Celtiberian confederacy

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The Celtiberian confederacy was a tribal federation formed around the mid-3rd century BC, by the Arevaci, Lusones, Belli and Titii, with the Arevacian city of Numantia as the federal capital.

During the Second Punic War the confederacy kept itself neutral, though Celtiberian mercenaries are mentioned fighting for both sides on a number of occasions.[1][2] The first Roman incursion into the Celtiberian heartland occurred around 195 BC under Consul Cato the Elder, who attacked unsuccessfully the towns of Seguntia Celtiberorum and Numantia,[3] where he allegedly delivered a speech to the numantines.[4]

Upon the fall of Numantia in 134-133 BC, the Romans forcibly disbanded the Celtiberian confederacy and allowed the Pellendones’ and Uraci to regain their independence from the Arevaci, who were now technically submitted and absorbed into Hispania Citerior province.

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Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 25: 32(3)-33; 34-36.
  2. ^ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 28: 1, 5-8; 2.
  3. ^ Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, 34: 19.
  4. ^ Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 16: 1, 3. Though neither Livy or any other Greco-Roman sources make no reference to such a speech.

References[edit]

  • Ángel Montenegro et alii, Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C), Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) ISBN 84-249-1386-8
  • Alberto José Lorrio Alvarado, Los Celtíberos, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Murcia (1997) ISBN 84-7908-335-2
  • Francisco Burillo Mozota, Los Celtíberos, etnias y estados, Crítica, Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007) ISBN 84-7423-891-9
  • Rafael Trevino and Angus McBride, Rome's Enemies (4): Spanish Armies 218BC-19BC, Men-at-Arms series 180, Osprey Publishing, London (1986) ISBN 0-85045-701-7
  • J. Alberto Arenas Esteban & Mª Victoria Palacios Tamayo, El origen del mundo celtibérico, Excmº Ayuntamiento de Molina de Aragón (1999) ISBN 84-922929-1-1

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