Cantabra ( Latin: Cantabri ) is an ancient confederation of 11 tribes [1] that inhabited the northern coast of Spain in the territory of the modern province of Cantabria , in the east of Asturias and in the adjacent mountainous regions of Castile-Leon .
According to Strabo , the cantabras were either previously called Lusitans (that is, they were Indo-European people), or, as Julius Caesar believed, they were people of local origin [2] .
The Cantabras enjoyed a reputation as unbridled and independent mountaineers. For a long time they managed to repel the attacks of the Romans. For the first time, troops of the Roman Republic attacked them around 150 BC. e. In his Notes on the Gallic War (III, 26), Caesar describes how Crassus defeated the combined army of the Cantabras and Aquitans , whom he calls “related tribes”, which casts doubt on the Cantabers' affiliation with the Celtiberians (this point of view is popular among Western European historians). The name “cantabra” itself is of Ligurian origin and means “highlanders”. The names of the Cantabrian tribes and their local traditions also differ from the neighboring Celtiber ones.
Only Agrippa and Octavian Augustus , who personally participated in the campaigns known as the Cantabrian Wars (29-19 BC), were able to defeat the cantabras, as a result of which the cantabras and their asturias were partially destroyed [3] . Tiberius received his first military experience in the war against the cantabras in 25 BC. e. in the position of a military tribune [4] .
After this, the lands of the cantabras were included in the province of Tarracon Spain with limited autonomy. The cantabras supplied recruits to the Roman auxiliary troops , as did their western asturian neighbors. In ancient Cantabria there were lead mines, of which little is known.
The local population was not completely romanized , since it remained mainly rural. The final romanization occurred only after the Arabs invaded the Iberian Peninsula .
In Culture
- The fight of the cantabras, led by the leader with the Romans, is dedicated to the Spanish film "Cantabra" (1980, directed by Paul Nashi)
See also
- Dorim population of Iberia
- Paleo spanish languages
Notes
- ↑ Kruta lists the following (in Latin transliteration): Avarigines, Blendii (or Plentusii), Camarici, Concani, Coniaci, Moroecani, Noegi, Orgenomesci, Salaeni, Vadinienses and Velliques.
- ↑ Strabo. Geography , III, 4.
- ↑ Guy Suetonius Tranquill . The life of the twelve Caesars . August 21.
- ↑ Guy Suetonius Tranquill. The life of the twelve Caesars. Tiberius, 9.
Literature
- Tsirkin Yu. B. History of ancient Spain . - SPb. : Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University; Nestor-Istoriya, 2011 .-- 432 p. - (Historical Library). - 500 copies. - ISBN 978-5-8465-1009-8 .
- Venceslas Kruta. Les Celtes, Histoire et Dictionnaire, Des Origines à la romanisation et au christianisme. - Paris: Éditions Robert Lafont, 2000 .-- 1020 p. - ISBN 2-7028-6261-6 .