TheOlcades were an ancient stock-raising pre-Roman people fromHispania, who lived to the west of theTurboletae in the southeastern fringe of theIberian system mountains.
Related to both theCeltiberians andCarpetani, the Olcades appear to have been a mix of indigenousIberians under the rule of anaristocracy ofGallic origin. It is believed that the latter sprang from theVolcae Tectosages of southernGaul, who arrived inIberia in the wake of the Celtic migrations of the 4th Century BC.[1][2]
From the 4th century BC, they occupied most of the modern province ofCuenca, along with the southern tip ofGuadalajara and the western fringe ofValencia, where their capitalCartala[3] (Los Villares, nearCaudete de las Fuentes;Iberian-type mint:Kelin) – also designatedAlthea orAlthia,[4] andAltaia by someGreek authors – was sited. Other Olcades' towns wereCaesada (Hita –Guadalajara; Iberian-type mint:Kaiseza?),Ercavica (Cañaveruelas – Cuenca; Iberian-type mint:Erkauika),Ikalkusken (Arcas – Cuenca) andLaxta (Iniesta? – Cuenca).
Archeological evidence recovered from local cemeteries, such asBuenache andOlmedilla de Alarcón, indicates that the Olcades' culture was strongly influenced by contacts with southernIberian,Phoenician,Etruscan andGreek traders; indeed, they are considered to have been responsible for the cultural ‘Iberianization’ of neighbouringCeltiberia andCarpetania during the 2ndIron Age.
In 221 BC, under the leadership of their King Tagus (also known asTago orTagum), the Olcades entered into a defensive alliance with theVaccaei andCarpetani to resist Carthaginian expansion into the Meseta, only to be defeated byHannibal Barca at thebattle on the Tagus in 220 BC.[5][6] Submitted to Punic rule by Hannibal just prior to theSecond Punic War, the Olcades were thence forced to contributemercenary troops to his army, for theGreek historianPolybius lists them among the Iberian troops sent by him as reinforcements toAfrica in 218 BC.[7] After Hannibal’s departure toItaly, however, they switched sides and fought as Roman allies for the remainder of the conflict. Despite being included in the province ofHispania Citerior in 156–154 BC by the Romans, the Olcades nonetheless seemed to have remained loyal allies ofRome, subsequently successfully fighting off the attacks of theLusitani underViriathus in the mid-2nd Century BC.
They kept themselves independent until the late 2nd or early 1st centuries BC when, for unclear reasons, they were dispossessed of their tribal lands by Rome. Not only did thePraetor ofHispania Citerior,Gaius Valerius Flaccus, founded the military colony ofValeria (Las Valeras – Cuenca) in 92 BC on Olcadian territory after obtaining a great victory over theCeltiberians in the previous year,[8] but he also divided it among Rome's ownEdetani andCeltiberian allies, forcing the Olcades to merge with the latter.[9]
