Regnator Hiberae Magnanimus Terrae- A Viriatus TL

Loving this timeline, though noticed something:



Tiberius Gracchus was not murdered until 133 BCE, which would appear to be 5 years later than where you are at currently. His proper political career wouldn't even begin until 137, when he was appointed quaestor to the consul Mancinus in Spain. Also, if you require any assistance on Roman politics of this time, you can PM me, I may be able to help.

All in all, great updates though.

AH HA! I knew there was at least one mistake on my part. Unfortunately it's too late and it wont let me edit the post now but I'll bear that in mind. I'll also keep you in mind for if there is anything I need help with thanks.

:D

EDIT: No update today. Sorry. I had one in the works and almost finished. Then the site logged me out while I was typing the update and forced me to log back in to preview my update. Something bugged and completely deleted it just before I finished it. Needless to say I am freaking out with rage at losing an update I spent TWO HOURS working on that I had carefully crafted to one stupid bug in the website and have no intention of trying to finish this at 11PM at night.
 
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Note: The following document is the composed account of one anonymous Roman soldier from Serapio's army in October 138 BCE. Severe damage to the document, seemingly some form of diary, has resulted in the loss of the identity of said soldier in particular. However through the careful translation of portions of the original artefact and meticulous attempts at some restoration have allowed the composition of a basic narrative of the events of that month.

Some areas have suffered heavy damage which has resulted in some areas of the account being unreadable and this has led to some attempts at trying to work out what our anonymous author may have originally said in those areas. Needless to say this is by no means authoritative and areas in which more recent historians have made attempts at piecing together what the author said have been marked within brackets. As the excerpt we are focussing on pertains mostly to the events in October 138 BCE we have marked in bold the approximate date that these entries may have been written based on other historical accounts with some relevant information to provide context to each date.

Addressing the identity of the author poses a significant challenge as they were not a person of significant rank but from the evidence they supply here and in other parts of the account we can come to some conclusions. First of all the author was an adult male approximately 50 years of age and a member of the triarii class of soldiers. As a result we can establish that he would have held some deal of wealth and would be a veteran of a number of campaigns. Indeed the author makes reference to his involvement in the Siege of Carthage (149-146 BCE). The author was clearly literate and appears to have started writing the document in approximately 143 BCE.



Day I
-Believed to be the day prior to the entry of Serapio's army into the forests and commonly identified by historians as "Day I" given the impact of the days events and the point at which our excerpt of the account begins.


It seems our time has finally come. The consul has been urging us on, demanding we march faster and further for weeks now, and it finally seems to have succeeded. Just today we heard news from the locals that the Iberian came through this area with his horde only yesterday fleeing before our army.

(Large unreadable section of text most likely referring to the day's various events while on the march.)

I have been hearing stories about this Iberian, Viriato they call him, and his horde of barbarians, men who can melt out of trees and rip a man in two with their bare hands. Nothing more than horror stories among the younger hastati and I admit that looking at the pacified natives we have been meeting so far, I find such stories hard to believe for an instant. But... (Section Unreadable)

Mostly the main focus of any explanation here should be on the use of 'Day I', needless to say the author himself wasn't responsible for this addition and in some cases didn't even put a definitive date which leads to some disagreement on when certain entries take place. However a more recent construct of historians has been to break the 4 week period into their respective days (Day I, Day II etc.) to provide some context as to when these events may have taken place in regards to the time spent in the forest. The first two entries are almost universally accepted to be dated to Days I and II respectively with Day I being the day prior to their entry into the forest and marked by their first sighting of Viriathus and Day II marking their first entry into the forest. From here the dating becomes more and more complex and much more debated amongst historians as the narrative goes along.

Day II
Early this morning the consul...(Section Unreadable)...and soon we caught up to the Iberians fleeing into a dense forest before our advance. Our advance drove us in pursuit of these Iberians and we... (Section Unreadable)... in here the ground was rough and uneven and this posed a significant problem for any attempts at keeping formation in our pursuit... (Large Section Unreadable).

We seemed to lose them at various points...(today)... but seemed to once again find them continually moving away from us somewhere off to our flanks. I will admit that...(Section Unreadable)...and this meant that...(Section Unreadable).

The events of 'Day II' are generally quite ambiguously provided by our author but modern historians tend to agree that Serapio wasn't chasing one group of Iberians as our author seems to believe but actually several. It seems that Viriathus would throw a group of his soldiers our to lure Serapio's force in one direction before they would disappear from sight before a second group would appear in a different direction to lure Serapio that way. This ultimately disorientated Serapio and would prove crucial in the events to come.

Day V/VI
-Most likely Day VI due to the descriptions of previous attacks over the last "few days"


There was another attack last night, Marcus and Gnaeus were both taken by the Iberians. I'm starting to believe the stories...(Section Unreadable)... they know we are here, they are out there, in the darkness, watching us. We have been trying to catch them for days now but...(Section Unreadable)...

Some men tried to desert last night and fled their tents into the forest...(Section Unreadable)... but we were woke up when we heard the screams...(Section Unreadable)... They have begun to attack more and more during the day now...(Section Unreadable)...anyone who breaks away from the main army simply disappears...(Section Unreadable)... this morning...(Section Unreadable)...and the arrows claimed the lives of...(Section Unreadable)... The consul continues to...(Section Unreadable)...

By this point the Iberians had begun attacking the Roman force both at night and day. Viriathus seems to have made the choice to keep his army out of sight and to instead make small scale attacks on smaller Roman forces. Here the rough terrain led to some groups being separated and easily picked off by Viriathus while his men would frequently descend on the camp at night and pick off a few Roman soldiers before retreating. Occasionally Viriathus also seems to have had his men line up near the Roman column and loose a volley of arrows or two before making their retreat in the hope of luring some Roman soldiers away from the main force to be surrounded and picked off.

Day VIII/IX/X/XI

When did I last sleep? I hear them, even now, screaming out in the forest as the Iberians rip them to pieces. I do not think anyone is sleeping any more, we tried to stop them last night but they melted away before we could kill any of them. Fighting has broken out in the camp between...(Section Unreadable)...over even small things such as bread and water. I do not know how much more I can...(take)...before I...(Section Unreadable)...

We finally found them though, today we stumbled across the bodies of the missing, strewn across a section of forest with men having been...(Section Unreadable)... Even the consul is afraid of what lurks in the darkness and has tripled the guard on his tent although...(Section Unreadable)...Our camp is shrinking steadily as men are cut down daily both at day and night. They slaughtered the horses a couple of days ago and the consul has been forced to travel on foot alongside the rest of us.

By this point discipline within the camp was starting to break down and this would begin to lead to opposition against Serapio's continued refusal to retreat despite growing casualties. The groups that the author has mentioned likely are in reference to the growing divide in the camp between the soldiers many of whom wanted to retreat now from the forest and escape to safety.

