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TheLusitanians[1] were anIndo-European-speaking people living in the far west of theIberian Peninsula, in present-day centralPortugal and the regions ofExtremadura andCastilla y León ofSpain. It is uncertain whether the Lusitanians wereCelts orCelticized Iberians, related to theLusones.[2] After its conquest by theRomans, the land was subsequently incorporated as aRoman province named after them (Lusitania).
Frontinus mentions Lusitanian leaderViriathus as the leader of theCeltiberians, in their war against theRomans.[3] The Lusitanians were also called Belitanians, according to the divinerArtemidorus.[4][5]Strabo differentiated the Lusitanians from theIberian tribes and thought of them as beingCeltiberians who had been known asOestriminis in ancient times.[6][7][8] However, based on archeological findings, Lusitanians andVettones seem to have been largelypre-CelticIndo-European populations that adoptedCeltic cultural elements by proximity. On the other hand,Pliny the Elder andPomponius Mela distinguished the Lusitanians fromneighboring Celtic tribes in their geographical writings.[9]
The originalRoman province ofLusitania briefly included the territories of the Astures and Gallaeci in the north, but these were soon ceded to the jurisdiction of theProvincia Tarraconensis, while the south remained theProvincia Lusitania etVettones. Later,Gallaecia would become its own province. After this, Lusitania's northern border was along the Douro River, while its eastern border passed throughSalmantica andCaesarobriga to theAnas (Guadiana) river.
Lusitanian mercenaries fought for theCarthaginian Empire between the years 218 and 201 BCE, during theSecond Punic War against theRoman Republic that took place in theWestern Mediterranean. Roman senator and oratorSilius Italicus describes them in his 17-volumes epic poemPunica as forming a combined force with theGallaeci and both being led by a commander namedViriathus (not to be confused with the similarly named chieftain).[11] According to Roman historianTitus Livius, Lusitanian andCeltiberian cavalry performed raids in northern Italy whenever the terrain was too rough for the Carthaginian generalHannibal's famedNumidian cavalry.[12]
Starting in 193 BCE, the Lusitanians fought the Romans inHispania. In 150 BCE, they were defeated by the Roman praetorServius Galba: springing a treacherous trap, he killed 9,000 Lusitanians and later sold 20,000 more asslaves inGaul (modern-dayFrance). This massacre would not be forgotten byViriathus, who three years later (147 BCE) would become the leader of the Lusitanians, and severely damaged the Roman rule in Lusitania and beyond. In 139 BCE, Viriathus was betrayed and killed in his sleep by three of his companions (who had been sent as emissaries to the Romans),Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus, bribed byMarcus Popillius Laenas (although they were warrior companions ofViriathus, they were not Lusitanians themselves; they seem to have beenTurdetanians, or from another people who were not Lusitanian). However, when the three returned to receive their reward from the Romans, the consulQuintus Servilius Caepioordered their execution, declaring: "Rome does not pay traitors".
After the death of Viriathus, the Lusitanians kept fighting under the leadership ofTautalus, but gradually acquiredRoman culture andlanguage; theRomanized Lusitanian cities, in a manner similar to those of the rest of theIberian Peninsula, eventually gained the status of"Citizens of Rome".
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Categorising Lusitanian culture generally, including the language, is proving difficult and contentious. Some believe it was essentially apre-Celtic Iberian culture with substantial Celtic influences, while others argue that it was an essentiallyCeltic[14] culture with strong indigenous pre-Celtic influences associated with theBell Beaker culture.
The Lusitanians worshiped various gods in a very diversepolytheism, usinganimal sacrifice. They represented their gods and warriors in rudimentary sculpture.
Endovelicus was the most important god for the Lusitanians. He is considered a possible Basque language loan god[15] by some, yet according to scholars likeJosé Leite de Vasconcelos, the wordEndovellicus was originallyCeltic,[16]Andevellicos.
Endovelicus is compared withWelsh andBreton names, giving him the meaning of "Very Good God", the same epithet of theIrish godDagda. Even the Romans worshiped him for his ability to protect. His cult eventually spread across the Iberian peninsula and beyond, to the rest of the Roman Empire and his cult was maintained until the fifth century; he was the god of public health and safety. The goddessAtaegina was especially popular in the south; as the goddess of rebirth (spring), fertility, nature, and cure, she was identified withProserpina during the Roman era.
Lusitanian mythology was heavily influenced by or related toCeltic mythology.[17][18]
Also well attested in inscriptions are the namesBandua[19][20][21] (one of the variants ofBorvo)[22] often with a second name linked to a locality such as Bandua Aetobrico, andNabia,[23] a goddess of rivers and streams.[17][24]
According to Strabo the Lusitanians were given to offering sacrifices; they practiced divination on the sacrificial offering by inspecting its vitals and veins.
They also sacrificed human victims, prisoners of war, by striking them under coarse blankets and observing which way they fell. They cut off the right hands of their captives, which they offered to the gods.
