Celtiberian Wars
The Celtiberian Wars set in motion a chain of conflicts that would not end until 133 BC. The Numantine War of 143-133 BC, Rome's third and longest campaign in Hispania, grew directly from the tensions these two earlier wars left behind. Two conflicts anchor that chain: the First Celtiberian War of 181-179 BC and the Second of 154-151 BC. These were wars of ambush and treaty. Some generals acted far beyond their mandate; others introduced administrative experiments that outlasted the armies that preceded them. One Roman commander's careful diplomacy produced a peace that held for nearly a generation. Another consul launched an unauthorized massacre against a tribe that had never fought Rome and was never punished for it. How did a loose coalition of Celtic tribes in east central Hispania force Rome to rethink the way it collected revenue from conquered people? Why did a Celtiberian city's decision to extend its walls bring Roman legions back to Hispania after decades of quiet? And who made the peace that briefly made all of that unnecessary?
In 206 BC, Rome defeated Carthage at the Battle of Ilipa and took over Carthaginian territories in southern Hispania. The war had produced two new Roman provinces. Hispania Citerior, or Nearer Spain, ran along most of the eastern coast, covering roughly the territory of modern Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia. Hispania Ulterior, or Further Spain, covered the south, roughly modern Andalusia. Sitting on the edge of these new provinces were the Celtiberians. They were not one nation but a coalition of distinct peoples: the Pellendones, the Arevaci, the Lusones, the Titti, and the Belli. Their territory lay in the highlands of east central Hispania, outside the Carthaginian sphere. They owed Rome nothing simply because Carthage had fallen.
In 197 BC, 20,000 Celtiberians attacked a Roman army near Iliturgis. In 195 BC, 10,000 Celtiberians joined the Turduli against Rome. Rome sent the general Cato the Elder directly to Celtiberia. He could not take the city of Saguntia, but the Celtiberians suspended hostilities while he was present. In 193 BC, a coalition of Celtiberians, Vaccaei, and Vettones was defeated by Marco Fulvio Nobilior near Toletum. In 185 BC, another Hispanic coalition defeated two Roman praetorian armies before being crushed near the Tagus River. By 182 BC, the praetor Quintus Fulvius Flaccus had captured the city of Urbicua and was pressing deeper into Celtiberian territory. In response, the tribes assembled a fighting force of 35,000 men.
At Aebura in Carpetania, in 181 BC, 23,000 Celtiberian soldiers fell in a single engagement against the Roman general Quintus Fulvius Flaccus. Another 4,700 were taken prisoner. Rome lost 200 of its own soldiers, 800 allied troops, and 2,400 native auxiliaries. The historian Livy noted that the Celtiberian force was a coordinated coalition, not a mob. It advanced under military banners in closed formations, combining both cavalry and infantry. Flaccus then marched deeper into Celtiberia and moved on the city of Contrebia. A Celtiberian relief army was sent to defend the city, but heavy rains delayed them. The city fell before they arrived. Most of the relief army escaped, but 12,000 were killed and 5,000 more taken prisoner, along with 400 horses and 62 military banners. The survivors ran into a second Celtiberian force on its way to Contrebia. Hearing the news, that force dispersed without fighting. Flaccus moved through Celtiberian territory ravaging fields and taking forts until the remaining tribes surrendered.
Gracchus had not yet arrived to take command. Rather than wait, Flaccus launched a third campaign against the tribes in the more remote areas where the Lusones lived. On his way back to Tarraco, he was ambushed at the Manlian Pass. He fought off the attack, killing 17,000 Celtiberians and capturing 3,700 men and 600 horses. The victory cost him 4,400 of his own soldiers. He continued to Tarraco and left for Rome. Gracchus was already on his way into Celtiberia.
Gracchus took Munda as his first objective, then turned to attack the powerful town of Certima. Certima's leaders sent to the Celtiberian military camp at Alce for help. Alce dispatched ten envoys to ask Gracchus his reasons for the attack. His response was to order his entire army to march in formal review before the delegation. The display worked: the envoys returned home and discouraged their people from sending aid. Munda surrendered, handed over forty young nobles as hostages, and paid an indemnity. Gracchus then struck the camp at Alce itself. Livy records 9,000 Celtiberian defenders, 320 additional captives, and 112 horses taken. In the same action, 109 Roman soldiers fell. Among the campaign's results was the defection of Thurru, a Celtiberian chief whom Livy described as by far the most powerful man in Hispania. Ergavica, alarmed by the news of these defeats, opened its gates without a fight. Gracchus then defeated 20,000 Celtiberians besieging the Roman-allied city of Caravis, in what is now north-western Aragon. He also captured the city of Complega.
A larger battle followed near Mons Chaunus, probably the Moncayo Massif, with heavy casualties on both sides. Three days later came a second, more decisive engagement: the defeated Celtiberians lost 22,000 men, plus 300 men and 300 horses captured. That second defeat ended the fighting.
