After Romans arrived in the territory during the 2nd century BC, awar with Lusitanian tribes ensued between 155 and 139 BC, with the Roman province eventually established in 27 BC.[2]
In modern parlance,Lusitania is often synonymous with Portugal, despite the Roman province's capital being located in modernMérida, Spain.
The etymology of the name of theLusitani (who gave the Roman province its name) remains unclear. Popular etymology connected the name to a supposed Roman demigodLusus, whereas some early-modern scholars[which?] suggested thatLus was a form of the CelticLugus followed by another (unattested) root*tan-, supposed to mean "tribe",[3] while others derived the name fromLucis, an ancient people mentioned inAvienius'Ora Maritima (4th century AD) and fromtan (-stan inIranian), or fromtain, meaning "a region" or implying "a country of waters", a root word that formerly meant a prince or sovereign governor of a region.[4][5][6]
Ancient Romans, such asPliny the Elder (Natural History,3.5) andVarro (116 – 27 BC, cited by Pliny), speculated that the nameLusitania had Roman origins, as when Pliny says "lusum enim Liberi Patris aut lyssam cum eo bacchantium nomen dedisse Lusitaniae et Pana praefectum eius universae" [Lusitania takes its name from theLusus associated with Bacchus and theLyssa of hisBacchantes, andPan is its governor].
Lusus is usually translated as "game" or "play", whilelyssa is a borrowing from theGreek λυσσα, "frenzy" or "rage", and sometimesRage personified; for later poets, Lusus and Lyssa become flesh-and-blood companions (even children) ofBacchus.Luís de Camões' epicOs Lusíadas (1572), which portrays Lusus as the founder of Lusitania, extends these ideas, which have no connection with modern etymology.
In his work,Geography, the classical geographerStrabo (died ca. 24 AD) suggests a change had occurred in the use of the name "Lusitanian". He mentions a group who had once been called "Lusitanians" living north of the Douro river but were called in his day "Callacans".[7]
The Lusitani established themselves in the region in the 6th century BC, buthistorians andarcheologists are still undecided about theirethnogenesis. Some modern authors consider them to be an indigenous people who were Celticized culturally and possibly also through intermarriage.[1]
The archeologist Scarlat Lambrino defended the position that the Lusitanians were a tribal group of Celtic origin related to theLusones (a tribe that inhabited the east ofIberia). Some have claimed that both tribes came from the Swiss mountains.[citation needed] Others argue that the evidence points to the Lusitanians being a native Iberian tribe, resulting from intermarriage between different local tribes.[citation needed]
The first area colonized by the Lusitani was probably theDouro valley and the region ofBeira Alta (present day Portugal); inBeira, they stayed until they defeated theCeltici and other tribes, then they expanded to cover a territory that reachedEstremadura before the arrival of theRomans.
And yet the country north of the Tagus, Lusitania, is the greatest of the Iberian nations, and is the nation against which the Romans waged war for the longest times
The Lusitani are mentioned for the first time inLivy who describes them as fighting for theCarthaginians in 218 BCE; they are reported as fighting against Rome in 194 BC, sometimes allied withCeltiberian tribes.
From 152 BC onwards, the Roman Republic had difficulties in recruiting soldiers for the wars in Hispania, deemed particularly brutal. In 150 BC,Servius Sulpicius Galba organised a false armistice. While the Lusitani celebrated this new alliance, he massacred them, selling the survivors as slaves; this caused a new rebellion led byViriathus, who was after many attempts killed by traitors paid by the Romans in 139 BC, after having led a successful guerrilla campaign against Rome and their local allies. Two years after, in 137 BCDecimus Junius Brutus Callaicus led a successful campaign against the Lusitani, reaching as far north as theMinho river.
Romans scored other victories withproconsul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus andGaius Marius (elected in 113 BC), but still the Lusitani resisted with a long guerilla war; they later joinedSertorius' (a renegade Roman General) troops (around 80 BC) andJulius Caesar conducted a successful campaign against them in 61-60 BC,[10] but they were not finally defeated until the reign ofAugustus (around 28–24 BC).
