Iberian lands, ca. 500 BC.
The Iberians arrived in Spain sometime in the third millennium BC. Most scholars believe the Iberians came from a region farther east in the Mediterranean, although some have suggested that they originated in North Africa and others believe the Iberians evolved from native groups. The Iberians first settled along the eastern coast of Spain, and possibly spread throughout the rest of the Iberian Peninsula later on. The Iberians lived in isolated communities based on a tribal organization. They also had a knowledge of metal working, including bronze, and agricultural techniques. In later years, the Iberians evolved into a more complex civilization with urbanized communities and social stratification. They traded metals with the Phonecians, Greeks, and Carthaginians.
Greek colonists made the first historical reference to the Iberians in the 6th century BC The Iberians most likely made contact with other cultures long before this, however. The Phoenicians established their first colony on the Iberian Peninsula in 1,100 BC and probably made contact with Iberians then or shortly thereafter. The Iberians learned writing from the Phoenicians and developed a system for recording their own language. Later, the Iberians incorporated elements of the Greek alphabet into their writing system.
The Iberians traded extensively with other Mediterranean cultures. Iberian pottery has been found in France, Italy, and North Africa. The Iberians also had extensive contact with Greek colonists who shared their cultural knowledge. The Iberians may have adopted some of the Greeks’ artistic skill.
The Iberians were under Carthaginian rule for a short time between the Second and Third Punic Wars. They supplied troops to Hannibal’s army. The Romans subsequently conquered the Iberian Peninsula and slowly repressed the local culture and language.
Viriato
For nearly 200 years, Rome waged an episodic war to colonize the Iberian peninsula in western Europe. The most difficult fighting was encountered in the western areas of the peninsula - the home of the tribal confederation known as the Lusitans. And the general who embodied the spirit of this resistance, was Viriato.
Little is known about Viriato’s background and upbringing. He likely grew up a shepherd, the occupation of most Lusitanians. In the third century BC, Rome started its conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and for a time, things progressed easily. In 150 BC the consul Servius Sulpicius Galba commanded the Roman troops in Iberia and began to focus on the Lusitanian resistance. Fearing the destruction of their lands, the Lusitanians sent an embassy to him. Galba received the Lusitanian embassy politely, suspended the offensive and promised to give lands to the Lusitanian people. The offer turned out to be a trap. When the unarmed Lusitanians, among them Viriato, tried to reclaim the lands promised by Galba, many were killed. Viriato was among those who escaped.
Viriato never forgot the Roman treachery. Later, when some Lusitanian leaders prepared to make a new agreement with the Romans after a major loss of lives to the Roman army of Caius Vetilius, Viriato reminded them of Galba’s trick and proposed a Lusitanian War against the Romans. The Lusitanians cried with joy. Viriathus organized an attack against Caius Vetilius in Tribola.
Since the Romans were better armed, he organized guerrilla tactics and sprung imaginative ambushes. Strabo describes their tactics “The Lusitans are given to laying ambush, given to spying out, are quick nimble and good at deploying troops. They have a small shield two feet in diameter, concave in front, and suspended from the shoulder by means of thongs, for it has neither arm rings or handles. Besides these shields they have a dirk or butchers’ knife. Most of them wear linen cuirasses; a few wear chain-wrought cuirasses and helmets with three crests, but the rest wear helmets made of sinews. The foot-soldiers wear greaves also, and each soldier has several javelins; and some also make use of spears, and the spears have bronze heads.” Charging with their spears, tridents and roars, the Lusitanians defeated Vetilius, beginning a string of Lusitanian victories. In response to their setbacks, Rome sent one of its best generals, Servilius Cipianus, to Iberia. Near Sierra Morena, the Romans fell into a Lusitanian ambush. A contemporary account of this confrontation reported that, “Viriato, at the head of 6000 troops, attacked him with loud shouts and barbaric clamor, his men wearing the long hair which in battles they are accustomed to shake in order to terrify their enemies.” Victorious, Viriato did not harm the Romans and let the soldiers and Servilianus go. Servilianus declared Viriato and the Lusitanians to be, “amici populi Romani, or “friends of Rome” and recognized the Lusitanian rule over their own lands. The Roman senate, initially receptive to Servilianus’ treaty with the Lusitanians, soon grew restless. However, they had learned to know their enemy and changed their tactics. Knowing that the Lusitanian resistance was largely due to Viriato’s leadership, Marcus Pompilius Lenas bribed Audax, Ditalcus, and Minurus, three Lusitanians sent by Viriatho as an embassy to establish peace. These ambassadors returned to their camp and killed Viriato while he was sleeping. When they returned to the Roman camp for their reward, the consul Servilius Cipianus ordered their execution, declaring, “Rome does not pay traitors.” With the death of Viriato, the Lusitanian resistance began to end, although total pacification of Lusitania was only achieved under Augustus.