Day IX/X/XI/XII

The consul ordered that we bury the bodies of those soldiers who have been found so far. However some men are starting to...(Section Unreadable)... On a smaller note I think that Alexandrus has been stealing from me.

Day XV/XVI

The consul has been injured, a stray arrow hit him in the shoulder earlier today cutting any marching we might have done short, thank Jupiter. More and more men are refusing to go onwards and are demanding we turn back. I think they might...(Section Unreadable)... but...(Section Unreadable)... and...(Section Unreadable)...

I have not slept properly in days now and I am so tired... and hungry. One of them has been stealing from me, I know it. It is probably Alexandrus.

Day XIX/XX/XXI/XXII
Alexandrus is dead and I killed him. I was so sure he was stealing from me... I guess not. There was a fight today, some men demanded that the consul turn back which led to an argument and then a fight. That was when I killed Alexandrus, he was one of the men demanding that the consul turn back and involved in the fight. Anyone else involved in the fighting is to be executed tomorrow morning.

Day XX/XXI/XXII/XXIII
There was another fight today. It started as a brawl over...(Section Unreadable)...and soon the camp was in turmoil. But the consul has finally given the order to turn back and...(Section Unreadable)...I will admit...(Section Unreadable)... Despite this the executions went ahead.

I am so tired. Already provisions are wearing thin, stolen by...(Section Unreadable)...while he...(Section Unreadable)... and...(Section Unreadable)... then...(Section Unreadable)...

They continue to hound us, day and night. Their arrows pierce men and every so often I hear them descend on soldiers behind me and the screams as men are cut down. Any attempts to help them will surely...(Section Unreadable)...

That is the last entry in the document by the author. For context the document was found remarkably well preserved for a document of this nature, it had been soon covered in a thick condensed layer of sediment which provided anaerobic conditions for survival. As for the author, he is believed to have never made it out of the forest itself and was likely killed shortly after the last entry. The document itself was buried in the ground as stated above but was near a number of potential sets of remains that could have been the author. None of these sets of remains has been positively identified as the author but the nearest set has commonly been identified as the author. This set of remains showed signs of a long military career such as wounds that had been healed a long time prior to death and would likely be consistent with someone of the triarii class. This person was likely killed by either the sword wound between the Left Zygomatic Bone and the Right Mandible or more likely a serious wound sustained to the chest.

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Note from the author:

Apology 1) This was very late. The original copy ended up being deleted quite annoyingly unfortunately.

Apology 2) This is not how Romans probably would have spoken or written anything but I honestly couldn't be bothered to try and make it sound authentic considering I had to write this so late at night.

Apology 3) This probably didn't work out the way I was hoping. I wanted to try and convey a more dramatic sense of the sheer horror of fighting an invisible enemy with a degree of historic objectivity for context while also showing the army being broken down. Honestly I had a much better version of this in the works as my original copy that was deleted and my entire stream of brilliant ideas just sort off... fell apart... and died. :(
 
Iberia's Wrath

As 138 BCE drew to a close, news of Serapio's crushing defeat in Iberia began to filter back West towards Rome. Serapio was denied both his victory and his defeat and many civilians in the easternmost parts of Iberia, those most loyal to Rome, looked on in horror as his greatly reduced army returned from the campaigning. We don't know for sure how many men Serapio lost against Viriathus in October that year but we do know that the casualties that he sustained were very heavy. For one the cavalry was said to be all but non-existent as the majority of the horses themselves had been killed and many of their riders had suffered the same fate. Serapio himself had lost his horse and many of the horses he had taken as replacements, even taking an arrow to the shoulder during his attempts to pursue Viriathus. But while the triarii and principes had indeed suffered heavy casualties, it was the hastati that had suffered the most out of anyone in the army. Some estimates put casualties among the hastati as high as 40% as compared to estimates of about 20% for principes and 15% for triarii. Whatever the truth as to the numbers themselves, the casualties were high in both dead and wounded.

But the wrath of Iberia was not to be sated so easily and the news of the defeat spreading through Iberia brought with it a wave of discontent among the native populace. The most notable discontent was among the Turdetani who had revolted shortly after the Second Punic War and, due to their position very near the border of Hispania Ulterior, began to show more and more discontent against Rome. The Vettones, who had always been staunch allies of the Lusitani and had previously been a particular problem due to their raids, began to cross the border into Roman Iberia more and more ferociously beginning in 137 BCE. In many of the border regions of Hispnia Ulterior Roman control began to break down as these areas, which had always been the biggest sources of discontent, began to defy Roman control and rebel against the Romans in support of Viriathus. Indeed the crushing defeats suffered by 3 Roman armies in the matter of two years at the hands of Viriathus had a huge part to play in the breaking down of order in Hispania Ulterior.

For now the central, southern and eastern portions of Hispania Ulterior remained safely within Roman hands even while the border regions began to fall into more and more chaos. In comparison Hispania Citerior remained remarkably safe as, due to his success against the Numantines the previous year, Callaicus became proconsul of the province. It was largely down to Callaicus that Hispania Citerior managed to avoid the chaos that gripped the border regions of Hispania Ulterior that year and Callaicus even managed to largely defend the borders against further Numantine raids throughout the beginning of 137 BCE.

'A War of Fire and Blood'

The two consuls elected in 137 BCE were Marcus Aeimilus Lepidus Porcina and Gaius Hostilius Mancinus. Porcina's skills in military matters are up for debate but what is very much certain is that he was an exceptionally skilled orator later praised by Cicero as such. Mancinus however was described as being "most unfortunate of the Romans as a general" as would later be shown by his performance in Iberia. By 137 BCE the Numantine war, while still dragging on, seems to have largely calmed down as compared to before as shown by the distinct focus on Viriathus that year. Serapio had returned in defeat and with the chaos that was emerging in Hispania Ulterior by this point, there was a distinct fear that the entirety of the region would be overrun by Viriathus.

This time the Senate didn't want to take any chances with Viriathus as they had done with trusting Serapio to full command of the campaign. Typically a consular army was about 20,000 men strong but this time they would send both Mancinus and Porcina in joint command of an army 40,000 strong to crush Viriathus once and for all. The chaos in Hispania Ulterior dictated to Rome that something more than a simple consular army was needed to crush the Iberians and restore order. The two consuls spent January to April 137 BCE raising their army and making preparations for the trip to Iberia which would begin in May 137 BCE. Later that month they arrived at Carthago Nova and set up camp to begin making preparations to move against Viriathus.

The decision was soon taken that Mancinus and Porcina would move west against the Lusitani and, en route, defeat the Turdetani rebellion that was still rampaging in the region. The priority of course was to seek out and defeat Viriathus, to force the Iberian to battle as quickly as possible and crush his army. This was the problem for Mancinus and Porcina, their army was too big. Fighting in Iberia was never good in the way of supplies for armies that were only 20,000 strong but this was double the size which more or less necessitated that they force Viriathus to battle. The army wouldn't be able to sustain a long drawn out campaign to defeat Viriathus and secure Hispania Ulterior as it was. Had the two generals split their army up it may have been feasible to wage a longer campaign although this would have put them individually at more risk. However Mancinus and Porcina had determined to march together with joint command which severely limited what they individually could do.

