The Germani were an obscure pre-

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ancient people of the Iberian Peninsula which settled around the 4th century BC in western Oretania, an ancient region corresponding to the south of Ciudad Real and the eastern tip of

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

provinces.

Origins

Roman authors believed that a people of mixed Belgic and Germanic descent had somehow migrated to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

around the fourth Century BC. They also included people of Celtiberian and native Iberian- Tartessian affiliation.

Culture

Archaeological evidence retrieved from local

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hillforts A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...

such as Alarcos (Ciudad Real) and

Cerro de las Cabezas Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

confirm that the material culture of the Germani did not differ from their southeastern Iberian neighbours or from the Celtiberians.

Location

Located to the west of the

Olcades The Olcades were an ancient stock-raising pre- Roman people from Hispania, who lived to the west of the Turboletae in the southeastern fringe of the Iberian system mountains. Origins Related to both the Celtiberians and Carpetani, the Olcades ...

, they are credited of founding in western Oretania the towns of '' Mirobriga'' (near Capilla, Badajoz), their Capital ''Orissia'' or ''Oria'', also designated ''Oretum Germanorum'' ( Cerro Dominguez, near Granátula de Calatrava – Ciudad Real), ''Gemella Germanorum'' ( Almagro – Ciudad Real), ''Lacurris'' ( Alarcos – Ciudad Real), ''Sisapo'' ( La Bienvenida, Almodóvar – Ciudad Real) and ''Mentesa Oretana'' (

Villanueva de la Fuente Villanueva de la Fuente is a small village located in the Province of Ciudad Real, in the region of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. In the past it was a Roman village called ''Mentesa'' which was a typical crossroads in the Roman Roman or Romans mos ...

– Ciudad Real).

History

Whether the Germani were clients or allies of the wealthy Iberian

Oretani The Oretani or Oretanii (Greek: ''Orissioi'') were a pre-Roman ancient Iberian people (in the geographical sense) of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania), that lived in northeastern Andalusia, in the upper Baetis (Guadalquivir) river valley, ...

people during the 3rd century BC remains unclear, but they certainly supported the powerful Oretanian king Orison at the Battle of Helicen in 228 BC (''Helike'' in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

sources, perhaps Elche de la Sierra,

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

under

Hamilcar Barca Hamilcar Barca or Barcas ( xpu, 𐤇𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤁𐤓𐤒, ''Ḥomilqart Baraq''; –228BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father- ...

. Orison’s defeat in 227 BC Diodorus Siculus, '' Bibliotheca historica'', 25, 42. and his signing of an alliance treaty with Carthage, however, caused a major friction between the Oretani and their Germani allies who promptly repudiated its terms, and continued to resist Punic expansion until they were subdued by Hannibal in 221 BC. They were certainly amongst the Oretani troops sent to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

at the outbreak of the Second Punic War. The Germani appear to have adopted a less hostile stance towards

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in 156 BC were included into Hispania Citerior Province and were gradually assimilated by the Oretani.

References

Sources

* Ángel Montenegro ''et alii'', ''Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C)'', Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) * Francisco Burillo Motoza, ''Los Celtíberos – Etnias y Estados'', Crítica, Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A., Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007) * Juan Pereira Siesto (coord.), ''Prehistoria y Protohistoria de la Meseta Sur (Castilla-La Mancha)'', Biblioteca Añil n.º 31, ALMUD, Ediciones de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real (2007) {{Germanic peoples Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Celtic tribes of the Iberian Peninsula Ancient peoples of Spain

Origins

Culture

Location

History

See also

References

Sources