The Cantabri (, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians were a 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

people and large tribal

federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern North Region, Portugal, northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now ...

in 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars.

Name

' is a Latinized form of a local name, presumably meaning "Highlanders" and deriving from the reconstructed root *''cant''- ("mountain") in Ancient Ligurian. During the High and Late Middle Ages, as well as Modern Period, the name refers usually to the Basques.

Geography

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, the land of the Cantabri, originally comprised much of the highlands of the northern Spanish Atlantic coast, including the whole of modern

province, eastern

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, nearby mountainous regions of

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

, the northern of

province of Palencia Palencia is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provi ...

and

province of Burgos The province of Burgos is a Provinces of Spain, province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile-Leon, Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia (p ...

and northeast of

province of León León (, ; ; ; ) is a province of northwestern Spain in the northern part of the Region of León and in the northwestern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. About one quarter of its population of 463,746 (2018) lives in the c ...

. Following the

conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...

, this area was, however, much reduced, making up only

and eastern

History

Origins

The ancestors of the Cantabri were thought by the Romans to have migrated to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

around the 4th Century BC, and were said by them to be more mixed than most peninsular Celtic peoples. By the 1st century BC they comprised eleven or so tribes— Avarigines, , Camarici or Tamarici, Concani, Coniaci or Conisci, Morecani, Noegi, Orgenomesci, Plentuisii, Salaeni, Vadinienses, and Vellici or Velliques—gathered into a tribal confederacy with the town of ''Aracillum'' (Castro de Espina del Gallego, Sierra del Escudo – Cantabria), located at the strategic Besaya river valley, as their capital. Other important Cantabrian hillforts included ''Villeca/Vellica'' ( – Palencia), ''Bergida'' (Castro de Monte Bernorio – Palencia) and ''Amaya/Amaia'' ( – Burgos). A detailed analysis of place-names in ancient Cantabria shows a strong Celtic element along with an almost equally strong "Para-Celtic" element (both Indo-European) and thus disproves the idea of a substantial pre-Indo-European or Basque presence in the region. This supports the earlier view that Untermann considered the most plausible, coinciding with archaeological evidence put forward by Ruiz-Gálvez in 1998, that the Celtic settlement of the

was made by people who arrived via the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

in an area between

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

and the mouth of the River

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

, finally settling along the Galician and

n coast.

Early history

Regarded as savage and untamable mountaineers, the Cantabri long defied the Roman legions and made a name for themselves for their independent spirit and freedom. Indeed, Cantabri warriors were regarded as being tough and fierce fighters, suitable for mercenary employment, but prone to banditry. The earliest references to them are found in the texts of ancient historians such as

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding i ...

and

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

, who mention Cantabrian mercenaries in Carthaginian service in the late 3rd century BC. During the 2nd Punic War, a Cantabrian mercenary contingent is mentioned in

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

's army, whilst another Cantabri mercenary band led by a chieftain named

Larus ''Larus'' is a large genus of gulls with worldwide distribution (by far the greatest species diversity is in the Northern Hemisphere). Many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. Until about 2005–2007, most gulls ...

was recruited by Mago and fought in Celtiberia against the propraetor Marcus Junius Silanus in 207 BC. That same year, other Cantabrian mercenaries fought alongside the Astures' at the

Battle of the Metaurus The Battle of the Metaurus was a pivotal battle in the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, fought in 207 BC near the Metauro River in Italy. The Carthaginians were led by Hasdrubal Barca, brother of Hannibal, who was to have brought si ...

, and later Cantabrian war-bands fought for the

Vaccaei The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre- Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania (specifically in Castile and León). Origins Also designated Vaccaena ...

and

Celtiberians The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

in the Celtiberian Wars of the 2nd century BC. Another author,

Cornelius Nepos Cornelius Nepos (; c. 110 BC – c. 25 BC) was a Roman Empire, Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia, a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona. Biography Nepos's Cisalpine birth is attested by Ausonius, and Pliny the Elder calls ...

, claims that the Cantabrian tribes first submitted to Rome upon

Cato the Elder Marcus Porcius Cato (, ; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor (), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, Roman Senate, senator, and Roman historiography, historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He wa ...

's campaigns in

Celtiberia The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BC. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

in 195 BC. In any case, such was their reputation that when a battered Roman army under

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Gaius Hostilius Mancinus was besieging

Numantia Numantia () is an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the current municipality of Garray ( Soria), Spain. Numantia is famous for its role in the Celtiberian Wars. In 153 BC, Num ...

in 137 BC, the rumor of the approach of a large combined Cantabri-

relief force was enough to cause the rout of 20,000 panic-stricken Roman legionaries, forcing Mancinus to surrender under humiliating peace terms.

