Aspar was a Numidian man who lived in the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. He was sent by the Numidian king Jugurtha to the Mauretanian king Bocchus I in order to learn his plans, after it had become known that Bacchus had invited the Roman general Sulla to a conference. Aspar was, however, deceived, as Bocchus and Sulla both conspired to hold a series of sham meetings to feed false information to Aspar, who was told several misleading things about the true discussions with Sulla, while the pair met in secret at night.
References
- Sallust, Bellum Jugurthinum 108, 112
- Long, George (1864). The Decline of the Roman Republic. Vol. 1. Bell & Daldy, York Street, Covent Garden. pp. 486–489.
- Hildinger, Erik (2008). Swords Against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Republic. Hachette Books. pp. 107–108. ISBN 9780786741816.
- Pollard, Alfred William (2024). The Catiline and Jugurtha of Sallust. Outlook Verlag. pp. 242–244. ISBN 9783385482654.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Aspar". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 386.