[1] Though independent, the Numidian kingdom was increasingly involved in Mediterranean power politics, and an architect familiar with classical architecture has surrounded the vertical section of wall at the base with engaged columns in the Doric order, "heavily proportioned and with smooth shafts, beneath a cavetto cornice".

The whole exterior was, and very largely still is, covered with a stone facing, the straight cone of the upper part (except for a flat top) formed into steps, like the Pyramids of Egypt.

Numidia bordered Ptolomeic Egypt and was involved in the Second Punic War, switching sides from the Carthaginians to Rome.

Ibn Khaldun said: Madghis is an ancestor of the Berbers of the branch Botr Zenata, Banu Ifran, Maghrawa (Aimgharen), Marinid, Ziyyanid, and Wattasid.

[4][5] As ICOMOS noted in their 2006/2007 Heritage at Risk report, the mausoleum has become "the victim of major 'repair work' without respect for the value of th[e] monument and its authenticity.