he Celtiberian/Lusitanian and
Numantia War
one."
Scipio Africanus had wrested Iberian Península away from Carthage at the Battle of
Ilipa in 206 BC and ended the Second Punic War four years later at the
survive" (De Officiis, I.38). The most complete account of this war is
provided by the Greek historian Appian in Iberike, the sixth book of his
War and, inserted in that section, the Lusitanian War and its hero
a great national hero in Portugal and the best celtiberian leader against
people,is most power people in the Iberian Peninsula in the resistance war
against Romans.
There had been peace for almost a quarter of a century when, in 155 BC,
a raid into Hispania Ulterior (Farther Spain) by the Lusitani and the
Marcus Fulvius Nobilior) was sent against the Lusitanians in 153 BC,
with nearly thirty thousand men. But the consul was late in arriving and
(Nobilior had been designated consul for the following year but could
not assume office until the Ides of March. Given the military situation,
the Senate decreed January 1 to be the start of the new civil year, which
permitted him to depart with his legions that much sooner. His defeat on
had taken refuge, was no more successful. Three elephants were brought
up against the town walls but became frightened and turned on the
Romans, who retreated in confusion. There were other setbacks, and the
the native tribes to come to terms, taking hostages and imposing a fine
surrender. It rejected the peace proposal and, in 151 BC, sent Licinius
Lucullus with another army. But, before the new consul could arrive,
himself, thinking that he should gain glory from this too," persuaded the
become the new theater for military conquest, where an endemic state of
consuls, many of whom, as Appian remarks, "took the command, not for
the advantage of the city [Rome], but for glory, or gain, or the honour of
Certainly Lucullus was such a man. "Being greedy of fame and needing
tribe, which offered hostages and tribute and the admission of a Roman
garrison into town. Lucullus then had all the adult males massacred and
the town sacked, a betrayal, says Appian, that "brought infamy upon the
and military tribune under Lucullus, personally negotiated for food and
winter clothing. "As for the gold and silver which Lucullus demanded,
and for the sake of which he had waged this war, thinking that all Iberian
In 150 BC, Lucullus joined forces with Sulpicius Galba, praetor for
Hispania Ulterior, who already had been defeated by the Lusitanians the
year before. Now caught between the two armies, the tribe was obliged
land, Galba enticed the Lusitanians out of their towns and divided them
into three groups, each some distance apart. The Romans then massacred
them all in turn. Thousands were slaughtered, the rest sold as slaves.
Galba, "being even more greedy than Lucullus, distributed a little of the
plunder to the army and a little to his friends, but kept the rest himself,
although he was already one of the richest of the Romans." Galba later
was called to account for this treachery but avoided trial. (Although
Lucullus had not even been reprimanded for his earlier atrocity and
Galba escaped punishment by pleading for his children's sake, the Senate
One survivor of the massacre was Viriathus, who emerged as the leader
"Excited by the new hopes with which he inspired them, they chose him
retreating, he harassed the Romans in the field for two days, giving the
others a chance to scatter and escape. In 147 BC, the praetor of Ulterior
-4-
and ten thousand Romans were ambushed and killed. The next year, his
which recognized him as "a friend of the Roman nation." But it, too,
soon was broken, and the Lusitanians were forced to continue fighting
until, finally, in 139 BC, the envoys sent to negotiate peace were bribed
to assassinate Viriathus instead. With his death, "a man who, for a
foremost in facing danger and most exact in dividing the spoils," the
resist, "the women bore arms with the men, who died with a will, not a
man of them showing his back, or uttering a cry. Of the women who
were captured some killed themselves, others slew their children also
Even as the Lusitanians were resettled, war had begun on another front.
