Gaetulia, an ancient country of Africa, S. of Mauritania and Numidia, bounded E. by hills separating it from the country of the Gara-mantes, W. by the Atlantic ocean, and S., according to Pliny, by the river Niger. Nearly all of this region was included in the Sahara or great desert, the W. oasis of which, and perhaps some portions of the fertile belt on its X. margin and of the basin of the Niger, were inhabited by the Gaetuli. They were one of the two great aboriginal races of N. Africa, W. of Egypt, the other being the Libyans, and had formerly dwelt on the coast of the Mediterranean, but were expelled by the Mauritanians and Nu-midians, and driven S. of Mt. Atlas. They were nomadic, warlike, and savage, living on milk and flesh, clothed with skins, and without regular government. They were divided into several tribes, one of which, the Melanoga3tuli, were nearly black from intermingling with the Nigritae on the south. In the Jugurthine war they served as cavalry against the Romans, but afterward a body of them joined the army of Marius; and from this period to the close of the civil wars we frequently find them serving as auxiliaries with the legions.

They were sometimes troublesome to the Romans, and in the reign of Augustus an army under the command of Cornelius Cossus Lentulus had to be sent against them. The barbarians were van-quished, and the general obtained a triumph and the surname of Gaetulicus. The Gaetuli appear to have been the ancestors of the modern Berbers.