Given the already poor state of the supply lines in Iberia at the time and the fact that the land wouldn't really be anywhere close to sustaining an army until at least late summer, Mancinus and Porcina decided to stay where they were until August. This was a wise move on their part, with an army so big and with supplies so poor as they would have been, the army would have starved long before ever finding Viriathus. Finally in August 137 BCE the two Roman consuls began marching west to confront Viriathus once and for all. Initially they found success against some of the other Iberians as they began to reach the western border and some of the rebelling regions. In September they inflicted a heavy defeat on the Turdetani and even managed to repel the Vettones and other raiding tribes while establishing some semblance of control in the region. But Viriathus was nowhere to be found and, as some members of the Turdetani rebellion began to filter towards Viriathus in the wake of their defeat at the hands of the Romans, he began to receive information of what exactly he was fighting.

This was where the problems of trying to supply such a large army began to manifest as Viriathus began to lure Mancinus and Porcina west with very similar tactics to what he had used against Serapio. By manufacturing rumours and showing small portions of his army to the Romans, Viriathus would lure them further and further west which allowed him to move behind their lines.The first indication of what exactly had gone wrong came in October 137 BCE when the supplies that were reaching them abruptly stopped coming. By the time Mancinus and Porcina realised what had happened it was too late, there weren't any relatively big towns or cities nearby that may have had a large enough surplus of food to even hope to supply their army. It was at this point that the two began to retreat as supplies began to dwindle rapidly under the weight of 40,000 soldiers trying to keep themselves fed. Every town and village they encountered was promptly stripped bare in a desperate attempt to keep themselves supplied in the face of starvation but still the land couldn't support 40,000 men by itself.

Viriathus was only too happy to play upon these problems and began making distinct moves to slow them down. He had soldiers shadow them and occasionally even launch raids on their camp or harass their soldiers. Notably his army moved with surprising freedom and speed despite this being Roman territory as he moved on ahead to try and strip the land bare before Mancinus could get there. Finally in early November the two generals, having seen their supplies wear thin and their soldiers begin to starve, made the decision to split their forces up so as to avoid full starvation. Mancinus would continue onwards to Carthago Nova while Porcina would move South to wards the Southern regions so that the land wouldn't be stripped entirely bare as two armies tried to move towards one location. Once they had reached their individual goals, then a strategy could be drawn up to try and defeat Viriathus. To a degree this was a wise move on their part, the armies were beginning to starve and weren't moving nearly quickly enough. This way Viriathus would either be forced to leave one of them alone or risk splitting his numerically inferior army in two which would leave him vulnerable.

The two split later that month leaving Viriathus to come to a decision on his particular plan. Viriathus had no intention of chasing Mancinus back to Carthago Nova, he was deep enough in Roman territory to be vulnerable and didn't want to make an attempt on their biggest city. This was especially true given that Carthago Nova was part of Hispania Citerior and a confrontation with Callaicus was not in his interests. However isolating parts of Hispania Ulterior wasn't beyond his ability to achieve and Viriathus had, for a while, been hoping to try and secure his position in the Southern regions nearer to Gadir at risk of a Roman army outflanking him. For now Gadir and the region around it was unstable enough that no Roman commander wanted to risk a distinct landing there which played to Viriathus' favour, but it wasn't a situation that he trusted would last. So instead Viriathus chose to go after Porcina as he retreated South while leaving a small group of Iberians to shadow Mancinus for a time.

Viriathus made a point of shadowing Porcina's retreat and would frequently show parts of his army to unnerve the Romans or even lure away parts of the Roman army for the slaughter. Porcina often tried to force a battle against Viriathus but the Iberian always managed to keep far enough away to avoid such a direct confrontation. Through clever manipulation of his army by splitting it up at various points and by using his ability to move quicker than the Romans due to his smaller numbers, Viriathus began to shepherd Porcina South-East towards the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was here that Viriathus chose to finally destroy Porcina once and for all. The problem was that Porcina remained constantly threatened by Viriathus but unable to actually break past him or to force a pitched battle. The seeming ability for Viriathus to appear anywhere had driven him in a particular direction and in late December 137 BCE he found himself at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The bad weather and snow in the higher regions of the Sierra Nevada were easily enough to dissuade Porcina from even attempting to cross to the Southern regions. But it was here that Porcina found himself cornered by Viriathus.

Technically he had an escape route that would avoid a confrontation with Viriathus, but this escape route was over the mountains. The mountain range would probably clear up in Spring but Porcina couldn't wait until Spring in such a location, his army would starve. As it was his army was already on the verge of starvation after the events previously and any attempts to break out by Porcina ended with his men taking heavy casualties to Viriathus' guerilla fighters before being driven back. With no word coming from Mancinus and what meagre supplies he had managed to scavenge en route South rapidly dwindling, Porcina made one last attempt to break free. When his failed he finally took the only gamble he could make and tried to pass through the Sierra Nevada.

The temperature was freezing and the rugged and cold terrain broke up any semblance of formation as his men struggled through the passes and valleys. Every inch of the way they were hounded by Viriathus' men, men who weren't on the verge of sheer starvation and could move much quicker and easier in such conditions. As discipline broke down and the food supplies worse thin by the day, more and more men began to defect as Viriathus began offering an escape to any soldiers who laid down their weapons and surrendered. In late January 136 BCE Porcina was killed during a skirmish and with his death discipline collapsed and mass defections took place as men surrendered en masse. Those who remained took heavy casualties but, in early February 136 BCE, a number of them finally escaped the Sierra Nevada and fled into the local countryside. These men then began to take shelter in local towns and villages to hide from Viriathus, often to a large degree of success. However while some men escaped Viriathus and his army, many others were found and dragged out by the victorious Iberians and taken prisoner.

But Viriathus now found himself too far into Roman territory and too isolated to any sense of a push against Roman territory and began a retreat from Roman territory. He had taken a great risk just by going so far and was at risk of being cut off from his home by Mancinus or any other Roman forces. Mancinus had arrived in Carthago Nova relatively quickly, albeit not quickly enough to save Porcina, but was entirely sure that Viriathus had been chasing him and was sat waiting for Porcina to make contact right up until the end of the year by which point he had no chance left to even think about outflanking Viriathus. News of Porcina's defeat wouldn't arrive until April and his wrecked army and broken bones wouldn't be found until 2006.
 
