Numantia: Ancient Rome's Vietnam [10:03]

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai *may* follow.

Over-the-top title about a town in the hills that made itself a minor problem, and got pulverized. The lesson learned by everyone in the vicinity was, don't mess with Scipio. Then of course people who were never involved or likely even descended from those who were sold into slavery romanticized their 'resistance'. Even the the use of that word shows how bad was/is their cranial-rectal inversion.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:35 Rome in Spain
1:28 Numantia
2:13 Q. Fulvius Nobilior fails
2:49 Q. Pompeius fails
3:19 C. Hostilius Mancinus fails
[ad break]
4:56 Scipio takes charge
5:47 The siege begins
6:24 Numantine sallies
7:04 Desperation
7:37 Defeat and triumph
8:29 Legacies

Transcript

Introduction

These are the ruins of Numantia. For two decades, this small town in northern Spain defied the might of the Roman Republic. It took one of Rome’s finest generals, at the head of an army 60,000 strong, to finally subdue the Numantines. Today’s video will explore how they resisted so long.

Rome in Spain

The stage for Rome’s struggle with Numantia was set in the wake of the Second Punic War, when the victorious Roman Republic established a permanent presence in Spain. Two provinces were created — one centered in what is now Andalusia, the other covering most of modern Valencia and Catalonia. Almost immediately, conflict broke out with the Celtic-speaking peoples of the central plateau. A series of Roman governors campaigned against them, hoping to win a triumph, if not new territories. Some of the fiercest fighting was in the mountainous northeast, dominated by a loose confederation of tribes known as the Celtiberians. The most powerful Celtiberian tribe, the Arevaci, controlled the stronghold of Numantia.

Numantia

According to the Roman historian Appian, the population of Numantia was only about 8,000. The settlement stood, however, on a hill bounded by two rivers, accessible only by a single, well-defended road. The walls, nearly a mile and a half in circumference, were made of massive boulders. And the defenders, as the Romans would discover, were almost insanely courageous.

The first round of conflict between the Romans and the Celtiberians ended with a peace brokered by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. When fighting resumed a generation later, the Arevaci — and Numantia — were at the center of the action.

Q. Fulvius Nobilior Fails

In 153 BC, the consul Quintus Fulvius Nobilior advanced on Numantia with 30,000 legionaries and allies, bolstered by a detachment of Numidian horsemen and ten elephants. As soon as the Romans came within range, they were subjected to a withering barrage of arrows and stones. A stone struck one of the elephants, which began to run amok. In the midst of the chaos, the Numantines attacked. The Romans fled, leaving 4,000 dead on the field.

A decade later, the Arevaci took up arms again.

Q. Pompeius Fails

Pompeius marched on Numantia with 30,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, determined to starve the city into submission. As he attempted to establish siege lines, however, the Numantines sallied out repeatedly, killing hundreds of Roman soldiers. Thousands more succumbed to dysentery and exposure as the harsh mountain winter closed in.

C. Hostilius Mancinus Fails

Pompeius’ successor was also defeated by the Numantines. So was the next governor, Hostilius Mancinus, whom the Numantines managed to trap in a remote mountain valley. To save his army, Mancinus agreed to a humiliating peace. The Senate refused to recognize it, and decreed that Mancinus himself was to be left, naked and shackled, outside the gates of Numantia.

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After Two Decades of Victories

Scipio Takes Charge

Over Roman armies, the Numantines had attained an almost mythical reputation. Only one general was deemed capable of taking the invincible Spanish town: Scipio Aemilianus, the conqueror of Carthage. In 134 BC, Scipio arrived in Spain to command an army of 60,000 men, reinforced by a detachment of Numidians under the soon-to-be infamous Jugurtha. Finding the troops in Spain demoralized and ill-disciplined, Scipio — Appian tells us — expelled all the soothsayers and sex workers, took away the soldiers’ beds and mules, and led a series of forced marches. These measures, remarkably, are said to have improved morale.

The Siege Begins

Scipio established seven camps on the hills around Numantia, linking them with five miles of ditches and walls. Three hundred catapults were distributed along the defenses. At the first sign of a sally, the soldiers stationed along a threatened section were to raise a signal — a red flag by day, a beacon at night — to summon reinforcements. To prevent the Numantines from bringing provisions or reinforcements along the main river below the town, Scipio built a knife-studded log boom that spun lethally in the current.

Numantine Sallies

The Numantines probed Scipio’s defenses, but were unable to break out. One cloudy night, a small group managed to neutralize several sentries, set up a mobile ramp, and lead horses over the siege wall. They galloped to other strongholds of the Arevaci, begging for help. One neighboring settlement was on the point of sending a relief force when Scipio became aware of the danger. Surrounding the town, he threatened to sack it unless the ringleaders of the incipient revolt were surrendered. When they were, Scipio cut off their hands and returned to Numantia.

Desperation

The siege dragged on for nine months. As their food ran out, the Numantines ate grass, licked boiled hides, and finally turned to cannibalism. At last, when their numbers had been reduced to a few thousand, they asked Scipio for terms. Informed that they would have to surrender unconditionally, many took their own lives. The Romans found the survivors ragged and filthy, their eyes — Appian claims — haunted by the knowledge that they had tasted human flesh.

Defeat and Triumph

Scipio reserved fifty Numantines for his triumph. The rest were sold into slavery. The walls and buildings of the town were demolished, and spoils divided among the soldiers. The town was so poor that each man received only seven denarii — a week’s wages for a cavalryman. Decades after Scipio’s siege, a Roman town rose over the ruins of Numantia. Though never large, it had the usual amenities: a forum, paved streets, a theater, baths. The wealthier citizens lived in fine townhouses with tile roofs and colonnaded courtyards. Unlike its Celtiberian predecessor, this settlement seems to have died quietly, vanishing around the time of the Arab conquest.

Legacies

The site of Numantia, however, was not forgotten. Since the early modern period, when Miguel de Cervantes wrote a famous tragedy about the city’s fall, Numantia has been seen as the Spanish Masada — a national symbol of heroic resistance to tyranny. Every regime that has ruled or contested the country over the past two centuries has laid claim to the Numantines. The two modern monuments that stand on the site are visible reminders that this aspect of the Roman past is more than ancient history.

Next April, I’m leading a tour of Tunisia’s spectacular Roman ruins. If you’d like to join me at the acropolis of Carthage, the amphitheater of El Jem, the forum of Dougga, and a host of other iconic sites, follow the link in the description. My new book — Leaky Aqueducts, Battle Pigeons, and Mystery Cults — is now available in print and audio formats. Find it on Amazon — linked below — or wherever you buy books! On the Toldinstone Patreon, also linked below, I’m releasing a series exploring the historical accuracy of HBO’s hit series Rome. And don’t forget about my other two channels, Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past. Thanks for watching.

It appears the Romans devoted a huge amount of money and effort for very little return.

I would call Rome’s fight against the Picts their Viet Nam.

The Romans finally won against the Numantians.

The Romans never achieved victory against the Picts. They only achieved containment.

We weren’t invading or trying to conquer anyone in Vietnam.

Agreed. Britannia in general was more akin to Vietnam than was Iberia.

Fascinating.

This seems like a unique story and it probably is because the area that is “Spain” was probably the most peaceful of the Roman territories for most of Roman history. So Numantia stands out. But the history of Rome is a history of constant rebellion pretty much everywhere other than the core provinces. Emperors and generals were constantly on the march putting down either civil wars or barbarian invasions or Parthian / Sassanid incursions. Was there a time when the outer provinces were ever truly under Roman control for a long stretch of time?