Hispania Citerior

Last updated
Hispania Citerior
Province of the Roman Republic
197 BC–19 BC
Hispania 1a division provincial.svg
Hispania Citerior in 197 BC (in orange)[ citation needed ]
Capital Carthago Nova
Historical era Antiquity
 Established
197 BC
 Disestablished
19 BC
Succeeded by
Hispania Tarraconensis Blank.png
Today part of Spain

Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of Murcia, Spain. It roughly covered today's Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia and Valencia. Further south was the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior ("Further Spain" or "Further Iberia"), named as such because it was further away from Rome.

Contents

The two provinces were established in 197 BC, four years after the end of the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). During this war Scipio Africanus defeated the Carthaginians at the Battle of Ilipa (near Seville) in 206 BC. This led to the Romans taking over the Carthaginian possessions in southern Spain and on the east coast up to the River Ebro. Several governors of Hispania Citerior commanded wars against the Celtiberians who lived to the west of this province. In the late first century BC Augustus reorganised the Roman provinces in Hispania. Hispania Citerior was replaced by the larger province of Hispania Tarraconensis, which included the territories the Romans had subsequently conquered in central, northern and north-western Hispania. Augustus also renamed Hispania Ulterior as Hispania Baetica and created a third province, Hispania Lusitania.

Etymology

Hispania is the Latin term given to the Iberian peninsula. The term can be traced back to at least 200 BC, when it was used by the poet Quintus Ennius. The word is possibly derived from the Punic אי שפן "I-Shaphan" meaning "coast of hyraxes", in turn a misidentification on the part of Phoenician explorers of its numerous rabbits as hyraxes. According to the Roman historian Cassius Dio, the people of the region came from many different tribes and did not share a common language or a common government. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispania Tarraconensis</span> Roman province on the Iberian Peninsula (27 BC-459 AD)

Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia, was the province of Hispania Baetica. On the Atlantic west lay the province of Lusitania, partially coincident with modern-day Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iberians</span> Historical ethnic group from southwestern Europe

The Iberians were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources. Roman sources also use the term Hispani to refer to the Iberians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispania Baetica</span> Roman province in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula

Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces created in Hispania on 27 BC. Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basic divisions of Hispania under the Visigoths. Its territory approximately corresponds to modern Andalusia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gallaecia</span> Roman province in the northwest Iberian Peninsula

Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia, northern Portugal, Asturias and Leon and the later Kingdom of Gallaecia. The Roman cities included the port Cale (Porto), the governing centers Bracara Augusta (Braga), Lucus Augusti (Lugo) and Asturica Augusta (Astorga) and their administrative areas Conventus bracarensis, Conventus lucensis and Conventus asturicensis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarraco</span> Ancient city on the site of modern Tarragona, Catalonia,Spain

Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona. It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of Hispania Tarraconensis following the latter's creation during the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celtici</span> Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian peninsula

The Celtici were a Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian peninsula, inhabiting three definite areas: in what today are the regions of Alentejo and the Algarve in Portugal; in the Province of Badajoz and north of Province of Huelva in Spain, in the ancient Baeturia; and along the coastal areas of Galicia. Classical authors give various accounts of the Celtici's relationships with the Gallaeci, Celtiberians and Turdetani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paesuri</span>

The Paesuri or Paesures were an ancient pre-Roman people of Lusitania, akin to the Lusitani, to whom they were a dependent tribe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turduli Veteres</span>

The Turduli Veteres, translated as "Ancient Turduli" or "Old Turduli" were an ancient pre-Roman tribe of present day Portugal, akin to the Calaicians or Gallaeci and Lusitanians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turduli Oppidani</span>

The Turduli Oppidani or Turdulorum Oppida, were a pre-Roman coastal people in present-day Portugal, related to the Turduli Veteres and akin to the Lusitanians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cantabri</span>

The Cantabri or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first millennium BC. These peoples and their territories were incorporated into the Roman Province of Hispania Tarraconensis in 19 BC, following the Cantabrian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Portuguese history (Lusitania and Gallaecia)</span>

This is a historical timeline of Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispania Ulterior</span> Region of Hispania during the Roman Republic

Hispania Ulterior was a Roman province located in Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania and Gallaecia. Its capital was Corduba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turdetani</span> Ethnic group

The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir, in what was to become the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica. Strabo considers them to have been the successors to the people of Tartessos and to have spoken a language closely related to the Tartessian language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula</span>

The Roman Republic conquered and occupied territories in the Iberian Peninsula that were previously under the control of native Celtic, Iberian, Celtiberian and Aquitanian tribes and the Carthaginian Empire. The Carthaginian territories in the south and east of the peninsula were conquered in 206 BC during the Second Punic War. Control was gradually extended over most of the Iberian Peninsula without annexations. It was completed after the end of the Roman Republic, by Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who annexed the whole of the peninsula to the Roman Empire in 19 BC.

Hispania is the ancient Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hispania</span> Roman province (218 BC – 472 AD)

Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divided into two new provinces, Baetica and Lusitania, while Hispania Citerior was renamed Hispania Tarraconensis. Subsequently, the western part of Tarraconensis was split off, initially as Hispania Nova, which was later renamed "Callaecia". From Diocletian's Tetrarchy onwards, the south of the remainder of Tarraconensis was again split off as Carthaginensis, and all of the mainland Hispanic provinces, along with the Balearic Islands and the North African province of Mauretania Tingitana, were later grouped into a civil diocese headed by a vicarius. The name Hispania was also used in the period of Visigothic rule.

This section of the timeline of Hispania concerns Spanish and Portuguese history events from the Carthaginian conquests to before the barbarian invasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanization of Hispania</span>

The Romanization of Hispania is the process by which Roman or Latin culture was introduced into the Iberian Peninsula during the period of Roman rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Iberian coinage</span>

The history of ancient Iberian coinage begins as early as the fifth century BC, but widespread minting and circulation in the Iberian peninsula did not begin until late in the third century, during the Second Punic War. Civic coinages - emissions made by individual cities at their own volition - continued under the first two and a half centuries of Roman control until ending in the mid-first century AD. Some non-civic coins were minted on behalf of Roman emperors during this period and continued to be minted after the cessation of the civic coinages. After the cessation of the civic coinages, these Imperial coins were the only coins minted in Iberia until the coins of the Suebi and Visigoths.

References

  1. Dio, Cassius. Roman History.