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The Great Crisis

The fighting between Viriathus and the Romans had left devastation in Hispania Ulterior and as Viriathus returned to Lusitania in April and May 136 BCE he travelled through devastated and ruined regions that he and the Romans had stripped bare. The fact that Viriathus had reached as far as the Sierra Nevada worried local people who began to fear that he would lay waste to their homes and livelihoods if he were to ever return. The destruction of Porcina's army did nothing to quell their fears as local people began to wonder if Rome could actually protect them from Viritathus given their current set of defeats. Dissent had been a large problem in Hispania Ulterior for a while now but this fear that began to spread throughout the populace was a dangerous mixture as even the more settled Iberian tribes began to turn against Rome which seemed to be failing them. The border regions suffered heavily for the Romans as many Turdetani villages began turning away from Rome and instead began siding with Viriathus thus effectively being drawn into his rebellion against Rome.

However this defeat would only exacerbate the divisions that were already apparent in the senate over the affairs in Iberia. Callaicus had succeeded in stopping the losing streak that the Romans had suffered against the Numantines but he hadn't won the war which still dragged on even while men went to Iberia seemingly just to die at Viriathus' hands. The seeming failure of the massive Roman army sent to Iberia even before the defeat of Porcina ultimately ended up with the Roman senate being divided into two camps with one group wanting to end the conflicts in Iberia as soon as possible to secure their provinces and another group advocating to continue their wars until they were victorious. This division came right at the heart of the senate and became especially apparent with the elections of Lucius Furius Philus and Sextus Atilius Serranus that year. The problem was that these two consuls fell on the two different sides of the division within Rome with Philus, a close member of the Scipionic Circle, advocating for a continued conflict in Iberia and Serranus advocating for a more peaceful policy. Part of this division came from Scipio Africanus the Younger whose father had been the one to largely conquer what the Romans now held in Iberia and was continuously a staunch supporter of defending this lands in the name of his father as opposed to seemingly just giving in and risking letting these lands go. Africanus in particular seemed very keen to liken the events in Iberia to the 2nd Punic War and use this as a significant portion of his justification for why Rome should continue fighting as they had done against Hannibal.

However Scipio didn't have the advantage of time and, as the conflicts in Iberia continued to worsen, fewer and fewer people began to support his arguments for a continued conflict in Iberia. However this division was crucial for the events in Iberia as the senate couldn't agree upon whether to actually send a consular army to Iberia leaving the provinces in complete disarray and chaos with very little defence from Rome. This only worsened the growing sense of fear suffered by the people in Iberia which was to grow significantly worse when news began trickling out that Porcina's army had been crushed in the Sierra Nevada. Had the Romans sent a consular army at this point then they may have been able to prevent the events that were about to take place in Iberia but the news of Porcina's defeat reaching Rome in May 136 BCE led to a complete crisis in the city as debates and arguments flared up between the two sides with neither being able to reach a conclusion. Normally the Scipionic Circle had a very humane foreign policy and may have advocated for a more peaceful approach, but Scipio probably felt that making peace so easily and maybe giving up land was a betrayal to his father who had fought to conquer these lands and all those who had fought to try and keep them.

But things were even worse in Iberia as the air of fear was worsened by Viriathus' raids in Hispania Ulterior from June onwards and the lack of Roman armies arriving to support the local populace only worsened this. This lead to some very nasty divisions in Iberia itself as the Romans and the more upper-class natives who considered themselves Romans began to fear that the general Iberian populace was full of potential supporters for Viriathus and the local Iberians began to resent the Romans as they remained seemingly apathetic to the constant attacks from Viriathus and the fear paralysing the populace. This ultimately led to very severe rioting throughout summer that year and minor skirmishes between Roman soldiers and the local Iberians. The irony of course is that very few of these riots were actually pro-Viriathus and were instead targeted at the Romans who seemed to have betrayed the locals by remaining apathetic to their plight. The general rule is that the further West you went, the more pro-Viriathus people were and the people of the Turdetani were very much more supportive of Viriathus and his fighting. Things came to a head in August 136 BCE when the local Bastetani tribe rose in revolt against Rome, this was a pretty big shock for the Romans as the Bastetani weren't anything like the Turdetani as they were situated in the South-East, the more secure regions. However the tensions had grown so much that this had become inevitable in not only Hispania Ulterior but bits of Hispania Citerior as well. In September there was a revolt by the Celtici in the South-East region of Hispania Ulterior and Contestani in October in the South of Hispania Citerior.

This was the last straw in Rome as the senate finally agreed to send a consular army to Spain to try and restore order in the region as soon as was possible. But it was really too late for an army to mobilise in 136 BCE so the decision was made to simply send reinforcements to Spain that would be joined by a consular army in 135 BCE. Finally in 135 two new consuls were elected, Servius Fulvius Flaccus and Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus. Scipio had already been consul in 147 BCE but with the distinctly worsening situation in Iberia, electing the son of the man who defeated Hannibal probably seemed like a good idea to try and defeat Viriathus once and for all. Unlike with what had happened in 137 BCE, the senate didn't send both consuls together and instead decided to send Flaccus to Hispania Citerior to restore order and Scipio to Hispania Ulterior.

The Fields of Blood

It was a match that seems to bound to have happened at some point given the circumstances and the histories of both men involved. In one corner stood Scipio Africanus the Younger, a fearsome commander with a strong reputation built upon that of his father who had defeated the most fearsome enemy Rome had ever faced. In the other was Viriathus, the man who had destroyed nearly every army sent to defeat him and had almost single-handedly created a crisis in the Roman Republic by waging one of the most brutal wars Rome had faced. We can't underestimate how bad things actually were for Rome by this point in Iberia as the supply problems and lack of discipline hindered the Roman army at every step, rebellions and disorder tore through their provinces and Viriathus defeated them time and time again. Furthermore the Roman army was very limited in who could join as you had to be a fifth class census or higher, own property worth 3,500+ sesterces and supply your own armour and equipment. Combined with the reputation of Viriathus driving away anyone who may join and the sheer lack of soldiers available given the heavy casualties in Iberia and the need for soldiers in other parts of the republic, Scipio and Flaccus had their work cut out for them in finding soldiers. Scipio just about managed to recruit 20,000 soldiers and a further 10,000 allies while Flaccus managed to recruit 17,000 soldiers and a mere 8000 allied soldiers to help fight in Hispania Citerior.

The problem was that Flaccus never made it to Iberia as he was soon sent to Sicily when a massive slave revolt of over 70,000 slaves under two men, Eunus and Cleon broke out in the region. This put even more responsibility on Scipio's shoulders as the senate entrusted it to him to secure both Hispnia Ulterior and Citerior without Flaccus' help in the matter. Scipio finally arrived in Iberia in April 135 BCE where he met up with a further 5000 soldiers bringing his total to a pretty big 35,000 soldiers with which he hoped to quell the dissent in Iberia and potentially even defeat Viriathus. Over the next few months he would do just that as he defeated the Contestani in May, the Bastetani in June and the Celtici in July of that year and restored a significant amount of order by showing a care for the local people and helping to ease tensions in the region. What Scipio did here was pretty astounding as he re-established order and helped ease the dissent by crushing the various revolts in the course of only a few months. He even succeeded in gaining some more allies bringing his total to about 40,000 soldiers which he succeeded in supplying much more efficiently than his predecessors had done allowing him to dedicate some time to trying to defeat Viriathus once and for all.

