Celtiberian Wars

The First Celtiberian War (181–179 BC) and Second Celtiberian War (154–151 BC) were two of the three major rebellions by the Celtiberians against the presence of the Romans in Hispania. Hispania was the name the Romans gave to the Iberian Peninsula. In those days Spain and Portugal did not exist. The peninsula was inhabited by various ethnic groups and numerous tribes. The Celtiberians were a confederation of five tribes which lived in large area of east central Hispania, to the west of Hispania Citerior. The eastern part of their territory shared a stretch of the border of this Roman province. The Celtiberian tribes were the Pellendones, the Arevaci, the Lusones, the Titti and the Belli. The third major rebellion by the Celtiberians was the Numantine War (143–133 BC).

The Romans took over the territories of the Carthaginians in southern Hispania when they defeated them at the Battle of Ilipa in 206 BC during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). After the war they remained and in 197 BC they established two Roman colonies: Hispania Citerior (Nearer Spain) along most of the east coast, an area roughly corresponding to the modern autonomous communities of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, and Hispania Ulterior (Further Spain) in the south, roughly corresponding to modern Andalusia. There were numerous rebellions by many tribes of Hispania, including tribes both inside and outside Roman territory, in most years for 98 years, until the end of the First Celtiberian War (181–179 BC) in 179 BC. For details of these rebellions see the Roman conquest of Hispania article. The First Celtiberian War was one of the two major rebellions during this period. The Celtiberians were the major source of revolt. The Roman victory in this war and the peace treaties established by the Roman praetor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus with several tribes led to 24 years of relative peace until 154 BC, when the Second Celtiberian War (154–152 BC) broke out. This war broke out because the Roman senate objected to the Arevaci town of Segeda building a circuit of walls. The people of Segeda argued that this was in line with the treaty agreed with Tiberius Gracchus. The senate requested the fulfilment of other stipulations of this treaty the town had been previously exempted from and declared war. This war overlapped with the Lusitanian War of (154–150 BC). The Lusitanians, who lived in parts of today's Portugal and Extremadura (Spain), became the other major source of rebellion in Hispania.

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