In 148 BC, Masinissa, feeling that he was near death, consulted with Scipio Aemilianus regarding the settlement of his state.
Resuscitating, perhaps, a Libyan custom which shared the authority between three persons, Scipio Aemilianus established the three legitimate surviving sons as kings: Micipsa, Gulussa and Mastanabal.[a] The royal power was divided among the three princes. Micipsa, the eldest, was in charge of the administration; it was to him that Masinissa had given his ring which, judging from the stelae of the Abizar style, was a sign of power. Gulussa was given the command of the armies. As for Mastanabal, who was said to have been instructed in Greek, he was charged with justice, and relations with vassal tribal leaders.
Gulussa already had a solid experience of war. He had the opportunity to prove his worth by fighting the Carthaginians. In the spring of 150 BC, he and Micipsa led an embassy to the Carthaginian authorities. But the Carthaginians, exasperated by the successive annexations of Masinissa, refused to enter into negotiations and even ambushed the princes on their return from Carthage. This action by the Carthaginians gave the Numidians the excuse to resume the fighting and they seized the Carthaginian city of Oroscopa. The fighting then served as a pretext for Rome to intervene in the region. Gulussa and his troops participated in the Battle of Carthage (148 BC).