Meanwhile Flaccus saw very little success in Sicily as he failed to decisively defeat the slave rebellion given his massive number deficiency and the skill of Eunus but also, in particular, Cleon, a pretty skilled commander and general. While he wasn't outright defeated by the slaves and managed to hold his own in a number of indecisive engagements interspersed with defeats, Flaccus' failure here guaranteed that the First Servile War would go on for years to come. But the focus of people in Rome was not on the affairs in Sicily but the affairs in Iberia as Scipio finally turned his attention to trying to crush Viriathus in August 135 BCE. Scipio had helped sort some of the supply problems but he knew he couldn't afford to keep 40,000 soldiers in the field for too long so he did hope to try and force a battle with Viriathus while hopefully avoiding the same mistakes his predecessors had made. But Scipio was still fighting a type of warfare that he was very unused to as a Roman commander and an exceptional siege commander. This was guerilla warfare and Viriathus had no intention of confronting the general in open battle when he could stay in the shadows and inflict heavier casualties that way. Nevertheless Scipio did try to avoid the very situations that could lead to disaster such as very dense forests, exceptionally rough terrain or any obvious bait by Viriathus.

But that isn't to say he was entirely successful against Viriathus as the Iberian continued to run circles around him with his more manoeuvrable army and continually shadowed the larger Roman force only striking out when he could. This is exactly how the conflict between Scipio and Viriathus went for the months between August and November 135 BCE as Scipio avoided walking into traps and Viriathus danced around him striking out whenever possible but only inflicting very minor casualties. Finally, as it seemed Scipio had failed to force a battle with Viriathus, the Roman army made it's way back west only to find something very very different waiting for them. Only a few days into their journey the Romans stumbled across Viriathus' camp that was tucked away in a location from which Viriathus was ideally placed to see the Roman moves while the Romans had remained oblivious to his movements. This was perfect for Scipio who hoped that, if he took Viriathus' main base camp, he could force the Iberian into battle when he returned himself. That is, if Viriathus weren't in the camp anyway. Scipio had his men muffle their boots and then spread out to surround the camp in the shadowy darkness of the evening before finally giving the command to attack and take the camp. Roman soldiers swarmed down into the camp easily capturing it and everything within while freeing a number of Roman captives. In the enjoyment of such a victory it came too late to realise that the camp had fallen a bit too easily. Scipio realised first, picking through the camp and finding very few Iberians actually there for the Romans to have killed. Nevertheless it was too late as horns echoed through the hills followed a second of silence. Battle cries rung through the area as the Romans turned to see Viriathus and his army descending upon the camp out of the darkness on every side cutting into the unprepared Roman lines and boxing them in. The first set of Iberians soon launched flaming projectiles into the middle of the camp in an attempt to set a fire in the midst of the Romans to which Scipio responded by hurriedly ordering his men to fight the flames.

The fighting was brutal, close-combat and very bloody as Viriathus utilised his full strength in the way of men for the first time as 20,000 Iberians swarmed down on Scipio's force. The first men to fall were those outside the camp as they were caught in smaller groups and cut to pieces before those inside the camp could rally and form a defence to try and hold the camp against Viriathus. Both Viriathus and Scipio were there on the front lines fighting alongside their men on foot against the enemy as the Romans were steadily pushed back into the camp beneath the Lusitani onslaught. However this engagement was not to go Viriathus' way as the timely arrival of Scipio's cavalry and a significant infantry force shortly after allowed him to break Viriathus' assault and escape the camp with his army. The Battle of the Field of Blood was really a victory for no one as Viriathus was forced to retreat but Scipio took very heavy casualties and escaped after 5 hours of brutal fighting with only 27,000 of his initial 40,000 soldiers left while Viriathus lost 9000 men in the fighting.

Scipio finally returned to Rome in January 134 BCE where he was hailed as this great victor over Viriathus having crushed his army at the Field of Blood and having secured Iberia. Indeed this victory did restore a portion of discipline to Roman armies in Iberia and helped restore confidence to the Romans that the Iberians could be defeated while providing Rome with some breathing room in Iberia while Viriathus recuperated after the battle. But Rome was about to see one of the most brutal and bloody periods in history and the events in Iberia would soon spread out in a series of events that threatened to bring Rome crashing down.
 
The Meat Grinder:

With good reason Iberia has become known as the meat grinder of the Roman Republic, a region where men seemed to be constantly poured in only to be cut down in the constant fighting that took place there. The Numantine War was a mess for Rome and even Calliacus' involvement in the region during the course of his consulship and the time he spent as proconsul of Hispania Citerior had done little to quell the problems. Indeed 135 BCE was a particularly bad year in regards to the Numantine War as the army that had originally been intended to go to the region, under Flaccus, had never arrived because of the slave uprising in Sicily. This was one of the points at which the forces fighting Viriathus were probably better off than those fighting the Numantines who continued to attack and raid the Roman province of Hispania Citerior. So far Hispania Citerior had been relatively safe as the Numantines were often relegated to simply fighting along the borders with minor raiding and the occasional periods of dissent within the province that were easily quelled by a Roman army or a decent governor or proconsul. So far the Romans in the region had left the Numantines alone save for moving to counter Numantine raids that were occurring with increasing frequency given the state of Viriathus' victories in the South. An often debated question is whether the Romans in the region merely didn't move against the Numantines or were flat out incapable of doing so save for repelling the raids. Bear in mind that by this point the garrisons in Hispania Citerior were wearing very thin and the Roman position in the region was becoming increasingly dependent on reinforcements from Rome, reinforcements that had been diverted to Sicily while Scipio went on to fight Viriathus.

