of 'Berber antiquity' were said to be three (roughly, from west to east): the Mauri, the Numidians by Carthage, and the Gaetulians.
At the same time they were generally unable to stand their ground against heavier types of cavalry, in one incident during the aforementioned African invasion thirty of Caesar's Gallic horsemen drove off a much larger force of Moorish cavalry, while in another a squadron of Caesar's Iberian horsemen routed a large body of Labienus's Numidians, while his Gallic and Germanic horsemen stood their ground.