The Cantabrian Wars

In the early 1st century BC, the Cantabri began to play a double game by lending their services to individual Roman generals on occasion but, at same time, supported rebellions within Roman Spanish provinces and carried out raids in times of unrest. This opportunistic policy led the Cantabri to initially side with

Quintus Sertorius Quintus Sertorius ( – 73 or 72 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian Peninsula. Defying the regime of Sulla, Sertorius became the independent ruler of Hispania for m ...

during the

Sertorian War The Sertorian War was a civil war in the Roman Republic fought from 80 to 72 BC between two Roman factions, one led by Quintus Sertorius and another led by the senate as constituted in the aftermath of Sulla's civil war. The war was fough ...

s, but at the final phase of the conflict they shifted their allegiance to

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...

, continuing to follow the Pompeian cause until the defeat of their generals' Lucius Afranius and Marcus Petreius at the battle of Ilerda (

Lérida Lleida (, ; ; ''#Name, see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià, Segrià county, the Ponent, Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Cent ...

) in 49 BC. In between, the Cantabri had unsuccessfully intervened in the

Gallic Wars The Gallic Wars were waged between 58 and 50 BC by the Roman general Julius Caesar against the peoples of Gaul (present-day France, Belgium, and Switzerland). Gauls, Gallic, Germanic peoples, Germanic, and Celtic Britons, Brittonic trib ...

by sending in 56 BC an allegedly 40,000-strong army to help the

Aquitani The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France in the 1st century BC. The Romans dubbed this region '' Gallia Aquitania''. Classical authors suc ...

tribes of south-western

Gaul Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...

against the legate Publius Crassus, the son of Marcus Crassus serving under

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

, who succeeded in overpowering and destroying the combined Cantabri-Aquitani force of 50,000 men in their own camp and slaughtered 38,000 of them. Under the leadership of the chieftain Corocotta, the Cantabri’s own predatory raids on the

, Turmodigi and Autrigones, whose rich territories they coveted according to

Florus Three main sets of works are attributed to Florus (a Roman cognomen): ''Virgilius orator an poeta'', the ''Epitome of Roman History'' and a collection of 14 short poems (66 lines in all). As to whether these were composed by the same person, or ...

, coupled with their backing of a Vaccaei anti-Roman revolt in 29 BC, ultimately led to the outbreak of the First Cantabrian War (''Bellum Cantabricum''), which resulted in their conquest and partial annihilation by Emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. The remaining Cantabrian population and their tribal lands were absorbed into the

Hispania Citerior Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of ...

province. Nevertheless, the harsh measures devised by Augustus and implemented by his legate

Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (; BC – 12 BC) was a Roman general, statesman and architect who was a close friend, son-in-law and lieutenant to the Roman emperor Augustus. Agrippa is well known for his important military victories, notably the B ...

to pacify the province in the aftermath of the campaign only contributed to further instability in Cantabria. Near-constant tribal uprisings (including a serious slave revolt in 20 BC that quickly spread to neighboring Asturias) and guerrilla warfare continued to plague the Cantabrian lands until the early 1st century AD, when the region was granted a form of local self-rule upon being included in the new

province.

Romanization

Although the Romans founded colonies and established military garrisons at ''Castra Legio Pisoraca'' (camp of '' Legio IIII Macedonica'' –

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half of ...

), ''Octaviolca'' (near Valdeolea – Cantabria) and ''Iuliobriga'' ( Retortillo –

Reinosa Reinosa is a municipality in Cantabria, Spain. , it has 10,307 inhabitants. The municipality, one of the smallest by land area in Cantabria, is notable for being one of the nearest towns to the headwaters of the Ebro River. It is surrounded by th ...

), Cantabria never became fully romanized and its people preserved many aspects of

Celtic language The Celtic languages ( ) are a branch of the Indo-European language family, descended from the hypothetical Proto-Celtic language. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yves ...

, religion and culture well into the Roman period. The Cantabri did not lose their warrior skills either, providing auxiliary troops (''

Auxilia The (; ) were introduced as non-citizen troops attached to the citizen Roman legion, legions by Augustus after his reorganisation of the Imperial Roman army from 27 BC. By the 2nd century, the contained the same number of infantry as the ...

'') that served in two identified infantry cohorts (''cohortes quingenariae peditatae'' – ''Cohors I Cantabrorum'', ''Cohors II Cantabrorum'') and in some cavalry units (''Ala Hispanorum'', ''Ala I Augusta'', ''Ala Pannoniorum'', ''Ala Batavorum'' or ''Baetasiorum'', ''Cohors I Latobicorum'') to the Roman Imperial army for decades, and these troops participated in Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

' invasion of Britain in AD 43–60.