The Lusitanian language was aPaleohispanic language that clearly belongs to theIndo-European family. The precise affiliation of Lusitanian with the other Indo-European languages is still a matter of debate: there are those who endorse that it is apara-Celtic language with an obviousCelticity to most of the lexicon, over many anthroponyms and toponyms.[25] A second theory relates Lusitanian with theItalic languages;[26] based on the names of Lusitanian deities with other grammatical elements of the area.[27]
One hypothesis is that the Lusitanian language may have beenbasalItalo-Celtic, a branch independent fromCeltic andItalic, and splitting off early fromProto-Celtic andProto-Italic populations who spread from Central Europe into western Europe after newYamnaya migrations into the Danube Valley.[28][29][30][31] Alternatively, a European branch of Indo-European dialects, termed "North-west Indo-European" and associated with the Beaker culture, may have been ancestral to not only Celtic and Italic, but also to Germanic and Balto-Slavic.[32]Ellis Evans believes thatGallaecian and Lusitanian were one language (not separate languages) of the "P" Celtic variant.[33][34] Some recent scholars' analyses, further conducted on a newly discovered inscription, strongly suggest that Lusitanian is more akin to Italic and has no relation to Celtic.[35][36]
Lujan, argues that the evidence shows that Lusitanian must have diverged from the other western Indo-European dialects before the kernel of what would then evolve into the Italic and Celtic language families had formed. This points to Lusitanian being so ancient that it predates both the Celtic and Italic linguistic groups. Contact with subsequent Celtic migrations into the Iberian Peninsula are likely to have led to thelinguistic assimilation of the Celtic elements found in the language.[37]
The Lusitanians were a people formed by severaltribes that lived between the riversDouro andTagus, in most of today'sBeira andEstremadura regions of central Portugal, and some areas of theExtremadura region (Spain).
They were a tribal confederation, not a single political entity; each tribe had its own territory and was independent, and was formed by smallerclans. However, they had a cultural sense of unity and a common name for the tribes.
Each tribe was ruled by its own tribal aristocracy and chief. Many members of the Lusitanian tribal aristocracy werewarriors as happened in many other pre-Roman peoples of theIron Age.
Only when an external threat occurred did the different tribes politically unite, as happened at the time of the Roman conquest of their territory whenViriathus became the single leader of the Lusitanian tribes.Punicus,Caucenus andCaesarus were other important Lusitanian chiefs before the Roman conquest. They ruled the Lusitanians (beforeViriathus) for some time, leading the tribes in the resistance against Roman attempts of conquest, and were successful.
The known Lusitanian tribes were:
It remains to be known whether theTurduli Veteres,Turduli Oppidani, TurduliBardili, andTurduli were Lusitanian tribes (coastal tribes), were related Celtic peoples, or were instead related to theTurdetani (Celtic,pre-CelticIndo-European, orIberians) and came from the south. The name Turduli Veteres (older or ancient Turduli), a tribe that dwelt in today'sAveiro District, seems to indicate they came from the north and not from the south (contrary to what is assumed on the map). Several Turduli peoples were possiblyCallaeci tribes that initially came from the north, towards the south along the coast and then migrated inland along the Tagus and the Anas (Guadiana River) valleys.
If there were more Lusitanian tribes, their names are unknown.
The Lusitanians were considered by historians to be particularly adept atguerrilla warfare. The strongest amongst them were selected to defend the populace in mountainous sites.[39] They used hooked javelins orsaunions made of iron, and wieldedswords andhelmets like those of theCeltiberians. They threw their darts from some distance, yet often hit their marks and wounded their targets deeply. Being active and nimble warriors, they would pursue their enemies and decapitate them.
"In a narrow pass 300 Lusitani faced 1000 Romans; as a result of the action 70 of the former and 320 of the latter died. When the victorious Lusitani retired and dispersed confidently, one of them on foot became separated, and was surrounded by a detachment of pursuing cavalry. The lone warrior pierced the horse of one of the riders with his spear, and with a blow of his sword cut off the Roman’s head, producing such terror among the others that they prudently retired under his arrogant and contemptuous gaze."
— Orosius,Seven Books of History Against the Pagans, 5.4
In times of peace, they had a particular style of dancing, which required great agility and nimbleness of the legs and thighs. In times of war, they marched in time, until they were ready to charge the enemy.[40]
Appian claims that when PraetorBrutus sacked Lusitania after Viriathus's death, the women fought valiantly next to their men aswomen warriors.[4]
While the Lusitanians did not speak a Romance language, nowadays the termLusitanian is often used as ametonym for thePortuguese people, and similarlyLusophone is used to refer to aPortuguesespeaker within or outsidePortugal,Brazil,Macau,Timor-Leste,Angola,Mozambique,Cape Verde,São Tomé and Príncipe,Guinea Bissau, and other overseas territories and countriesformerly comprised within thePortuguese Empire.
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