At this point we need to explore the actual relative threats faced by Rome in the Iberian peninsula and their responses to them to really work out why their tactics and strategies continued to fail and why Iberia continued to eat men and resources. Here the main point to make is that, objectively, the Numantines were actually a significantly more dangerous foe than Viriathus was to Rome. The Lusitani were merely a tribe and later a confederation of tribes led by a strong, charismatic and brilliant leader but beyond that they had very little to grant them success within the peninsula beyond this singular leader. Before Viriathus came along, the Lusitani were beaten and had very little hope of defeating Rome but this had changed because they ended up getting a strong leader. At the end of the day, Viriathus was a man who could be killed or wounded as could have happened with a random sword or a stray javelin at the Field of Blood or to a disease while he was traversing Iberia. Without Viriathus the Lusitani would never have gotten off the ground and had only become a threat because of this one man. In comparison the Numantines were a threat to Rome because of problems endemic in Roman politics (divisions within the senate, scheming politicians, preventing resources being assigned where needed etc.) or government and especially within Roman Iberia (poor supply lines, poor leadership, lack of morale etc.) and strengths inherent within the Numantines (better knowledge of the terrain, more manoeuvrable armies etc.). Yes Viriathus had exploited the same Roman problems and had used the very same strengths but this was because he was a leader capable of using them not because the Lusitani had been in a position to make use of or benefit from these initially. Had those assassins back in 139 BCE succeeded in their job then the Lusitani would probably have been doomed as there were few leaders of Viriathus' calibre to continue fighting Rome. In comparison the Numantines couldn't be beaten by just assassinating a strong leader but needed to be crushed, the idea of the Numantine rebellion had to be stamped out of existence or Rome could never be victorious. Had Scipio been assigned to Hispania Citerior then he could have potentially fixed the problems endemic to Rome within the region for long enough to defeat the Numantines and cut off one of the main support bases for Viriathus. As it was Scipio couldn't defeat Viriathus decisively and the Numantines faced no real opposition from a general who could have beaten them.

In many ways the Numantines and Viriathus were very closely linked as the two mutually supported each other against Rome and this led to cooperation in various ways such as by how the Numantines protected Viriathus in the North from the Romans potentially surrounding him. Viriathus was a strong enough leader that he wasn't going to be defeated in battle so easily and instead either had to be assassinated or his support base weakened. Again the Numantines show how much of a threat they were here as they held the key to defeating Viriathus but, while they still stood against Rome, the Romans couldn't just beat Viriathus because they were sending armies head on at Viriathus and not trying to surround and destroy him. While the Numantines held out, Viriathus could never be destroyed fully in battle and would continue to be a plague for Rome. So why didn't Rome send Scipio to defeat the Numantines and open up the routes to potentially surround Viriathus or cut him off from his own support base and force a battle? This was the Hannibal problem that Rome had faced time and again, even Scipio's father had tried hard to overcome this which was why he was able to defeat Hannibal at Zama. The problem was that men like Viriathus, like Hannibal and Phyrrhus were these almost mystical figures who continually defied Rome and stood as figureheads against Rome. Indeed more people in Rome would have heard of Viriathus than of the Numantines because he was such a powerful figure and an imposing man who continually defeated Rome. The Numantines had defeated Rome time and again as well but Viriathus himself was this enigmatic figure that the Romans didn't quite understand but were determined to crush because of his notoriety within the republic as another Hannibal or another Phyrrhus. The more victories these men gained, the more recognizable they became and the more determined the Romans became to defeat them and make an example of a powerful figure who stood against them. This was part of the reason why the Romans weren't playing the long game by focussing on the Numantines and in one fell swoop securing Hispania Citerior and removing a major threat to their position and instead were simply sending army after army into Iberia only to die at the hands of Viriathus. Bear in mind that Hannibal wasn't beaten by the constant stream of armies sent by Rome to defeat him bit was beaten by men eroding his support base such as Scipio Aemilianus who targeted Africa and Fabius who pioneered the famous Fabian Tactics. This was a textbook case of Rome not learning from the past and repeating the exact same mistakes that they had made in Italy with Hannibal but in Iberia against Viriathus.

Really the irony was that the victory seen by Scipio at the Field of Blood in 135 BCE would have a long-tern negative effect on Rome despite the successes of the short term following the victory. By 135 BCE manpower reserves were wearing thin in Rome due to the constant warfare and, especially, the very heavy casualties sustained in Iberia with Viriathus and the Numantines. This was a problem exacerbated as the seeming invincibility of Viriathus made those eligible for military service unwilling to join the Roman army given that death seemed likely in Iberia against people such as Viriathus. Scipio's victory wasn't actually the first victory over Viriathus by a Roman victory but it's publicity given the shocking and continued defeats of previous Roman armies in recent years made it the first to really break people's fears of an invincible Iberian general. Indeed this also helped ease the friction and tensions between the local Iberian populace and the Romans settled in the region as Scipio both showed the Rome was willing and able to protect them from Viriathus and his army and this helped ease the dissent and potential problems of rebellion within Hispania Ulterior (this was not so true with Hispania Citerior given that the raids from the Numantines were becoming more frequent and more damaging). Most importantly the victory helped restore some discipline to Roman armies all throughout Iberia and helped restore confidence to the armies and generals sent to Iberia.

However this latter point was also to be a curse for Rome in the long run as it would only turn Iberia into even more of a meat grinder for Rome with catastrophic results for the republic. Had Scipio been defeated at the Field of Blood it wouldn't have been good for Rome but the defeat of their best general and further associated losses may have been enough to finally convince Rome to count their losses and make peace with Viriathus. However since Scipio had won in battle, the peace faction in the senate was overridden by their rivals who used the victory as an example of Rome's ability to defeat Viriathus and this gave them the confidence to continue the war given that victory had been proven possible. This only meant that Rome was more confident in it's ability to win and thus more likely to continue pushing men and armies into Iberia long after it should have been proven inefficient or unable to produce needed results. This was probably partially given the amount of information that the senate actually received as they likely only heard about Scipio defeating Viriathus and possibly didn't know how few casualties Viriathus actually sustained comparative to Scipio's casualties. Determined to follow up on their victory, the senate was eager to get another army in Iberia as soon as possible after Scipio's victory so as to try and push forward to defeat Viriathus while he was reeling from the defeat. The two consuls of 134 BCE were C. Fulvius Flaccus and Q. Calpurnius Piso both of whom would soon be sent to try and deal with the problems that Rome was facing. Flaccus, unlike his predecessor of the same family, actually went to Iberia where he was charged with recovering the lands lost as a result of Viriathus' continued war only to be defeated that August by Viriathus and badly wounded. The ultimate result being that Flaccus never made it back to Rome and died of an infection that he caught during the return trip from the front to Carthago Nova. Viriathus naturally responded to this by making a number of forays into Roman territory from August through to November 134 BCE before returning to Lusitania. Piso, in comparison, would spend his year fighting back and forth with no discernible victory against the slave revolt in Sicily winning some victories but losing others.