Gracchus signed treaties with the Celtiberians that would be 'longed for in subsequent wars.' Unlike his predecessors, he spent time building personal relationships with tribal leaders. After Complega, he distributed land to the poor. His treaties required allied tribes to supply auxiliary troops to Rome and allowed them to strengthen existing towns but not found new ones. He introduced a grain tax called the vicensima, a five-percent levy on the harvest. Unlike the usual Roman practice, it was collected directly by the state rather than contracted out to private tax farmers. The historian Silva identified this as the first known instance of a systematically regulated public revenue in the region. Gracchus founded two settlements: Gracchurris, now Alfaro in La Rioja, in the Upper Ebro Valley; and Iliturgi, a mining town and frontier outpost in Hispania Ulterior. The conquered territories remained quiet for decades, with only minor exceptions. Hispania did not stir again until the Lusitanian War began in 155 BC and the Celtiberians rose in 154 BC.
Around 154 BC, Segeda, a powerful Belli city near modern Zaragoza, began building a circuit of walls seven kilometres long. Its leaders persuaded people from smaller surrounding towns to move inside the city. They forced the neighboring Titti tribe to join the project as well. The Belli had agreed to the peace terms Gracchus had set at the end of the First War. Rome declared Segeda in breach of those terms. It forbade the wall's construction and demanded the tribute and military contingent the Gracchus treaties had required. Segeda's leaders replied that the treaty had forbidden the founding of new cities, not the fortification of existing ones. They also said Rome had already released them from tribute and military obligations. This was accurate. The Senate's counter was that such exemptions had always been granted only 'during its pleasure' and could be withdrawn. The Senate was also worried about Segeda's growth into a major fortified power in the Celtiberian heartland. Rome prepared for war.
In 153 BC, the praetor Quintus Fulvius Nobilior crossed into Hispania with a force of nearly 30,000 men. The people of Segeda, their wall still unfinished, abandoned the city and sought refuge with the Arevaci. The Arevaci chose a Segedan named Carus as their commander. He assembled 20,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, positioned them in a thick forest along the Roman route, and waited. The ambush was a success. When it was over, 6,000 Romans were dead. Carus did not survive the day. While pursuing the fleeing Romans in disorder, he was intercepted by Roman cavalry guarding the baggage train. That counterattack killed Carus and 6,000 of his own men. From that day, Roman armies refused to fight on the festival of the god Vulcan. The battle had fallen on that date.
The Arevaci chose Numantia as their base, a city with strong natural defenses seven kilometres north of modern Soria, and selected two commanders: Ambo and Leuco. Three days later, Nobilior encamped four kilometres from the city walls. He had received reinforcements from Masinissa, the king of Numidia and a Roman ally in Africa: 300 cavalry and ten elephants. Before the battle, Nobilior positioned the elephants behind his lines where they could not be seen. At the right moment, he brought them forward. The sight of the animals, which the Numantines had never encountered, caused panic among the defenders, who fled inside the walls. Nobilior attacked the walls. Then a large stone struck one of the elephants. The animal screamed, and the others stampeded through the Roman lines, trampling their own soldiers. The Numantines made a sortie and killed 4,000 Romans and three elephants. Nobilior then attacked the supply depot at the town of Axinium but gained nothing there. A cavalry commander he sent to negotiate allied horsemen was killed in an ambush on the return journey. The town of Ocilis, where Rome's own provisions were stored, defected to the Celtiberians. Nobilior withdrew to winter camp, where food shortages combined with heavy snowstorms and frost killed many more of his men.
In 152 BC, the consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus, serving his third consulship, took command with 8,000 infantry and 500 cavalry. He avoided a prepared ambush by moving cautiously and encamped in front of Ocilis. He retook the town, granted it a pardon, accepted hostages, and imposed a fine of thirty talents. When the Belli town of Nertobriga asked for peace, Marcellus demanded 100 cavalry. The cavalry arrived, but during the negotiations a Roman rear guard was attacked and plundered. Marcellus chained the arriving horsemen, seized their horses, and began besieging Nertobriga. A second peace request arrived. Marcellus refused it unless the Arevaci, Belli, and Titti all submitted together.
Quintus Fulvius Nobilior, back in Rome, was spreading rumors of continuous Roman disasters and exceptional Celtiberian valor. Young recruits invented excuses to avoid service. Experienced officers declined to volunteer. Then the young Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus rose in the Senate. He said he wanted to serve in Hispania as an officer or a junior commander, and that he was ready. He was willing to go even though he had already been invited to Macedon for the safer work of settling disputes there. His offer made those who had been avoiding service feel ashamed. Recruits signed up. Officers volunteered. For the first time, the army bound for Hispania was chosen by lot rather than by the customary levy. Many men had complained that previous selections had been unfair, and this was the result.
Marcellus, however, managed to end the war himself before the new consul arrived. In 151 BC, learning that Lucius Licinius Lucullus was on his way, Marcellus told the Celtiberian leaders about the coming campaign, returned the hostages he held, and pressed them to settle quickly. A Celtiberian leader met with him near Numantia and said the Arevaci, Belli, and Titti would put themselves in his hands. Marcellus accepted hostages and a payment and released them. Lucullus arrived to find the war already over.
