TheCeltiberians were a group ofCelts andCelticised peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeasternIberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as beingCelts by several classic authors (e.g.Strabo[1]). These tribes spoke theCeltiberian language and wrote it by adapting theIberian alphabet, in the form of theCeltiberian script.[2] The numerous inscriptions that have been discovered, some of them extensive, have enabled scholars to classify theCeltiberian language as a Celtic language, one of theHispano-Celtic (also known as Iberian Celtic) languages that were spoken in pre-Roman and early Roman Iberia. Archaeologically, many elements link Celtiberians withCelts in Central Europe, but also show large differences with both theHallstatt culture andLa Tène culture.
There is no complete agreement on the exact definition of Celtiberians among classical authors, nor modern scholars. TheEbro river clearly divides the Celtiberian areas from non-Indo-European speaking peoples.[3] In other directions, the demarcation is less clear. Most scholars include theArevaci,Pellendones,Belli,Titti andLusones as Celtiberian tribes, and occasionally theBerones,Vaccaei,Carpetani,Olcades orLobetani.[4]
In 195 BC, part of Celtiberia was conquered by theRomans, and by 72 BC the entire region had become part of theRoman province ofHispania Citerior. The subjugated Celtiberians waged a protracted struggle against the Roman conquerors, staging uprisings in 195–193 BC,181–179 BC,153–151 BC, and143–133 BC. In 105 BC, Celtiberian warriors drove theGermanicCimbri from Spain in theCimbrian War (113–101 BC) and also played an important role in theSertorian War (80–72 BC).
The termCeltiberi appears in accounts byDiodorus Siculus,[5]Appian[6] andMartial[7] who recognised intermarriage between Celts andIberians after a period of continuous warfare, thoughBarry Cunliffe says "this has the ring of guesswork about it."[8]Strabo just saw the Celtiberians as a branch of theCelti.[1]Pliny the Elder thought that the original home of the Celts inIberia was the territory of theCeltici in the south-west, on the grounds of an identity of sacred rites, language, and the names of cities.[9]
Strabo citesEphorus's belief that there were Celts in the Iberian peninsula as far asCádiz.[10]
Celtic presence in Iberia likely dates to as early as the 6th century BC, when thecastros evinced a new permanence with stone walls and protective ditches. ArchaeologistsMartín Almagro Gorbea and Alberto José Lorrio Alvarado recognise the distinguishing iron tools and extended family social structure of developed Celtiberian culture as evolving from the archaiccastro culture which they consider "proto-Celtic".
Archaeological finds identify the culture as continuous with the culture reported by Classical writers from the late 3rd century onwards (Almagro-Gorbea and Lorrio). The ethnic map of Celtiberia was highly localised however, composed of different tribes andnations from the 3rd century centered upon fortifiedoppida and representing a wide-ranging degree of local assimilation with the autochthonous cultures in a mixed Celtic and Iberian stock.
_01.jpg)
The cultural stronghold of Celtiberians was the northern area of the centralmeseta in the upper valleys of theTagus andDouro east to theIberus (Ebro) river, in the modern provinces ofSoria,Guadalajara,Zaragoza andTeruel. There, when Greek and Roman geographers and historians encountered them, the established Celtiberians were controlled by a military aristocracy that had become a hereditary elite. The dominant tribe were theArevaci, who dominated their neighbors from powerful strongholds at Okilis (Medinaceli) and who rallied the long Celtiberian resistance to Rome. Other Celtiberians were theBelli andTitti in theJalón valley, and theLusones to the east.
Excavations at the Celtiberian strongholdsKontebakom-BelBotorrita,SekaisaSegeda,Termantia[11] complement the grave goods found in Celtiberian cemeteries, where aristocratic tombs of the 6th to 5th centuries BC give way to warrior tombs with a tendency from the 3rd century BC for weapons to disappear from grave goods, either indicating an increased urgency for their distribution among living fighters or, as Almagro-Gorbea and Lorrio think, the increased urbanisation of Celtiberian society. Many late Celtiberianoppida are still occupied by modern towns, inhibiting archaeology.
Metalwork stands out in Celtiberian archaeological finds, partly from its indestructible nature, emphasising Celtiberian articles of warlike uses, horse trappings and prestige weapons. The two-edged sword adopted by the Romans was previously in use among the Celtiberians, and Latinlancea, a thrown spear, was a Hispanic word, according toVarro. Celtiberian culture was increasingly influenced by Rome in the two final centuries BC.
From the 3rd century, theclan was superseded as the basic Celtiberian political unit by theoppidum, a fortified organised city with a defined territory that included thecastros as subsidiary settlements. Thesecivitates as the Roman historians called them, could make and break alliances, as surviving inscribed hospitality pacts attest, and minted coinage. The old clan structures lasted in the formation of the Celtiberian armies, organised along clan-structure lines, with consequent losses of strategic and tactical control.
