Warfare in the ancient Iberian Peninsula
The poverty of some regions, as well as the reigning oligarchy of their populations, drove them to seek resources in richer areas, both by mercenary work and banditry, which generated a convulsed national environment where fighting was the main way of living.
[3] Through their military history, there are numerous examples of besieged cities whose inhabitants chose to die of starvation, mass suicide or uncompromising battle instead of surrendering.
[2] Forces from the Iberian Peninsula and its surrounding islands played a special role during the Second Punic War, when they constituted an instrumental part of the Carthaginian armies in their conflict against Rome.
[2] In this aspect it must be noted the Lusitanian, Celtiberian, and Cantabrian Wars, particularly the first, in which the chieftain Viriathus came to control most of the Iberian Peninsula and even forced Rome to sign, even if temporally, a peace treaty on his own terms.
Although there are records of Iberian timocratic armies and large militia coalitions formed by Celtiberian peoples,[1] most warfare in Hispania was waged in an irregular, tribal manner.
[5] Roman authors noted Hispanic infantry resembled their own in weapon choices and combat tactics, such as favoring the sword and the javelin by line troops, and only emphasized differences in organization, logistics and discipline.
[5] The Hispanic light equipment granted them mobility and quickness, apt to execute running attacks and skirmishes, though contratry to the stereotype, their weapons and shields also made them fit for close combat, and they could competently engage in massed fighting.
In this way he struck all of them with fear and walked away in contemptuous and leisurely fashion as they looked on.Hispanic swordsmen are acknowledged in chronicles due to their toughness and lethal effect.
[2][6] Armor was usually light and made of leather, and shields were used in two main forms: one was the small, round caetra, which gave its owners the Roman name of caetrati, while the other was the heavier, oval scutum, similar to the thyreos or the Gallic longshield, whose carriers would be called scutarii.
They were accustomed to climb mountainous roads, easily leaving behind their Italic homologues, and were also taught to obey their owners and wait for them if dismounted in midst of the battlefield.
[5][14] However, during the Roman conquest of Hispania, Viriathus elevated the guerrilla style to its maximum measure of success against the invading forces, which prompted its idealization in modern times and its extrapolation to virtually all the peninsular peoples.
[1] A particular tactic made famous by Caesarus and Viriathus was called concursare ("bustling"), where his forces would charge against the enemy lines, only for them to stop and retreat after a brief clash or without engaging at all.
This technique would be repeated as many times as needed in order to goad the opposing force into giving chase, which would be capitalized on to lead them to ambushes and new sudden attacks.
[21][22] The second poison had also a psychological effect on their enemies, as the user would suffer a postmortem contraction of the facial muscles (sardonicism) and would make it look like the dead warrior was supernaturally laughing at them.
While making incursions through Lusitania, Decimus Junius Brutus found female fighters defending their cities among the men, "with such bravery that they uttered no cry even in the midst of slaughter.
[13] Starting from the 5th century BC, mercenary life would become a social phenom in Hispania, with great numbers of fighters from distant lands coming to join the armies of Carthage, Rome, Sicily, and even Greece, as well as other Hispanic peoples.
[26] They are repeatedly described by authors like Strabo and Thucydides as being among the best fighting forces in the Mediterranean area, as well as, according to Livy, the most battle hardened unit in the Carthaginian military.
An inferior quarreling faction, unable to best the other on the battlefield, would seek refuge in their walls and endure the sacking of their outdoors properties, enjoying the safety that their enemies would not probably even try to assault the place.
