TheCratistii (GreekKratistioi) were an ancient pre-Roman, stock-raising people whose lands were situated along the upperTagus valley, in the elevatedplateau region of the westernCuenca and northeastProvince of Teruel.
An intriguing people, their ethnic origins are difficult to determine, though their tribal name means "the most powerful". They bear no close relation to theCaristii who lived further north in the modernVizcaya andÁlavaBasque provinces.
Archeological evidence retrieved from the cemetery ofMadrigueras (Albacete) suggests that their culture was strongly Celtiberianized, being more closely affiliated with that of the neighbouringOlcades. Their presumed capital wasSegobriga (Cerro de Cabeza de Griego,Saelices – Cuenca; Celtiberian-type mint:Sekobirikes)[1] and they held the important towns ofErcavica (Cañaveruelas – Cuenca; Celtiberian-type mint:Ercauica), andContrebia Carbica (Fosos de Bayona,Villas Viejas – Cuenca; Celtiberian-type mints:Contebacom/Carbicom/Konterbia Karbica).[2]
Initially a dependent tribe of theCarpetani since at least the early 3rd Century BC, the Cratistii were submitted to Carthaginian rule upon the conquest of easternCarpetania byHannibal in 221-220 BC.[3][4] Later they appear to have gravitated gradually towards the Roman sphere in the aftermath of theSecond Punic War only to be raided by theLusitani, who sacked Segobriga in 146 BC.[5] Following the end of theSertorian Wars in the mid-1st Century BC, the Cratistii regained their independence from the enfeebledCarpetani and were incorporated alongside theirUraci neighbours into romanized southernCeltiberia.[6]