The Numantine War — Scipio Aemilianus and the Last Spanish Holdout
Numantia was a modest Celtic town on the upper Douro River in what is now Soria, northern Spain. Its people were the Celtiberians — Celtic-speaking mixed culture warriors with exceptional military ability. For a decade they humiliated Rome. The scale of Roman military failure was extraordinary. Quintus Pompeius negotiated an agreement that the senate refused to ratify. Gaius Hostilius Mancinus was forced to surrender with 20,000 Roman soldiers and sign a humiliating peace treaty; the senate annulled it and handed Mancinus back to the Numantines, who refused to accept him. Army after army came and went. In 134 BCE the crisis demanded exceptional response. Scipio Aemilianus, the man who had destroyed Carthage in 146 BCE, was given command despite being legally ineligible to hold the consulship again. He reorganised the demoralised army, banned camp followers, banned comfortable quarters, and trained his troops for months. He then surrounded Numantia with 7 camps connected by a wall 9 kilometres long, and simply waited. By 133 BCE the Numantines were reduced to eating the bodies of the dead. They sent out emissaries to negotiate; they received silence. When they finally surrendered, many killed themselves rather than be led in Scipio's triumph. The town was razed.
- Year: 143 BCE
- Category: Military
