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Numantine War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Second Punic War - First Celtiberian War – Third Punic War – Lusitanian War - Numantine War – Sertorian War – Cantabrian Wars |
The Numantine War[1] (from Bellum Numantinum in Appian's Roman History) was the last conflict of the Celtiberian Wars fought by the Romans to subdue those people along the Ebro. It was a twenty year long conflict between the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior and the Roman government. It began in 154 BC as a revolt of the Celtiberians of Numantia on the Douro. The first phase of the war ended in 151, but, in 143, war flared up again with a new insurrection in Numantia.
The first war was fought contemporaneously with the Lusitanian War in Hispania Ulterior. The Lusitani were subdued by Sulpicius Galba, who betrayed their surrender and executed their leading men, and the Arevaci of Hispania Citerior continued the war and allied with the Lusitani leader Viriathus.
After open war was reinvigorated in 143, Rome sent a series of generals to the Iberian peninsula to deal with the Numantines. In that year, Quintus Pompeius Metellus tried and failed to take the city by siege, but subjugated all the other tribes of the Arevaci. His successor, Quintus Pompeius, was inept and suffered severe defeats at their hands, so he secretly negotiated a peace with the city abiding by the previous treaty. Yet in 138 a new general arrived, Marcus Pompillius Laenas, and when the Numantine envoys came to finish their obligations of the peace treaty, Pompeius disavowed negotiating any such peace. The matter was referred to the Senate for a judgment. Rome decided to ignore Pompeius' peace and sent Gaius Hostilius Mancinus to continue the war in 136, who assaulted the city and was repulsed several times before being routed and encircled, and so forced to accept a treaty. The Senate did not ratify his treaty either. His successors Lucius Furius Philus and Gaius Calpurnius Piso avoided conflict with the Numantines.
In 134 BC, the Consul Scipio Aemilianus was sent to Hispania Citerior to end the war. He recruited 20,000 men and 40,000 allies, including Numidian cavalry under Jugurtha. Scipio built a ring of seven fortresses around Numantia itself before beginning the siege proper. After suffering pestilence and famine, most of the surviving Numantines committed suicide rather than surrender to Rome. The great Roman victory over Numantia ushered in an era of lasting peace in Hispania until the Sertorian War over half a century later.
- ^ The term Numantine War can refer to the whole conflict lasting from 154 to 133 or to just the latter part, from 143 to 133. Thus, the two conflicts are sometimes called the Numantine Wars (plural) and subdivided into the First and Second Numantine War. The two are also called the Second and Third Celtiberian (or Spanish) Wars.
- Davis, Paul K. Besieged: 100 Great Sieges from Jericho to Sarajevo. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Wintle, Justin. The Rough Guide History of Spain. Rough Guides: Spain, 2003.
- Encyclopaedia Romana: The Celtiberian War and Numantia.
- Works by Theodor Mommsen at Project Gutenberg The History of Rome, Book IV