.jpg)
The Celtiberians were the most influential ethnic group in Iberia when the Mediterranean powers (Carthage andRome) started their conquests.[citation needed] In 220 BC, the Punic army was attacked when preparing to cross the Tagus river by a coalition ofVaccei,Carpetani andOlcades. Despite these clashes, during theSecond Punic War the Celtiberians served most often as allies or mercenaries ofCarthage in its conflict with Rome, and crossed theAlps in the mixed forces underHannibal's command. UnderScipio Africanus, the Romans were able to secure alliances and change the allegiances of many Celtiberian tribes, using these allied warriors against the Carthaginian forces and allies in Spain. After the conflict, Rome took possession of the Punic empire in Spain, and some Celtiberians soon challenged the new dominant power that loomed in the borders of its territory.Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus spent the years 182 to 179 pacifying the Celtiberians. Gracchus boasted of destroying over 300 Celtiberian settlements.[12]
In 155 BC, a raid intoHispania Ulterior (Farther Spain) by theLusitani and the defeat of two successive Roman praetors encouraged the town ofSegeda inHispania Citerior (Nearer Spain) to rebel. The following year, it refused to pay tribute or provide a military contingent to Rome but formed instead a confederacy with neighboring towns and began the construction of a defensive wall.Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was sent against the Celtiberians in 153 BC, with nearly 30,000 men. But the consul was late in arriving and ambushed soon after, with 6,000 Romans slain. A siege ofNumantia several days later, where the Segedans 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 hapless Nobilior was obliged to withdraw to camp, where more men suffered frostbite and died of the winter cold. Nobilior lost over 10,000 men in his campaign.[13] In 137 BC, the Celtiberians forced the surrender of a 20,000-man Roman consular army led byGaius Hostilius Mancinus.[14] In 134 BC, the consulScipio Aemilianus took charge of the demoralised Roman troops in Spain and laidsiege to Numantia.
_p182_Siege_of_Numantia.jpg)
Nearby fields were laid waste and what was not used burned. The stronghold of Numantia then was circumvallated with a ditch and palisade, behind which was a wall ten feet high. Towers were placed every hundred feet and mounted withcatapults andballistae. To blockade the nearby river, logs were placed in the water, moored by ropes on the shore. Knives and spear heads were embedded in the wood, which rotated in the strong current. Allied tribes were ordered to send reinforcements. EvenJugurtha, who later would revolt from Rome, himself, was sent fromNumidia with twelve war elephants. The Roman forces now numbered 60,000 men and were arrayed around the besieged town in seven camps. The Numantines, "ready though they were to die, no opportunity was given them of fighting".[15]
There were several desperate attempts to break out but they were repulsed. Nor could there be any help from neighboring towns. Eventually, as their hunger increased, envoys were sent to Scipio, asking if they would be treated with moderation if they surrendered, pleading that they had fought for their women and children, and the freedom of their country. But Scipio would accept onlydeditio (surrender). Hearing this demand for absolute submission, the Numantines, "who were previously savage in temper because of their absolute freedom and quite unaccustomed to obey the orders of others, and were now wilder than ever and beside themselves by reason of their hardships," slew their own ambassadors.
After eight months, the starving population was reduced to cannibalism and, filthy and foul smelling, compelled to surrender. But, "such was the love of liberty and of valour which existed in this small barbarian town," relatesAppian, that many chose to kill themselves rather than capitulate. Families poisoned themselves, weapons were burned, and the beleaguered town set ablaze. There had been only about 8,000 fighting men when the war began; half that number survived to garrison Numantia. Only a pitiable few survived to walk in Scipio's triumph. The others were sold as slaves and the town razed to the ground, the territory divided among its neighbors.
After Numantia was finally taken and destroyed, Roman cultural influences increased; this is the period of the earliestBotorrita inscribed plaque; later plaques, significantly, are inscribed inLatin. TheSertorian War (80–72 BC) marked the last formal resistance of the Celtiberian cities to Roman domination, which submerged the Celtiberian culture.
The Celtiberian presence remains on the map of Spain in hundreds of Celticplace-names. The archaeological recovery of Celtiberian culture commenced with the excavations ofNumantia, published between 1914 and 1931.
A Roman army auxiliary unit, the Cohors I Celtiberorum, is known from Britain, attested by 2nd century AD dischargediplomas.[16]
In a March 2019 genetic study published inScience, three Celtiberians buried atLa Hoya, Alava (in Beron territory) between 400 BC and 195 BC were examined.[17] They had high levels ofnorth-central European ancestry compared to non-Celtic populations of Iberia.[18] One of the males examined was found to be a carrier of the paternalhaplogroup I2a1a1a.[19]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
