TheBerones were a pre-RomanCeltic people of ancient Spain, although they were not part of theCeltiberians. They lived north of the latter and close to theCantabrianConisci[1] in the middleEbro region between theTirón andAlhama rivers.
The ancestors of the Berones wereCelts[2] who migrated fromGaul to theIberian Peninsula around the 4th century BC,[3][4] to settle inLa Rioja and the southern parts of theSoria,Álava andNavarre provinces.
A stock-raising people that practicedtranshumance, their capital wasVaria orVareia (Custodia de Viana; Celtiberian-type mint:Uaracos Auta?),[5][6] situated nearLogroño at the middleEbro inLa Rioja. and controlled the towns ofLibia (Herramélluri orLeiva –La Rioja),Tritium Megallum (Tricio),Bilibium (Bilibio, nearConchas de Haro –La Rioja) andContrebia Leukade (Aguillar del Rio Alhama –La Rioja).
Allies of theAutrigones,[7][8] the Berones appear to have kept themselves out of theCeltiberian confederacy throughout the 3rd-2nd centuries BC but later came under pressure of theVascones. Their earliest contact with Rome might have occurred during the early 2nd century BC, when they allegedly fought as allies of theCeltiberians at thebattle of Calagurris in 186 BC, being defeated by thePraetor ofHispania CiteriorLucius Manlius Adicinus Fulvianus.[9]
According to a Roman epigraphic source, theAscoli-Picenum bronze (ILS 8888, now at theMuseo Capitolino, Rome),[10] a few Beronian mercenary cavalrymen later entered Roman service during theSocial War (91–88 BC), fighting alongside other Spaniards in theTurma Saluitana[11] as auxiliary cavalry under proconsulGnaeus Pompeius Strabo in Italy. Later during theSertorian Wars, the Berones sided withPompey[12] and subsequently aided their Autrigones' allies in the defence of their respective territories againstSertorius' incursion into northernCeltiberia in 76 BC.[13]
The Berones disappear as an independent people in the classical sources in about 72 BC, after the end of the Sertorian Wars, although some towns maintained their culture for a certain time due to a late Romanization.
Authority control databases: Geographic |
|---|