the spains, 202–72 bc 67

The Spains, 205–72 BC

José Luis López castro

1. A Long Conquest

The Beginnings of the Roman Domain up to 197 bc When the Second Punic War finished in the Iberian Peninsula, the terri- tory controlled by the Roman armies was quite limited. With its main bases in Emporion and Tarraco they controlled the territory north of the Ebro up to the Pyrenees and a narrow corridor parallel to the Mediterra- nean coast in the eastern part and the south of the peninsula. The principal towns in those areas were Saguntum, Carthago Nova—the former Carthag- inian capital—and the western Phoenician cities of Baria, Abdera, Sexi, Malaca, Carteia, and Gadir (Gades) on the Atlantic coast on the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar. In the interior of Hispania the Roman domain consisted mainly of the Baetis (Guadalquivir) valley from Castulo to His- palis and Italica and down to Gadir/Gades on the coast. But the Roman domain was not secure: Scipio himself, before returning to Rome in 206 BC had to subdue the Iberian Lacetani situated north of the river Ebro (Livy 28.32), and we know that there were Carthaginians caught in Saguntum while trying to recruit mercenaries (Livy 30.21.3). The control of Hispania stayed in the hands of L. Cornelius Lentulus and L. Manlius Acidinus (28.38.1), proconsuls at the head of two armies. From 205 until 200 they had to fight against Ilergetes and Ausetani in the northeast, which, once having submitted, paid taxes to Rome (Livy 29.2; 39.1; App. Iber. 38). Also in the east there was resistance to the Romans, such as that of the Edetani conquered by C. Cornelius Cethegus (Livy 31.49.7). Between 200 and 198 the Roman commanders Cn Cornelius Blasio and L. Stertinius placed big exactions on the subjected Hispani. The year 197 marked the Roman intention of consolidating the domain in Hispania and of regulat- ing administration by means of the establishment of two new provinciae, according to the current interpretation of the increase by the Senate from four to six praetors (Livy 32.27.7). C. Sempronius Tuditanus and M. Helvius dealt respectively with Hispania Citerior and with Hispania Ulterior, each with an army of 8,000 infantry and 400 cavalry. 68 josé luis lópez castro The Consolidation of the Provinces of Hispania: 197–155 bc The situation of the Hispani, subjected to taxes and constant exactions and supporting occupation garrisons, precipitated a new conflict that explod- ed in 197 (Livy 33.21.6) and involved the whole of the limited territory then dominated by Rome: the army of Hispania Citerior was defeated and its praetor Sempronius Tuditanus killed (Livy 33.25.8), whereas in provincia Ulterior, two Iberian kings, Culchas and Luxinius, and Turdetanian and Phoenician cities such as Carmo, Sexi, and Malaca also defied the Romans, forcing the retreat of the praetor Helvius. In spite of the fact that the praetors of 196, Q. Fabius Buteo and Q. Mi- nucius Thermus, came with reinforcements and obtained partial victories over the Iberian kings, attaining triumphs (Livy 33.44.4), the situation was far from being under control. In 195 Rome sent the consul M. Porcius Cato to Hispania with a strong army consisting of a fleet, two legions and 15,000 Italian auxilia, besides the reinforcements of the praetors of the year, Ap. Claudius Nero for Ulterior and P. Manlius for Citerior (33.43.5-8). Cato initiated a long campaign in Hispania that developed firstly in the north-east, turning Tarraco into his operational headquarters. From there he organised expeditions against several cities which he subjected and forced to dismantle their walls, or they were besieged and conquered as was Segestica (Livy 34.17.2; site unknown: perhaps Segobriga?). Meanwhile, the praetors of both provinces joined their armies to face the Turdetani in Ulterior province, whose army was reinforced by Celtiberian mercenaries (Livy 34.17). As the praetors were defeated, the consul Cato drove his army to the south of Hispania where he undertook a victorious campaign, com- pleting his work with the crushing of the last resistant Lacetani in the north-east (34.19–20). After restoring the Roman domain and assembling a large booty, of which he took nothing, Cato obtained a triumph in 194 (34.46.2). In later decades, hostilities were constant in both Hispanic provinces, and the Roman domain spread progressively. The Senate annually desig- nated governors belonging to the most aristocratic families of the Republic. During their commmands they looked to the provinces for glory and boo- ty. At the same time, the Lusitanians and other peoples of Hispania con- stituted a factor of destabilisation in their hostility to the Romans and continuous assaults on the southern regions already subjected to Rome, where the wealth was concentrated (cf. Livy 39.7.6). The praetor of provin- cia Ulterior in 193, L. Cornelius Scipio Nasica, defeated Lusitanians when