Early Middle Ages

The Cantabri re-emerged, as did their neighbors the Astures, amid the chaos of the

Migration Period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

of the late 4th century. Thenceforward the Cantabri started to be Christianized and were violently crushed by the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

in the 6th century. However, Cantabria and the Cantabri are heard of many decades later in the context of the Visigoth wars against the Vascones (late 7th century). They only became fully Latinized in their language and culture after the

Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula The Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula (; 711–720s), also known as the Arab conquest of Spain, was the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the early 8th century. The conquest resulted in the end of Christian rule ...

in the 8th century.

Culture

According to

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

Cantabria also contained gold, silver, tin, lead and iron mines, as well as magnetite and amber, but little is known about them;

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

also mentions salt extraction in mines, such as the ones existent around Cabezón de la Sal, and describes a post-childbirth ritual in which the mother had to get up and the father go to bed, to be cared for by the mother.

Religion

Literary and epigraphic evidence confirms that, like their

Gallaeci The Gallaeci (also Callaeci or Callaici; ) were a Celtic tribal complex who inhabited Gallaecia, the north-western corner of Iberia, a region roughly corresponding to what is now the Norte Region in northern Portugal, and the Spanish regions ...

and Astures neighbors, the Cantabri were polytheistic, worshipping a vast and complex pantheon of male and female Indo-European deities in sacred oak or pine woods, mountains, water-courses and small rural sanctuaries. Druidism does not appear to have been practiced by the Cantabri, though there is enough evidence for the existence of an organized priestly class who performed elaborated rites, which included ritual steam baths, festive dances, oracles,

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

, human and animal sacrifices. In this respect,

mentions that the peoples of the north-west sacrificed horses to an unnamed

God of War A war god in mythology associated with war, combat, or bloodshed. They occur commonly in polytheism, polytheistic religions. Unlike most gods and goddesses in polytheistic religions, monotheistic deities have traditionally been portrayed in their ...

, and both

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

and

Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book '' Punica'', an epic poem about the Second Punic War and the ...

added that the Concani had the custom of drinking the horse’s blood at the ceremony.

Language

According to Leonard A. Curchin, the place-names from ancient Cantabria shows that a majority of names at the time comes from Celtic and other Indo-European languages. This shows that the people there, instead of the believed idea that they could have spoken a Pre-Indo European or

Basque language Basque ( ; ) is a language spoken by Basques and other residents of the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country, a region that straddles the westernmost Pyrenees in adjacent parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. Basque ...

, they spoke the

that was widely used in Iberia at the time. He also shows that Romanisation was weak in the region.

Notes

References

* * F. Bartenstein, ''Bis ans Ende der bewohnten Welt. Die römische Grenz- und Expansionspolitik in der augusteischen Zeit'', Herbert Utz Verlag, München (2014) , pp. 71–127. * * * * * Diego Santos, Francisco, "Die Integration Nord- und Nordwestspaniens als römische Provinz in der Reichspolitik des Augustus", '' Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'', vol. II,3, Berlin 1975, pp. 523–571. *Eutimio Martino, ''Roma contra Cantabros y Astures – Nueva lectura de las fuentes'', Breviarios de la Calle del Pez n. º 33, Diputación provincial de León/Editorial Eal Terrae, Santander (1982) *Lorrio, Alberto J., ''Los Celtíberos'', Editorial Complutense, Alicante (1997) *Martín Almagro Gorbea, José María Blázquez Martínez, Michel Reddé, Joaquín González Echegaray, José Luis Ramírez Sádaba, and Eduardo José Peralta Labrador (coord.), ''Las Guerras Cántabras'', Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander (1999) *Montenegro Duque, Ángel ''et alii'', ''Historia de España 2 – colonizaciones y formacion de los pueblos prerromanos'', Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) *Burillo Mozota, Francisco, ''Los Celtíberos – Etnias y Estados'', Crítica, Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A., Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007) *Peralta Labrador, Eduardo José (2017a), “Las cohortes cántabras del ejército romano: Cohors I Cantabrorum”, Hispania Antiqva. Revista de Historia Antigua, XLI. Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid, pp. 131-172. �

*Peralta Labrador, Eduardo José (2017b), “Las cohortes cántabras del ejército romano: Cohors II Cantabrorum”, Hispania Antiqva. Revista de Historia Antigua, XLI. Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid, pp. 173-209. �

*Kruta, Venceslas, ''Les Celtes, Histoire et Dictionnaire: Des origines à la Romanization et au Christianisme'', Éditions Robert Laffont, Paris (2000)

External links

Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)
*https://www.celtiberia.net *https://www.montebernorio.com {{Pre-Roman peoples in Spain People from Cantabria, Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Celtic tribes of the Iberian Peninsula Historical Celtic peoples History of Cantabria Ancient peoples of Spain Tribes conquered by Rome