Uraci

The Uraci or ‘Duraci’ (Greek: Urakoi) were a little-known Celtic people of pre-Roman Iberia who dwelt to the east of the Vaccaei, occupying the southern Soria, northern Guadalajara and western Zaragoza provinces since the 4th century BC.

Origins

Of mixed Illyrian and Gallic origin, the latter possibly related to the Helvetic Rauraci, the Uraci migrated to the Iberian Peninsula around the 4th Century BC[1][2] and their tribal name can be roughly translated as "those [placed] farther apart".

Location

The Uraci settled the eastern meseta and the southern slopes of the Central Iberian System mountains between the upper Duero and upper Henares rivers. Their capital was the town of Lutiaca (Luzaga? – Guadalajara; Celtiberian mint: Lutiacos/Louitiscos); they also controlled the strategic towns of Cortona (Medinacelli – Soria), Segontia (Sigüenza – Guadalajara) and Arcobriga (Monreal de Ariza – Zaragoza).

Culture

It is assumed that the Uraci spoke a 'Q-Celtic' language and archeological evidence shows that their material culture little differed from the Celtiberians.

History

Forced to become clients of the powerful Arevaci around the late 4th or early 3rd Centuries BC, the Uraci were certainly obliged to provide military assistance to their patrons’ throughout most of the 2nd Century BC, but what role they played in the 2nd Punic War and subsequent conflicts with Rome remains unclear. In about 92 BC the Uraci began to overthrow Arevacian overlordship – quite plausibly at Roman instigation – being rewarded with the town of Numantia from the defeated Pellendones for helping Rome in suppressing the early 1st Century BC anti-Roman uprisings in Celtiberia (the 3rd Celtiberian War). However, they recovered their independence only for a short period at the end of the Sertorian Wars in 72 BC, after which they were included as Roman allies into pacified southern Celtiberia.

Notes

  1. ↑ Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 3, 29
  2. ↑ Strabo, Geographika, III, 4, 12

References

See also