By this point Viriathus was ready to come to the negotiating table with Rome and made a number of attempts to open negotiations with both the local governor through messages sent by Roman captives and even with the senate directly. Each and every time Viriathus found himself rebuffed as the senate, even despite the defeat suffered by C. Fulvius Flaccus in 134 BCE, refused to negotiate with an enemy of Rome and would tolerate nothing other than Viriathus' complete defeat. The problem was that this wasn't a situation where Viriathus was invading Italy but a situation where the Romans were trying to fight a war on foreign ground against an enemy similar to Hannibal but with less ability to do so. But 134 BCE was very much a worse year for Hispania Citerior than it was for Hispania Ulterior as the proconsul, the former consul Servius Fulvius Flaccus, found himself unable to keep up with the Numantines who began to penetrate ever further into Hispania Citerior with their raids and attacks. By this point the numbers of Roman soldiers in Hispania Citerior were growing very thin as reinforcements weren't coming in fast enough to keep up with the demand for more and more soldiers as his numbers were depleted more and more by the constant raids. This isn't even addressing the problems of infrastructure as regions on the border became so heavily raided and attacked that the people were barely able to feed themselves never mind pay any taxes to Rome which only served to cut down on the financial situation in the region. This was a huge problem as some villages ended up being entirely abandoned by the beleaguered villagers who were then forced East or ended up joining the very raiders who had caused so many problems. With soldiers being needed elsewhere in the republic and the focus of reinforcements being Viriathus' conflict in Hispania Ulterior, Flaccus soon found that he basically didn't have enough soldiers to actually police the outer regions of the province as reinforcements simply weren't coming in fast enough to give him enough soldiers to repel the constant raids and attacks. This was the trend of 134 and 133 BCE as Flaccus was forced to concentrate his soldiers on protecting the more peaceful and valuable eastern portions of Hispania Citerior by protecting the villages there and patrolling the roads from the bands of brigands made up of former villagers driven out of their homes by the Numantines. Many of the bigger towns and cities were flooded with refugees that Flaccus couldn't afford to feed never mind house while he tried to reclaim the devastated border regions from the Numantines. This was the 'peace' that Hispania Citerior saw under Flaccus as the Numantines constantly attacked and raided the border regions using their speed and numbers to overwhelm soldiers in the towns and villages and then sack the settlements before retreating over the border.

It's unsure if the Numantines were acting as one in these border raids with carefully planned raids or if these were the raids of individual tribes within the Numantine Confederation but with the singular goal of attacking Rome. Historians from the time do tend to focus on the specific tribes raiding the province such as the Arevaci which would seem to suggest that it was the individual tribes making up the confederation that were attacking the borders which would explain the sheer number of raids as they came from dozens of different sources all acting independently but with the common goal of attacking Rome. Things became so bad in late 134 BCE that Flaccus was forced to begin hiring mercenaries to try and protect his province in a last ditch attempt to turn the tide of the raiding that did indeed help save the province. In early 133 BCE the numbers of reinforcements began to pick up again in a trend that would continue until the arrival of a fully-fledged army the next year and these reinforcements, along with the inclusion of mercenaries hired by Flaccus, began to turn the tide against the constant raiders from the Numantines and managed to begin establishing order in more outlying regions. The height of problems had been in November 134 BCE when pretty much everything outside of towns and cities was in complete anarchy to either Iberian raiders or local brigands destroying the countryside. In comparison by July 133 BCE Flaccus, with the help of his mercenaries and even some advisement from Scipio, had managed to reclaim about a quarter of the province and established order there by hunting down brigands and finally policing the roads and villages once again. By December 133 BCE this had increased to about half the province reclaimed and the arrival of an army the following year would allow them to drive out the raiders once and for all and even make a counter-attack against the Numantines.

Hispania Ulterior was a very different story as Viriathus spent most of 134 BCE not actually fighting the Romans save for the battle against C. Fulvius Flaccus and the raids that followed into Hispania Ulterior. He was still recovering in many ways from the defeat but was also trying to negotiate a peace with Rome (which only convinced the senate that they were en route to a victory) and was making preparations with his soldiers. More importantly he spent a lot of this time focussing on his own rebellion by trying to solidify the unity of the tribes within the confederation and court his various neighbours for support against Rome. This was very important because Viriathus was starting to become aware of what was potentially the greatest threat to either him or the Numantines apart from Rome, the tribes.
 
Gracchus and Serapio:

133 BCE was a mixed bag for the Romans under the joint consulship of Publius Mucius Scaevola and Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi that would see both success and failure for the Republic. Frugi was sent to Sicily early on in the year where he succeeded in effectively ending the slave revolt although he failed to officially end it once and for all and the slaves would still nominally be an opponent until the next year even while Frugi had effectively secured Sicily. Meanwhile Scaevola became another in the long line of Roman consuls who failed to defeat Viriathus during his tenure as consul as he failed to force a battle and ended up taking relative casualties while he searched for Viriathus. Hispania Citerior was in complete chaos for the duration of 133 BCE as the Numantines tore the land apart in their near constant raiding and Flaccus was unable to keep up with the constant fighting and raiding. However what may have been the most important event of the year was the murder of Tiberius Gracchus at the hands of a number of senators including none other than the ex-consul and his cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio the man who had been defeated while trying to fight Viriathus. This had followed Gracchus' re-election as tribune that very year which had been hotly contested by Serapio based on making a number of reforms such as reducing the length of military service, admitting allies to Roman citizenship and abolishing the right of senators to act as jurors. The murder largely stemmed from a series of events that had originated with his attempts to institute a land reform in which land would be taken from rich and redistributed to the poor. This idea was important and may have been one that could have greatly helped the Roman Republic as it would have alleviated the problem of manpower by handing out land to those who, previously, had been ineligible for military service but would be should the reform take place. Gracchus had three main supporters to this end, Consul Publius Scaevola, Appius Claudius, his father in law and Crassus, the Pontifex Maximus.

Gracchus had made his first move to push forward this law in 134 BCE but was continually opposed by the conservative factions in Rome who used Marcus Octavius, another tribune, to continually oppose Gracchus and veto the proposition. Events progressed from here during which Gracchus ended up moving to have Octavius removed from office who he argued had violated a basic part of his position by not protecting the people of Rome against oppression by the senate. However this was a move that began to worry Gracchus' supporters and, after basically shutting down the entire city for a time that very year, people began to fear for his life. Eventually Gracchus managed to push his law through but wasn't given the needed funds to carry it out until the death of King Attalus III of Pergamon in 133 BCE who left his kingdom and wealth to Rome, wealth that Gracchus used to push his law through which was considered an outright assault on the senators as the senate was the one responsible for managing funds and the treasury. Because of this move his rivals including one Quintus Pompeius began to claim that Gracchus wanted to overthrow the senate and establish himself as King of Rome. From this point on things went downhill as Gracchus found himself requiring escorts and guards wherever he was at risk of being assassinated which began to lead to minor skirmishes and fighting between Gracchus' supporters and those of his enemies. Appius Claudius was still alive but Gracchus was running out of supporters as Scaevola was in Spain and unable to protect him while Crassus was no longer Pontifex Maximus, a position that had recently gone to Serapio. With both consuls currently off on campaign, Serapio took it into his own hands to deal with Gracchus whom he claimed was planning to seize Rome and make himself king which would eventually lead to Gracchus' murder that very year. A land reform would come to be badly needed as the wars in Iberia continued to eat manpower and resources and other wars needed more and more men which, due to the restrictions on military service, began to create problems. Such a land reform would have alleviated this problem but with Gracchus' murder it was doomed to not take place at this point which would ultimately lead to some very real problems.