Between the time ofAugustus andClaudius, the province was divided into threeconventus iuridicus, territorial units presided by capital cities with a court of justice and joint Roman/indigenous people assemblies (conventus), that counseled the Governor:
As with the Roman names of many European countries,Lusitania was and is often used as an alternative name for Portugal, especially in formal or literary and poetic contexts. The 16th-century colony that would eventually become Brazil was initially founded as "New Lusitania". In common use are such terms asLusophone, meaning Portuguese-speaking, andLusitanic, referring to theCommunity of Portuguese Language Countries—oncePortugal's colonies and presently independent countries still sharing some common heritage. Prior to hisinvasion in 1807,Napoleon Bonaparte proposed the establishment of a French-backed puppetKingdom of Northern Lusitania as one of the successor states to Portugal under the assumption that such a campaign would result in an easy French victory.
The province was also the namesake of the North Atlantic Ocean linerRMSLusitania infamous for being torpedoed by a GermanU-boat in 1915.Cunard, the ship's owner, commonly named its vessels after Roman provinces with theLusitania so being called after the Roman Iberian province to the north of theStrait of Gibraltar while her sister shipRMSMauretania was named after the Roman North African province on the south side of the strait.
^O'Brien, John (1768)."Ta'n & Tàin".Focalóir gaoidhilge-sax-bhéarla, or An Irish-English dictionary. Nicolas-Francis Valleyre. p. 464. Retrieved18 October 2015.
^Suetonius, Cae, 18; Appian, BH, 102; Plut, Cae., 12; Dio, 37 & 52, 153-154, Valleius Patraculus, II, 52-5; Antonio Santosuosso, Storming the Heavans: Soldiers, Emperors, and Civilians in the Roman Empire (London: Pilmico/Random House, 2011), p. 57-58; Casey Simpson, "Caesar or Rex?" (Honors thesis, Ball State University, 2004); Stephen Dando-Collins, Legions of Rome (New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, 2010), pp. 28, 61-63; CAH, both editions
^Abascal, J. M."Lucius Caecilius Rufus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Lucius Calventius Vetus Carminius".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."[Marcus?] Porcius?] Cato".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Otón".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-06-08. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Unless otherwise noted, the governors from 75 to the end of Hadrian's reign are taken from Werner Eck, "Jahres- und Provinzialfasten der senatorischen Statthalter von 69/70 bis 138/139",Chiron,12 (1982), pp. 281-362;13 (1983), pp. 147-237.
^Abascal, J. M."Quintus Acutius Faienanus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Caius Oppius Sabinus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^abGéza Alföldy,Konsulat und Senatorenstand unter der Antoninen (Bonn: Rudolf Habelt Verlag, 1977), p. 256
^Abascal, J. M."Quadratus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Sextus Tigidius Perennis".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^abcdePaul Leunissen,Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), p. 289
^Abascal, J. M."Decimus Iunius Coelianus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Paul Leunissen,Konsuln und Konsulare in der Zeit von Commodus bis Severus Alexander (Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben, 1989), p. 289.
^Abascal, J. M."Rutilus Pudens Crispinus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-09-26. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Aemilius Aemilianus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Datianus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Iulius Saturninus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved2023-06-01.
^Abascal, J. M."Vettius Agorius Praetextatus".Diccionario Biográfico electrónico. Real Academia de la Historia.Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved2023-06-01.
As found in theNotitia Dignitatum. Provincial administration reformed anddioceses established byDiocletian,c. 293. Permanentpraetorian prefectures established after the death ofConstantine I. Empire permanently partitioned after 395. Exarchates ofRavenna andAfrica established after 584. After massive territorial losses in the 7th century, the remaining provinces were superseded by thetheme system in c. 640–660, although inAsia Minor and parts of Greece they survived under the themes until the early 9th century.
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