Numantia
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Numantia (Numancia in Spanish) was a town in Hispania (modern-day Spain), which for a long time resisted conquest by Romans in what was known as the "Numantine War." The city was finally taken and destroyed by consul Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus after a long and brutal siege. This victory put most of the Iberia under Roman control (although the north of Hispania was not conquered until the end of the Astur-Cantabrian Wars over a century later). This was the first notable military endeavour by Gaius Marius.
Plinius counts it as a city of the Pelendones but other authors, like Strabo and Ptolemy place it among the Arevaci people. The Arevaci were a Celtiberian tribe, formed by the mingling of Iberians and migrating Celts in the 6th century BC, who inhabited an area near Numantia and Uxama.
Before their defeat, the Numantines gained a number of victories. For example, in 137 BC, 20,000 Romans surrendered to the Celtiberians of Numantia (population between 4,000-8,000).
The ruins of Numantia is near modern-day Garray in Soria. Many objects and rest of the city can be visited in the Museo Numantino of Soria. However, the site is now threatened by plans to develop a new industrial zone nearby.
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[edit] Final siege of Numantia
The final siege of Numantia began in the year 134 BC. Scipio Aemilianus, who was a Roman consul at that time, was in command of an army of 30,000 soldiers. His troops constructed a number of fortifications surrounding the city as they prepared for a long siege. Resistance was hopeless but the Numantians refused to surrender and famine quickly spread through the city. After eight months most of the inhabitants decided to commit suicide rather than become slaves. Only a few hundred of exhausted and famished inhabitants surrendered to the victorious Roman legions.
[edit] Later history
After the destruction, there are remains of occupation in the 1st century BC, with a regular street plan but without great public buildings.
Its decadence starts in the 3rd century, but with Roman remains still from the 4th century. Later remains from the 6th century hint of a Visigoth occupation.
[edit] Present
Its exact location vanished from memory, and some theories placed it in Zamora, but in 1860 Eduardo Saavedra found it near Garray, Soria. Adolf Schulten located the place of the Roman camps around the city. Regular excavations started in 1906 and are still going on. The findings can be found in the Museo Numantino of Soria. The regional government of Castilla y Leon and the city of Soria have now embarked on a project for the development of a new industrial site at El Cabezo, which is adjacent to the site of Numantia and the Roman encampment and will also affect part of the Romanesque site of Los Arcos de San Juan del Duero. The plan has met widespread opposition from a number of quarters, including the Instituto de España, the Real Academia de Historia, the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, the Spanish Section of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and a number of Ancient History Departments in Spain. There is a petition to have Numantia declared a world heritage site, in the hope that this will persuade the local authorities to reconsider their plans; see below under External Links.
[edit] Symbolism
The siege of Numantia has been recorded by several Roman historians that admire the sense of freedom of the ancient Iberians and acknowledged their fighting skills against the Roman legions. Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) wrote a play about the event, El cerco de Numancia, which stands today as his most well-known dramatic work. More recently, Carlos Fuentes wrote a short story about the event, "The Two Numantias," in his collection The Orange Tree.
In the Spanish culture, it has a meaning similar to that of Masada for Israelis.
Several Spanish Navy ships have been named Numancia and a Sorian battalion was named batallón de numantinos. The Sorian football team is called CD Numancia.
During the Spanish Civil War, the Numancia regiment took the town of Azaña in Toledo. To erase the memory of the Republican president Manuel Azaña, they renamed it as Numancia de la Sagra.
Antonio Machado references the city in his poem Campos de Soria. The poem is an ode to the countryside and peoples of rural Castilia.
[edit] References
- Rafael Trevino "Rome's Enemies 4: Spanish Armies 218 BC – 19 BC", Osprey Military, Man-at-arms Series 180, 1992, ISBN 0-85045-701-7
[edit] External links