The Confederations:

The Lusitani and Numantines were both confederations of tribes but both were run in different ways to one another based on the nature of their origins and respective wars against Rome. The Numantines were more of a traditional confederation in which the various tribes were united by a common goal, to protect themselves against Rome and simply worked together to that end. This was a case of a confederation that was more of a collection of tribes rather than a unified force and in many ways the most decentralised to varying degrees of success or failure. So far this had been successful and this decentralised model had been effective with the raiding on Hispania Citerior as the tribes were able to work independently of one another but often came together when it was needed. However they were united by a common goal but this didn't stop disputes breaking out between tribes over land and resources which, although rare, could have a problematic effect on the unity of the confederation. By the end of 133 BCE this was starting to cause problems for the confederation as the success against Rome led many to want to push for peace with Rome while others were keen to continue the war in the hope of achieving greater success. Indeed the longer the war continued, the more some of the tribes began to try and move to end the war with Rome and the associated threat that came from this continued warfare.

In comparison the Lusitani rebellion had begun as a simple rebellion against Rome but under Viriathus who had become a strong and iconic leader for the Iberians in the region. Indeed Viriathus had already achieved a sort of cult-status in Iberia in which he was seen as a sort of saviour of the Iberian peoples against the infringing Romans. This wasn't a universally accepted view of Viriathus who was often seen as a menacing or downright nightmarish figure in the more pro-Roman regions of Iberia and controversial in the areas that were leaning neither way but in the more dissenting regions this was the generally accepted view of Viriathus. Indeed the tribes fighting underneath Viriathus were less of a series of equal tribes fighting for a common goal but, by 133 BCE, a set of tribes and soldiers largely loyal to Viriathus. In general it was Viriathus who held the tribes together and his presence as well as the number of victories he had gained were starting to bring the tribes ever closer together. The more victories that Viriathus gained, the more the tribes and warriors under him became closer and more unified as they became more loyal to the general. This gave the Lusitani and the tribes that had joined the confederation since the rebellion began a greater degree of unity as they were under the complete command of one strong leader.

Ultimately the Numantines were a confederation of numerous tribes brought together against Rome under their various leaders in a more decentralised model but in which they came together to fight Rome. This gave them more freedom and fluidity in many cases as well as a strength that may not have been exhibited otherwise but could lead to disputes. Whereas the Lusitani were united under a strong leader such as Viriathus but bound to one another by their loyalty to Viriathus as a general and as a leader. This is where we have to appreciate what made the Lusitani so strong as a confederation and so dangerous as an enemy. As mentioned previously, it's is arguable that the Numantines were more dangerous because it was less a case of Rome vs Viriathus or a strong leader who could be killed or assassinated but a case of Rome vs the Numantines or the Celt-Iberian tribes. But in truth it wasn't that simple as, in a way, Viriathus did represent the Lusitani as a people given that he, unlike most great generals to date, had come from very humble backgrounds and was, to most extents, very much a man of the people. Many great leaders to date such as Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great or even Cyrus the Great had come from some form of nobility or a lineage of leaders but Viriathus rose to power based on his own skill as shown by the aftermath of the slaughter of the Lusitani by the Romans. But what was maybe more important was Viriathus' cult image as this saviour and great freedom fighter for the Iberian peoples against the tyranny of Rome that had drawn many to his cause. Since some of these people were wanted back in Rome for crimes or for simply defecting to Viriathus and most others of those who had travelled to join him had left their homes behind to do so, these men were very dedicated to Viriathus and his cause. In fact there are accounts of the Romans making very distinct and major attempts to try and shut down the 'Viriathus Routes', these people who travelled to join Viriathus' cause and fight against Rome. Famously in July 134 BCE there had been a number of men executed when they tried to leave Roman territory to join Viriathus and were captured by the Romans en route. Since many of his men were so devoted to Viriathus, it meant that he was this incredibly dangerous figure because while he lived there was always resistance it was a constant incitement to rebel and the Lusitani weren't just going to be defeated and roll over passively to the Romans while he was alive. But assassination wasn't a good option given the backlash from both Iberians and Romans when Caepio triedand failed in 139 BCE and Viriathus had almost reached a point where, even if he died, the memory and idea of Viriathus was doomed to drag on for Rome given that he had entrenched himself. Viriathus was a man of the people in many ways and, because of this, the Romans would always have to be wary because the native Iberians who made up the majority of the populace were full of huge numbers of people who supported Viriathus and his cause. Everywhere Viriathus went saw both enemies from those pro-Roman Iberians and supporters from the pro-Viriathus Iberians although the latter were more common towards the borders and the former more common towards the East.

What we also have to take into consideration was the nature of the Lusitani as compared to the Numantines in the history and development of their conflict with Rome. The Numantines had risen out of resistance against Rome and had joined together for mutual protection but this meant that, once they felt they were safe, the Numantines were less willing to fight a bitter war to the end against Rome that would cost whatever it took. In comparison the Lusitani had risen out of bloodshed and treachery as the Romans slaughtered thousands during a supposed peace treaty and had seen the very same treachery when Caepio attempted to have Viriathus assassinated. While the tribes who had joined the Lusitani at a later date such as the Turdetani were less willing to fight a bitter war, and it was these tribes that made up the Lusitani peace faction, those who had fought from the beginning had come to despise the Romans and associate them with treachery because of those events such as the massacre of the Lusitani and the assassination attempt of 139 BCE. This had a profound effect on the Lusitani who really began to differentiate between 'us' and 'them' between Iberian and Roman with the Iberian ideals becoming these very central things as opposed to the Romans. After all by this point, many of the Lusitani were fighting less for mutual protection against Rome so much as a case of payback or striking out against this evil state that wanted to oppress them and destroy them. Originally the differentiation was between 'Lusitani' and 'Roman' but as more tribes became involved in the confederation, these more anti-Rome elements began to see this almost national identity of 'Iberian' and 'Roman' and really began latching onto this idea of the Iberian Viriathus being Regnator Hiberae Magnanimus Terrae or the most magnanimous king in the land of Iberia. This elevation in their view from Viriathus being a leader of a confederation to a king of Iberia came from this growing identity of being Iberian as an opposition to the identity of being Roman and was profound because, by this point, many of the Lusitani weren't fighting for protection but for their perceived freedom from Rome. Historian Ben Miles describes it best in this quote:

"The two confederations of Iberia and their respective conflicts with Rome have been described as rebellions but this isn't really true for either of them, the Numantine Conflict was a war and the Lusitani Conflict was a revolution"

 
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Next update should be Saturday because I have two other TL's to update- 'This Land of Golden Kings' tomorrow and ''The Union of the Two Crowns" on Thursday.
 
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