to renounce their treaty with Rome, and in 143 BC they renewed their
own hostilities. This was the beginning of the Third Celtiberian War or,
Aulus was sent to Citerior with thirty thousand men. The campaign was a
prisoners, and deserters had been turned over, and indemnity paid,
Pompeius reneged and denied ever having made any agreement. His
successor was obliged to refer the entire matter to the Senate, which
Hostilius Mancinus, the next consul, fared no better. In 137 BC, while
being sent and surrendered his entire army, pledging peace between
treaty to the Senate, having been made without its authorization, that
Mancinus was recalled and Aemilius Lepidus, the other consul for the
year, sent to Peninsula in his place. Inpatient at having to await the outcome
of the debate over the treaty, which eventually was repudiated, he began
new war." Suffering from a lack of food, the Romans were compelled to
was the confusion that they left behind everything, and even the sick and
wounded, who clung to them and besought them not to abandon them."
Only a lunar eclipse saved the Romans from being pursued. Lepidus was
deprived of his command while still in the field (the first time that such
There was debate in the Senate. Mancinus argued that Pompeius was to
was refused.
indecisive fighting until, in 134 BC, "the Roman people being tired of
expectation," elected Scipio Aemilianus to end the war, the law being
waived to allow him the consulship for a second time. Scipio had
destroyed Carthage a dozen years before and, having learned from the
mistakes of his predecessors, took with him only friends and volunteers,
Numantine war was utilized by Appian in his own history. This was just
as well, for the valor of the Celtiberians, relates Polybius, was such that
Mindful, says Florus (I.34.11), of the adage that a general has the army
from camp and dispensed with the use of beds, as well as unnecessary
wagons and pack animals. Camps were fortified and then demolished,
trenches were dug and then filled in again. Men were given allotted tasks
and assigned a particular place while on the march, the army never being
divided or separated. "When he judged that the army was alert, obedient
the past, Scipio sought to defeat them through starvation. Nearby fields
were laid waste and what was not used burned. The stronghold of
which was a wall ten feet high. Towers were placed every hundred feet
and mounted with catapults and ballistae. To blockade the nearby river,
logs were placed in the water, moored by ropes on the shore. Swords and
spear heads were embedded in the wood, which rotated in the strong
Jugurtha, who later would revolt from Rome, himself, was sent from
Numidia with twelve war elephants. The Roman forces now numbered
sixty-thousand men and were arrayed around the besieged town in seven
There were several desperate attempts to break out but they were
that they had fought for their women and children, and the freedom of
their country. But Scipio would accept only deditio. Hearing this demand
obey the orders of others, and were now wilder than ever and beside
In 133 BC, after eight months of siege, the starving population was
surrender. But, "such was the love of liberty and of valour which existed
in this small barbarian town," relates Appian, that many chose to kill
weapons were burned, and the beleaguered town set ablaze. There had
been only about eight-thousand fighting men when the war began; half
survivors were chosen for Scipio's triumph, the others were sold as
slaves and the town razed to the ground, the territory divided among its
neighbors.
world."
perhaps it was because "he thought that great calamities are the
Still, there was resistance. In 26-25 BC, the Cantabrian War was fought
in the mountains of northern Peninsula, the first year of the campaign led by
Janus, traditionally kept open in times of war, were closed for only the
fourth time in the long history of Rome. But the gesture was premature.
defeated,
they saw they had lost all hope of freedom, they lost all
others took poison in the sight of all. In this way the great
out."
There was one last rebellion in 19 BC, when many of the Cantabrians,
having been sold into slavery after their earlier defeat, murdered their
masters and returned home. Subdued by Agrippa, who killed almost all
those of military age and disarmed the others, the tribe was forced from
its strongholds and compelled to live in the plains. After almost two
On the return of Augustus from Peninsula and Gaul in 13 BC, the Ara Pacis
its people, was better adapted than any other place in the
of Scotland, is to have said about the Romans before he, too, was
defeated: "They rob, kill and rape and this they call Roman rule. They
Richardson;
Horace White (Loeb Classical Library); Polybius: The Histories (Vol VI)
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