The Lusitanian War

With the Carthaginian defeat at the battle of Illipa and the naval defeat of Mago Barca, Hannibal’s youngest brother, off the coast of southern Spain near Gades, modern day Cadiz, the Romans had successfully ousted the Carthaginians out of Hispania in 206 BC. With Hispania now under their control, the Romans planned to consolidate this newly acquired territory and stabilize Hispania from any further violence. Rome thus inherited the wealth and problems of the region such as rebellious Iberian tribes. The year 206, marked the end of the first period of Roman involvement in the peninsula, and they were now ready to begin their second phase; consolidate and pacify the natives of their newly acquired territory. According to J.S. Richardson the period of over 12 years between the allocation of the province of Hispania to consul Publius Cornelius Scipio and the departure of his son, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, from Hispania in 206 was fundamental important in shaping Rome involvement and occupation of the peninsula. History shows that prior to the 2nd Punic War in 218 BC, Rome had no interest in Spain except to maintain a watch over the growth of Barcid family (also known as the Barcas) power and its influence in the Mediterranean. But after the war, the status quo had changed. With the expulsion of the Carthaginians, Rome fearing that there withdrawal from Hispania would only invite back the Carthaginians decided to stay on. Thus to maintain a long-term presence, it became clear to Rome that it needed to replace the military consular imperium (power) given to military commanders with some form of an organized government. But for this to happen, Hispania had first to be label as a ‘provincia’ by the Senate. This unofficial labeling at the time, which would not be ratified until 197 BC making Hispania an official state of the empire, allowed Rome to quickly have some control of this new addition to its growing empire and allowing Roman soldiers to be stationed within its borders in order to combat the continuing Carthaginian threat. As with all powerful nations and empires have discovered, breaking off from an involvement of this magnitude is not so simple. With this in mind, the Romans had realized that being in the Iberian Peninsula for the last twelve years had altered the situation. Rome, who had formed alliances with the Iberians were now obligated to support its allies on the peninsula, and disregarding those obligations might have weakened Rome’s ability to control an important area. In addition being that these allies during the Hannibalic War (2nd Punic War) were disobedient, unruly and unpredictable, they could not be trusted to keep out the Carthaginians hence it was important for the Romans to maintain some sort of governance and a military presence within Hispania for the distance from Italy to Hispania would prevent Rome from quickly responding to a crisis. Therefore direct control from within Hispania by Senate elected officials was the only practical solution. Furthermore, Roman presence had resulted in the creation of commercial avenues of interests, such as trading and mining bring in additional wealth into Rome. Viriathan War (The Second Lusitanian War) Classical authors primarily Polybius, Livy, Appian and Diodorus, highlight that the Iberian Wars that the Romans had undertaken in Hispania against the native populace were the most difficult, harshest and cruelest of all those that the Roman had undertaken so far. The Roman soldier had to face not only a dangerous enemy but also a hostile environment. It was not in vain that Polybius, an exceptional witness of the facts and friend and advisor to Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, classified this entire period of more than 20 years of warfare as the ‘fiery war’. Slavery, murder, treason and breaches of treaties, brutal executions, massacres of both Romans and Lusitanians alike, ethnic cleansing, and so on were tactics that became part of the new style of war called ‘guerrilla warfare’. The inability of Rome’s military power to defeat a ‘barbarous’ people came to be seen by many Romans as a costly endless war with no end in sight, and with little in return (i.e. profits). In time, this war would begin to exhaust the patience of the Roman Senate that they decided stop Iberian resistance by any means necessary and for their praetors not to look to Rome for material resources, besides manpower, to continue the war. The fighting would become horribly inhumane and brutal. Death, pillaging, rape, violence, extermination of populations, etc., constituted the practice common to all the Roman generals that entered in this war. But the main reason why this war became so vicious was because Rome never wanted to accept pacts on an equal footing; in spite of their defeats, in which they were required to surrender without conditions, something that the Lusitanians never accept. In return this was the most frequent reason for which the Lusitanians preferred to die rather than accept these new treaties. Therefore, they resisted in defending their liberty to the death. Viriathus Strikes Back Three years (150 BC - 147 BC) had passed since Galba’s massacre and the Romans were beginning to become accustomed to the splendorous peaceful haven that the Peninsula had become, but this was only an illusion for deep down, Galba and Lucullus’ massacre had left profound and bitter marks in the Lusitanian psyche, although the Romans had left psychological scar, it still left a resistance movement capable to make war against the Romans. But while the Romans were enjoying their peace in Hispania, among the Lusitanians, Viriathus, a survivor of Galba’s massacre, became the leader of his people with a plan to severely damage the Roman rule in Lusitania and beyond. This Lusitanian leader was to gain renown throughout the Roman world as a great guerrilla leader. Once again in the words of Theodor Mommsen, "It seemed as if, in that thoroughly prosaic age, one of the Homeric heroes had reappeared." Although a new hero emerged, there is no news of any incidents in Lusitania within the classical texts. Perhaps the reason for this is because either the Luistanians were licking their wounds and preparing themselves for a wrath of revenge. At the same time, Rome had become involved in new commitments such as in fighting the 3rd Punic War that progressed in Africa, coming to an end two years after it occur (149 BC - 146 BC. Also the area of the Aegean also need Roman attention, in particular the handling of insurrections in Macedonia, which had only recently come under Roman control in 148 BC with the elimination of King Andriscus by Quintus Caecilius Metellus. So with this said whatever happened in Hispania was minor, until in 147 BC, the Lusitanian War would begin a new dimension in warfare. Following Appian’s report, Viriathus was elected head of his tribe sometime between 150 BC and 147 BC. From that moment on, it is possible that Viriathus soon began to outline his own plan and organize a small army to terrorize the Romans. Unfortunately there is no record of what went on among the Lusitanians during these years, but one is sure that at the end of 147 BC or the beginning of 146 BC, the Lusitanians had assembled an army of 10,000 men under a nameless tribal leader and invaded the pacified area of Turdetania. Reaching the Guadalquivir Valley, the Luistanians are intercepted near Urso (Osuna) by a Roman legion belonging to the newly elected praetor of Hispania Ulterior, Gaius Vetilius who had recently arrived from Rome with a new army as well as taking over the army stationed in Ulterior; overall 10,000 men. . On receiving news that the Lusitanians were in his territory, Vetilius quickly marched against them from his winter quarters in Córdoba, with his entire army of 10,000 men.