The Germani were an obscure pre-Roman ancient Spanish people which settled around the 4th Century BC in western Oretania, an ancient region corresponding to the north-west of Ciudad Real and the eastern tip of Badajoz provinces in eastern Andalusia.
Contents |
Origins
Apparently of mixed Belgae and Germanic descend, they also included people of Celtiberian and native Ibero-Tartessian affiliation, and it has been suggested that their language was a form of early Germanic.[citation needed]
Culture
Located to the west of the Olcades, archeological evidence retrieved from local Iron Age hillforts such as Alarcos and Castro of Valdepeñas confirm that Germani culture was strongly influenced by their southeastern Iberian neighbours and the Celtiberians. They are credited of founding on western Oretania the towns of Mirobriga (near Capilla – Badajoz), Orissa or Oria, also designated Oretum Germanorum (Cerro Dominguez, near Granátula de Calatrava – Ciudad Real), Gemella Germanorum (Almagro – Ciudad Real), Lacurris (Alarcos – Ciudad Real), Sisapo (La Bienvenida, Almodóvar – Ciudad Real) and Mentesa Oretana (Villanueva de la Fuente – Ciudad Real).
History
Whatever the Germani were clients or allies of the wealthy Iberian Oretani people during the 3rd Century BC remains unclear, though they certainly supported the powerfull Oretanian King Orison at the battle of Helicen in 228 BC (Elche de la Sierra – Albacete; Helike in the Greek sources) against the Carthaginians under Hamilcar Barca [1]. Orison’s defeat in 227 BC [2] and its subsquent alliance with Carthage, however, caused a major friction between the Oretani and their Germani allies who continued to resist Punic expansion until being subdued by Hannibal Barca in 221 BC; the latter were certainly amongst the Oretani troops sent to Africa at the outbreak of the 2nd Punic War.
Romanization
The Germani appear to have adopted a less hostile stance towards Rome and in 156 BC they too were included into Hispania Citerior Province, being gradually assimilated by the Oretani though retaining their Celto-Germanic cultural identity for several more centuries.
References
- Ángel Montenegro et alii, Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C), Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) (ISBN 84-249-1386-8)
- Francisco Burillo Mozota, Los Celtíberos, etnias y estados, Crítica, Barcelona (1998).
See also
Notes
- ^ Appian, Iberiké, 6
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, 25, 42
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
