RESISTING ROME

How a Celtic tribe fought to defend their Iberian homeland against the emperor’s legions

- Jason Urbanus

“In the west almost all Spain had been subjugated, except that part which adjoins the cliffs where the Pyrenees end and is washed by the nearer waters of the Ocean. Here two powerful nations, the Cantabrians and the Asturians lived in freedom from the rule of Rome.”—Second-century a.d. Roman historian Florus, Epitome of Roman History

By the final decades of the first-century b.c., Rome had grown from a small city-state on the Italian Peninsula into a vast empire whose territories completely encompassed the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Its possessions extended inland as well, as much of Western Europe had succumbed to the relentlessly advancing Roman armies. Yet one small region remained impervious to Roman rule. This was a narrow swath of mountainous terrain wedged between the Northern Meseta and the Bay of Biscay, home to two Celtic tribes: the Cantabrians and the Asturians.

Rome began its conquest of Iberia in 218 b.c., but by the time Augustus (r. 27 b.c.–a.d. 14) became emperor nearly two centuries later, this geographical pocket alone remained unconquered. In matters of war, the Romans did not suffer failure lightly, and in 26 b.c., they finally launched what would prove to be a decisive campaign to annex the territory. As part of a violent 10-year conflict now called the Cantabrian Wars, Roman legions camped in front of the walls of a site known today as Monte Bernorio. Situated along the southern border of the Cantabrians’ territory, this indigenous stronghold was vital to the continued independence of this notoriously bellicose people, as it safeguarded the roads and the mountain passes that led into their heartland. In the end, it would fall, and, so in turn would the rest of free Iberia.