A decade later, in 133 BC, the Roman general and hero of the Third Punic War, Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, subjugated Numantia, the chief Celtiberian city.

In late 135 BC, the Roman Senate reappointed Scipio consul on popular demand and sent him to Hispania to finish what lesser generals had failed to complete.

The troops were trained hard by constant marching and there were several successful skirmishes before Scipio began to surround the city of Numantia itself.

The Numantines attempted one failed sally before their greatest warrior, Rhetogenes, successfully led a small band of men down the river past the blockade.

Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) wrote a play about the event, La Numancia, which stands today as his most well-known dramatic work.

More recently, Carlos Fuentes has written a short story about the event, "The Two Numantias", published in his 1994 collection The Orange Tree.