Arevaci

The warlike Lusitani, a Celtic federation of central Portugal and western Spain, successfully resist Roman expansion, primarily through the construction of massive hill forts, the most formidable of which is Numantia.

Similarly, the Celtiberian tribes of mountainous north-central Spain also offer strong resistance to Roman penetration. Among them, the Belli, the most culturally advanced of the southern Celtiberian peoples, are the first Celtiberian tribe to adopt coinage following the Second Punic War. They also introduce written laws, inscribing them on bronze tablets (Tabulae) using a modified Northeastern Iberian script for their own language.

Celtiberian Hospitality Tokens and Communications System

The Belli use this script to engrave Celtiberian hospitality tokens, small bronze objects split into two halves, each retained by individuals in a hospitality relationship. These tokens likely served as identity markers, safe-conducts, or warranties. The discovery of matching halves hundreds of kilometers apart suggests that various Celtic groups maintained an extensive communication network across central Spain.

Celtiberian Confederacy and Resistance to Rome

During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, the Belli join the Celtiberian Confederacy, allying with the Arevaci, Lusones, and Titii, forming a strong political and military coalition.

Although the Belli were forced to accept Roman suzerainty in 181 BCE under Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, they continue to resist Roman encroachment while also defending against raids by the Turboletae and the Iberian Lobetani.

Roman Campaigns and the First Numantine War

The Roman general Quintus Fulvius Nobilior leads a major military campaign in Hispania, but his efforts meet stiff resistance.

Initially, Roman forces attack Segeda, a Belli oppidum near modern Zaragoza, whose inhabitants are reinforcing its walls. Although the Romans destroy Segeda, the Belli regroup and elect Caros as their leader. Under his command, the Celtiberian coalition ambushes Nobilior at the Battle of Ribarroya, near the Baldano River Valley, marking the beginning of the First Numantine War.

Nobilior then advances westward onto the meseta, laying siege to Numantia, an oppidum whose inhabitants will defy Rome for years. However, harsh winter conditions force the Roman army to retreat, and in 152 BCE, Nobilior is replaced as consul by Marcus Claudius Marcellus.

The Numantine War (from Bellum Numantinum in Appian's Roman History), a conflict between the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior and the Roman government, is the most recent of the Celtiberian Wars fought by the Romans to subdue these people along the Ebro.

Fought contemporaneously with the Lusitanian War in Hispania Ulterior, the Numantine War had begun in 154 BCE as a revolt of the Celtiberian Arevaci of Numantia on the Duero, the Arevaci, who inhabit an area near Numantia and Uxama, had formed through the mingling of Iberians and migrating Celts in the sixth century BCE.

The first phase of the war ends in 151 BCE when the Romans finally defeat the Celtiberians.