Appian described Lucius Licinius Lucullus as greedy for fame and money, a man 'in straitened circumstances.' The Senate had not declared war on the Vaccaei, a tribe of the central Duero Valley. The Vaccaei had never attacked Rome. Lucullus attacked them anyway. He crossed the River Tagus and arrived before the town of Cauca, now known as Coca. When the Caucaei asked why he had come, he said they had mistreated the Carpetani. He had come on the Carpetani's behalf. Fighting broke out. In one engagement near Cauca's gates, 3,000 Caucaei were killed. The town elders sought peace. Lucullus demanded hostages, 100 talents of silver, and a contingent of cavalry. When all three were provided, he demanded a Roman garrison in the town as well. Once 2,000 picked soldiers were inside, he sent in the rest of the army with orders to kill every adult male. Only a few of the town's roughly 20,000 inhabitants escaped. Those who made it out burned what they could not carry, to deprive Lucullus of plunder.
Lucullus marched next to Itercatia, whose location is uncertain, where more than 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry had gathered. He called for peace talks. The Itercatians asked whether he intended to treat them as he had treated Cauca. Appian recorded his response: 'he, like all guilty souls, being angry with his accusers instead of reproaching himself, laid waste their fields.' He laid siege and repeatedly formed up his troops to provoke open battle. The Itercatians refused. Day after day, one Itercatian horseman rode into the gap between the two armies and challenged any Roman to single combat. Day after day, no one accepted. Then Scipio Aemilianus stepped forward. He accepted, fought the man, and won, despite being smaller than his opponent. His victory lifted the morale of the Roman camp. The siege continued. Dysentery from unfamiliar local food killed many soldiers. A section of the city wall was knocked down, but the Romans who entered were overpowered and driven back, and the wall was repaired. Both sides were suffering famine when Scipio Aemilianus proposed peace and gave his personal guarantee it would not be violated. The Itercatians trusted him. They gave Lucullus 10,000 cloaks, some cattle, and fifty hostages.
Lucullus moved on Pallantia, now known as Palencia, though his advisers warned him against it. The city was renowned for its bravery and was sheltering many refugees. He had heard it was wealthy. Pallantian cavalry harassed his foragers continuously until his army ran short of supplies. The Romans withdrew under pursuit as far as the River Durius, then left under cover of night. Lucullus spent the winter in the territory of the Turdetani. He had gained nothing. 'He got nothing,' Appian wrote. The Vaccaei, Appian added, 'did not set any value on those metals' and had none to offer.
In Hispania Ulterior during the same period, Lucullus had conducted a joint operation against Lusitania alongside the praetor Servius Sulpicius Galba. Appian wrote that together they 'gradually depopulated' the region. Galba was, in Appian's account, even greedier than Lucullus. He killed many Lusitanians by treachery. Lucullus himself was never called to account. Four years later, in 147 BC, the Lusitanians rose again.
Common questions
How many Celtiberian Wars were there and when did they take place?
There were two main Celtiberian Wars. The First ran from 181-179 BC and the Second from 154-151 BC. Both were fought between Rome and a coalition of Celtic tribes in east central Hispania, including the Arevaci, Belli, Titti, Pellendones, and Lusones.
What caused the Second Celtiberian War to begin in 154 BC?
The Second Celtiberian War began when Rome objected to the Belli city of Segeda building a circuit of walls seven kilometres long and drawing in smaller surrounding towns. Rome argued this violated the peace treaties established by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus after the First War. The Senate declared war and sent the praetor Quintus Fulvius Nobilior with nearly 30,000 men.
Who was Tiberius Gracchus and what role did he play in the First Celtiberian War?
Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus ended the First Celtiberian War in 179 BC through a combination of military campaigns and diplomatic settlements. He introduced the vicensima, a five-percent grain tax collected directly by the state, and founded the settlement of Gracchurris in the Upper Ebro Valley, now Alfaro in La Rioja. His treaties were considered so fair that Celtiberian leaders sought their reinstatement when the Second War began.
What happened at Numantia during the Second Celtiberian War?
At Numantia, seven kilometres north of modern Soria, the Roman general Nobilior deployed ten elephants against the city's defenders in 153 BC. When a stone struck one elephant, the animals stampeded through the Roman lines. The Numantines made a sortie and killed 4,000 Romans and three elephants, inflicting one of the war's worst Roman defeats.
What did Lucius Licinius Lucullus do during the Celtiberian Wars?
Lucius Licinius Lucullus arrived as consul in 151 BC after Marcellus had already ended the Second Celtiberian War. He then attacked the Vaccaei, a tribe that had never fought Rome, without Senate authorization, crossing the River Tagus and massacring most of the roughly 20,000 inhabitants of Cauca. He was never called to account for the unauthorized campaign.
Who was Scipio Aemilianus and what did he do in the Celtiberian Wars?
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus played two notable roles during the Celtiberian Wars. He volunteered for service in Hispania in the Senate when other officers were refusing to go, shaming reluctant recruits into enlisting. Later, during the siege of Itercatia, he accepted a single-combat challenge from an Itercatian horseman, won despite being smaller than his opponent, and lifted Roman morale during the deadlocked siege.
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