The Turboletae or Turboleti (

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

: ''Torboletoi'' or ''Torboletes'') 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 Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

people from ancient

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, which lived in the northwest

Teruel province Teruel ( Catalan: ''Terol'' ) is a province of Aragon, in the northeast of Spain. The capital is Teruel. It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Castellón, Valencia (including its exclave Rincón de Ademuz), Cuenca, Guadalajara, and Z ...

since the early 3rd Century BC.

Origins

Their ethnical and linguistical affiliation is difficult to determine, though it seems that they were of part-

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, part- Illyrian ancestry, being confused by some ancient authors with either the Iberian

Turdetani The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula, pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir (the river that the Turdetani called by two names: ''Kertis'' and ''Rérkēs'' (Ῥέ� ...

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) in 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of ...

or the Turduli.

Culture

Their capital was the town of ''Turda'', ''Turba'', ''Turbola'' or ''Turbula'', whose precise location is unknown, with some

archeologists Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeolog ...

tentatively placing it at the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

site of Alto Chácon ( Muela de San Juan), in the vicinity of modern

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel (province), Teruel Province. It had a population of 35,900 as of 2022, making it the least populated provincial capital in Spain. It is noted for its har ...

. No other pre-Roman sites connected with this people have been identified though recent archeological surveys at some

settlements in the Teruel region show that they were culturally affiliated with the

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) ...

. It has also been attributed to them the celtiberian inscription of Peñalva de Villastar.

History

A warlike people whose tribal name later became a byword for unruly behaviour, the Turboletae were a constant source of trouble to most of their neighbours. Not only they harassed the Celtiberian

Belli The Belli, also designated Beli or Belaiscos, were an ancient pre-Roman CelticCremin, ''The Celts in Europe'' (1992), p. 57. Celtiberian people who lived in the modern Spanish province of Zaragoza from the 3rd Century BC. Origins Apparently ...

and

Titii The ''Titii'' (or ''Titii sodales'', later ''Titienses'', ''Sacerdotes Titiales Flaviales'') was a college ('' sodalitas'') of Roman priests. Origins There are two versions of how the college was established. One credits Titus Tatius with creati ...

, but also raided the southeastern Iberian peoples throughout most of the 3rd century BC, in particularly the

Edetani The Edetani were an ancient Iberians, Iberian (Pre-Ancient Rome, Roman) people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania). They are believed to have spoken a form of the Iberian language. See also *Iberians *Edeta *Pre-Roman peoples of the I ...

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, ...

Saguntum Sagunto () is a municipality of Spain, located in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community. It belongs to the modern fertile '' comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre. It is located approximately north of the city of Valencia, close to the Costa ...

. As allies of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

the Turboletae actively participated in the incident that triggered the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Ancient Carthage, Carthage and Roman Republic, Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean Basin, Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For ...

, the siege of

in 219-218 BC, where they assisted the Carthaginian troops in the final assault and looting of the city, slaughtering a great deal of its inhabitants. The backlash came in 212 BC when the Romans and their Edetani allies invaded Turboletania, seized the capital Turba and razed it to the ground, selling his residents to slavery. In 205 BC the exhausted Turboletae sued for peace, on which the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate () was the highest and constituting assembly of ancient Rome and its aristocracy. With different powers throughout its existence it lasted from the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in 753 BC) as the Sena ...

forced them to pay a huge compensation to the surviving citizens of

. However, the resentment fuelled by the heavy tribute imposed, coupled with the destruction of their capital city in the previous years may account for the Tuboletae revolt of 196 BC, under the apparent leadership of two generals named Budares and Baesadines. After being crushed by Quintus Minucius Thermus,

Praetor ''Praetor'' ( , ), also ''pretor'', was the title granted by the government of ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to disch ...

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 ...

in a pitched battle near the ruins of Turba,Montagu, ''Battles of the Greek and Roman worlds'' (2000), p. 197. the remaining Turboletae population appears to have been either obliterated or simply reduced to subject status and their devastated lands divided among the Bastetani and Edetani, resulting in their total disappearance from the historical record.

Notes

References

* Ángel Montenegro ''et alii'', ''Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C)'', Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) *B. Dexter Hoyos, ''Unplanned Wars: The Origins of the First and Second Punic Wars'', Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte Book 50, De Gruyter 2012 (1st edition). �

* Francisco Burillo Motoza, ''Los Celtíberos – Etnias y Estados'', Crítica, Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A., Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007) * João Ferreira do Amaral, ''Os Filhos de Caim e Portugal – Povos e migrações no II milénio a. C.'', Quetzal Editores, Lisboa (2004) * John Drogo Montagu, ''Battles of the Greek and Roman worlds – A Chnological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31 BC, from the Historians of the Ancient World'', Greenhill Books, London (2000)

Origins

Culture

History

See also

Notes

References

Further reading