TheLusones (Greek:Lousones) were an ancientCeltiberian (Pre-Roman) people of theIberian Peninsula (the RomanHispania), who lived in the highTajuña River valley, northeast ofGuadalajara.[1][2] They were eliminated by the Romans as a significant threat in the end of the 2nd century BC.
They spoke a variety of theCeltiberian language and were a subdivision of theCeltiberians.[3][4] There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that the ancestors of the Celtiberian groups were installed in the Meseta area of theIberian Peninsula from at least 1000 BC and probably much earlier.[5]
A mixed people, they included elements of earlyItalic (Osco-Latin) andGallic affiliation, the latter possibly related to the namesakeHelvetic Lusones from present-daySwitzerland or fromPannonia,[6] who migrated to theIberian Peninsula around the 4th Century BC.[7][8] Some scholars also reasoned that they might bear a connection with theLusitani, with the latter people being actually an off-shot of the Lusones that migrated to the west of the Peninsula during the 4th Century BC.
The Greek geographerStrabo[9] located the Lusones near theTajo headwaters, whereas the historianAppian[10] places them along theEbro.[11] In fact, their lands were located in the Aragonese region along the middleEbro, on theMoncayo range (Latin:Mons Chaunus) between theQueiles andHuecha rivers, occupying the westernZaragoza and most ofSoria, stretching to the northeastern fringe of nearbyGuadalajara and southernNavarre provinces.
Their presumed capital wasTuriaso orTuriasso (La Oruña,Vera de Moncayo – Zaragoza; Celtiberian mint:Turiazu); other key Lusones towns wereCalagurris/Galagorina (Calahorra –La Rioja; Celtiberian mint:Kalacoricos),Cascantum/Cascanton (Cascante – Navarre; Celtiberian mint:Caiscata),Bursau/Bursada (Borja – Zaragoza; Celtiberian mint:Burzao),Carabis/Caravis (Magallón – Zaragoza; Celtiberian mint:Carauez).[12] They were also involved in the foundations of both the ‘bandit town’ ofComplega (site unknown; Celtiberian mint:Kemelon)[13][14] and the Roman colony ofGrachurris (Eras de San Martín,Alhama –La Rioja) byTiberius Sempronius Gracchus the Elder in 181 BC.[15][16][17]
The Lusones joined their neighbours theArevaci,Belli andTitii into theCeltiberian Confederacy[18] in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC and fought alongside their allies in theCeltiberian Wars againstRome, from 181 BC until the destruction ofNumantia brought the collapse of the alliance in 134-133 BC.[19] In between, the Lusones were defeated byProconsulQuintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus in 142 BC,[20] and despite being forcibly incorporated intoHispania Citerior province, they continued to resist Roman authority for decades.
Remaining warlike as ever, the Lusones plotted with theArevaci andPellendones the anti-Roman uprisings that rocked Celtiberia throughout most of the 1st Century BC. These revolts served only to weaken the Lusones' military however, and by mid-Century they had been driven out from the right bank of the Ebro by theVascones, who seized four of their key border towns including Grachurris. During theSertorian Wars, the Lusones sided withQuintus Sertorius and provided auxiliary troops to his army,[21][22] but virtually disappear from the historical record upon the end of that conflict in 72 BC, and little is known from them afterwards though is likely that they merged with – or were absorbed by – their neighbours theBelli and Titii.[23]