Viriathus

Viriathus
Native name	Viriato, Viriatus
Died	139 BC
Allegiance	Lusitania
Years of service	147BC – 139BC
Battles/wars	Lusitanian War
Memorials	Statue of Viriato, at Viseu, Portugal

Viriatus (also spelled Viriathus; known as Viriato in Portuguese and Spanish; died 139 BC) was the most important leader of the Lusitanian people that resisted Roman expansion into the regions of western Hispania (as the Romans called it) or western Iberia (as the Greeks called it), where the Roman province of Lusitania would be finally established after the conquest. This Roman province spread over areas comprising most of Portugal (the northernmost part was included in Gallaecia), all of Extremadura and the province of Salamanca. Its eastern frontier reached the proximities of Toletum, in central Hispania. Current Galicia was not included in the province, since it comprised most of the territory of another province, the aforementioned Gallaecia, but like the Vettonian people in the South, the Galaic tribes living there were also related to them.

Viriatus developed alliances with other Iberian groups, even far away from his usual theatres of war, inducing them to rebel against Rome. He led his army, supported by most of the Lusitanian and Vetton tribes as well as by other Celtiberian allies, to several victories over the Romans between 147 BC and 139 BC before being betrayed by them and murdered while sleeping. Of him, Theodor Mommsen said, "It seemed as if, in that thoroughly prosaic age, one of the Homeric heroes had reappeared."

There are several possible etymologies for the name Viriatus. The name can be composed of two elements: Viri and Athus. Viri may come from:

The Celtiberian elite called themselves uiros ueramos, meaning the 'highest man' and the Latin equivalent would be summus vir.

According to the historian Schulten, Viriatus had a Celtic name.

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