Numantia (redirected from Numantians)

Numantia (nmăn`shə), ancient settlement, Spain, near the Durius (now Douro) River and north of modern Soria. Numantia played a central role in the Celt-Iberian resistance to Roman conquest. Its inhabitants withstood repeated Roman attacks from the time of Cato the Elder's campaign (195 B.C.) until Scipio Aemilianus finally took the city in 133 B.C., after an eight-month blockade, thus completing the conquest of Spain. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of Roman camps and evidence of settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.

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Numantia

an ancient city in N Spain: a centre of Celtic resistance to Rome in N Spain: captured by Scipio the Younger in 133 bc

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Numantia 

an ancient Iberian fortified settlement on the Duero (Duoro) River in Spain. Numantia arose on the site of the more ancient settlement of the Celtic Arevaci tribe. During the Numantian War of 143–133 B.C., it was the center of the local tribes’ heroic struggle against the Romans. Excavations conducted at the site of Numantia in the second half of the 19th century and from 1905 to 1923 revealed traces of life from the time of the early Bronze Age. During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., the Celtiberian settlement was surrounded by a large stone wall. Numantia of the Roman period, built during the reign of Emperor Augustus, was no larger than the settlement that had preceded it. Excavations yielded the remains of Roman siege machinery and equipment and of Roman camps. A wealth of everyday objects has been collected; the local decorated pottery is especially interesting.

REFERENCE

Tsvetaeva, G. “Obzor materialov o raskopkakh Numantsii.” Vestnik drevnei istorii, 1946, no. 2.