How did the Celtiberian town of Numantia fall to Rome?

The fall of Numantia

La caída de Numancia

133 BC. Numantia, a Celtiberian hill town near today's Soria, had defeated several Roman armies.

Where: Spain, Castile

What happened

Numantia, a Celtiberian hill town near today's Soria, had defeated several Roman armies. In 134 BC Scipio Aemilianus, the general who had destroyed Carthage, surrounded it with walls and camps and starved it instead of attacking. In 133 BC, after a siege of many months, the town fell. According to the ancient writers, many inhabitants chose death rather than surrender; the survivors were sold as slaves and the town was razed. Resistencia numantina still means a stubborn last stand in Spanish, and Cervantes wrote a play about the siege.

Say it

Los numantinos resistieron muchos meses contra Roma.

The people of Numantia held out against Rome for many months.

Why it matters

Numantia became Spain's founding myth of resistance: the phrase 'resistencia numantina' is everyday Spanish, and the site near Soria was among the first national monuments (1882).

Connected

• Iberians, Celts and Celtiberians (c. 5th century BC)
• Iberians, Celts and Celtiberians (c. 5th century BC)
• The Romanisation of Hispania (218 BC–409)
• Rome lands in Hispania (218–19 BC)

• Before: Rome lands in Hispania
• After: Augustus founds Mérida

Sources

1. El nuevo cerco a Numancia (Soria, España) – M. J. Peréx Agorreta — e-rph, Universidad de Granada