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CELTIBERIA

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 653 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CELTIBERIA , a See also:

term used by See also:Greek and See also:Roman writers to denote, sometimes the whole See also:north-See also:east of See also:Spain, and sometimes the north-east See also:part of the central See also:plateau of the See also:peninsula. The latter was probably the correct use. The Celtiberi, in this narrower sense, were not so much one tribe as a See also:group of cantons—Arevaci, Pelendones, Berones and four or five others. They were the most warlike See also:people in Spain, and for a See also:long See also:time offered a stubborn resistance to the See also:Romans. Originally Carthaginian mercenaries, they were induced to serve the Romans in a similar capacity, and See also:Livy (See also:xxiv. 49) distinctly states that they were the first mercenaries in the Roman See also:army. They did not, however, keep faith, and several See also:campaigns were undertaken against them. In 179 B.C. the whole See also:country was subdued by T. Sempronius See also:Gracchus, who by his generous treatment of the vanquished gained their esteem and See also:affection. In 153 they again revolted, and were not finally overcome until the See also:capture of See also:Numantia (133). The twenty years' See also:war waged See also:round this See also:city, and its See also:siege and destruction by Scipio the Younger (133 B.C.) See also:form only the most famous See also:episode in the long struggle, which has See also:left its See also:mark in entrenchments near Numantia excavated in 1906-1907 by See also:German archaeologists. After the fall of Numantia, and still more after the See also:death of See also:Sertorius (72 B.C.), the Celtiberians became gradually romanized, and See also:town See also:life See also:grew up among their 'alleys; Clunia, for instance, became a Roman See also:municipality, and ruins of its walls, See also:gates and See also:theatre testify to its See also:civilization; while Bilbilis (Bambola), another municipality, was the See also:birth-See also:place of the eminently Roman poet See also:Martial.

The Celtiberiansmay have been so called because they were thought to be the descendants of See also:

Celtic immigrants from See also:Gaul into Iberia (Spain), or because they were regarded (cf. See also:Lucan iv. 9) as a mixed See also:race of Celts and Spaniards (See also:Iberians) ; in either See also:case the name represents a geographer's theory rather than an ascertained fact. That a strong Celtic See also:element existed in Spain is proved both by numerous traditions and by the more trustworthy See also:evidence of place-names. The Celtic place-names of Spain, however, are not confined to Celtiberia or even to the north and east; they occur even in the See also:south and See also:west. A long description of the See also:manners and customs of the Celtiberi is given by Diodorus Siculus (v. 33, 34). Their country was rough and unfruitful as a whole (See also:barley, however, was cultivated), being chiefly used for the pasture of See also:sheep. Its inhabitants either led a nomadic life or occupied small villages; large towns were few. Their See also:infantry and See also:cavalry were both excellent. In See also:battle, they adopted the See also:wedge-shaped formation of the See also:column. They carried See also:double-edged swords and See also:short daggers for use See also:hand to hand, the See also:steel of which was hardened by being buried underground; their defensive See also:armour was a See also:light Gallic See also:shield or a round wicker buckler, and See also:greaves of See also:felt round their legs.

They wore brazen helmets with See also:

purple crests, and rough-haired See also:black cloaks, in which they slept on the See also:bare ground. Like the See also:Cantabri, they washed themselves with urine instead of See also:water. They were said to offer See also:sacrifice to a nameless See also:god (See also:Strabo iii. p. 164) at the time of the full See also:moon when all the See also:household danced together before the doors of the houses. Although cruel to their enemies, they were hospitable to strangers. They See also:ate See also:meat of all kinds, and drank a See also:kind of See also:mead. E. Hiibner's See also:article in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie, iii. (1886-1893), collects all the See also:ancient references, which are almost all brief. Strabo's See also:notice (bk. iii.), based perhaps on Poseidonius, is fullest. (F. J.

End of Article: CELTIBERIA

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