The Carpetani were one of the Celtic peoples inhabiting the Iberian Peninsula prior to the Roman conquest. Their core domain was constituted by the lands between the Tagus and the Anas, [1] in the southern Meseta. Agriculture is thought to have had a greater importance in the Carpetanian economy than other neighboring peoples'. [1]
Since the 5th century BC the Carpetani inhabited the Toledo and Alcaraz highland ranges along the middle Tagus basin, occupying a territory that stretched from the Guadarrama river at the north to the upper Anas (Guadiana) in the modern provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo, Madrid and Ciudad Real, an area designated as Carpetania in the ancient sources. Main city-states ( Civitates ) in the region were Toletum (near modern Toledo; Roman or Celtiberian-type mint: Tole), Iplacea/ Complutum (Alcalá de Henares – Madrid); Celtiberian-type mint: Ikezancom Konbouto?), Titulcia (El Cerrón, near modern Titulcia – Madrid), Consabura (Consuegra – Toledo), Barnacis (Orgaz – Ciudad Real; Celtiberian-type mint: Bornaiscom), Laminium (Argamasilla de Alba or Alhambra – Ciudad Real) and Alce (Campo de Criptana – Ciudad Real). Towns of lesser importance were Aebura (Cuerva – Toledo), Metercosa (Madridejos – Toledo), Ispinum (Yepes – Toledo), Miaccum (Casa de Campo – Madrid), Mantua (Montiel – Ciudad Real), Thermida (Trillo – Guadalajara), Ilarcuris (Horche – Guadalajara) and Ilurbida (Lorvigo, near Talavera de la Reina – Toledo).
The exact location of the remaining Carpetanian towns is either uncertain or unknown, this is true in the cases of Dipo [2] (near Toledo?), Libora, [3] Varada, Caracca or Characa, [4] Rigusa, Paterniana, and Alternia.
The origins of the Carpetani are obscure though their ruling elite certainly had Celtiberian [5] [6] and Gallic-Belgae elements, whose ancestors arrived to the Peninsula in the wake of the Celtic migration at the 4th century BC; [7] [8] the rest of the population was clearly Indo-European and very mixed, including people of native Ibero-Tartessian and Indo-Aryan [9] affiliation. Recent analysis of local epigraphic sources revealed that the Carpetani comprised some twenty-seven tribes, namely the Aelariques, Aeturiques, Arquioci, Acualiques, Bocouriques, Canbarici, Contucianci, Dagencii, Doviliques, Duitiques, Duniques, Elguismiques, Langioci, Longeidoci, Maganiques, Malugeniques, Manuciques, Maureici, Mesici, Metturici, Moenicci, Obisodiques, Pilonicori, Solici, Tirtaliques, Uloques, and Venatioques. [10]
In archeological terms, it is now believed that they stemmed from both the transitional Late Bronze Age/early Iron Age 'Campiñas de Madrid' farmers' and the 'Cogotas I' cultural groups.[ citation needed ]
Only a few Carpetanian towns appear to have issued their own currency, modelled after Roman patterns copied directly or adapted via Celtiberian coinage. In the 2nd century BC, Iplacea/Complutum and Barnacis struck coins with their names marked in Celtiberian script, whilst later Toletum struck theirs bearing its name in Latin script. [11]
By the later part of the 3rd century BC, the Carpetani had evolved into a sort of federation or loose tribal confederacy whose nominal capital was set at Toletum, with several centres of power in the main towns ruled by petty kings (Latin: Reguli). Some of these Rulers appear to have risen to prominence in the early 2nd century BC – one king Hilernus led a coalition of Carpetani, Vaccaei, Vettones and Celtiberians against consul Marcus Fulvius near Toletum in 193 BC, but he was defeated in battle and captured; [12] another Regulus, Thurrus, ruler of Alce signed a treaty with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 179 BC. [13] Prior to the Second Punic War, they opposed Carthaginian expansion in central Spain, but in 220 BC Hannibal defeated a combined force of Vaccaei, Olcades and Carpetani at the battle on the Tagus, [14] thus completing his conquest of Hispania south of the Ebro with the exception of Saguntum. [15] They also provided mercenary troops to the Carthaginian armies, for Frontinus mentions the desertion of 3,000 Carpetani warriors from Hannibal's army when he entered in Italy after crossing the Alps. [16]
During the Sertorian Wars, the Carpetani remained loyal to Rome, whilst their perpetual rivals and enemies the Vettones and Celtiberians sided with Quintus Sertorius. [17]
From 197 BC and over the next 170 years, the Roman Republic slowly expanded its control over Hispania. This was a gradual process of economic, diplomatic and cultural infiltration and colonisation, with campaigns of military suppression when there was native resistance, rather than the result of a single policy of conquest. The Romans turned some of the native cities into tributary cities and established outposts and Roman colonies to expand their control. [18]
Toledo is a city and municipality of Spain, the capital of the province of Toledo and the de jure seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha.
The Vettones were an Iron Age pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania. Their capital was Intercatia in Paredes de Nava.
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Carpetania was an ancient region of what is today Spain, located between the Sierra de Guadarrama, the mountains of Toledo, the river Guadiana and the mountain range of Alcaraz, including approximately, the present independent communities of Madrid and Castile-La Mancha.
The Turboletae or Turboleti were an obscure pre-Roman people from ancient Spain, which lived in the northwest Teruel province since the early 3rd Century BC.
The Olcades were an ancient stock-raising pre-Roman people from Hispania, who lived to the west of the Turboletae in the southeastern fringe of the Iberian system mountains.
The Germani were an obscure pre-Roman ancient people of the Iberian Peninsula which settled around the 4th century BC in western Oretania, an ancient region corresponding to the south of Ciudad Real and the eastern tip of Badajoz provinces.
The Berones were a pre-Roman Celtic people of ancient Spain, although they were not part of the Celtiberians, they lived north of the Celtiberians and close to the Cantabrian Conisci in the middle Ebro region between the Tirón and Alhama rivers.
The Pellendones were an ancient pre-Roman Celtic people living on the Iberian Peninsula. From the early 4th century BC they inhabited the region near the source of the river Duero in what today is north-central Spain. The area comprises the north of Soria, the southeast of Burgos and the southwest of La Rioja provinces.
The Cratistii were an ancient pre-Roman, stock-raising people whose lands were situated along the upper Tagus valley, in the elevated plateau region of the western Cuenca and northeast Province of Teruel.
This section of the timeline of Hispania concerns Spanish and Portuguese history events from the Carthaginian conquests to before the barbarian invasions.
Segóbriga was an important Celtic and Roman city, and is today an impressive site located on a hill near the present town of Saelices. Research has revealed remains of important buildings, which have since been preserved and made visible in the Archaeological Park. It was declared a National Monument on June 3, 1931, and is now considered cultural heritage under the official denomination Bien de Interés Cultural which comes with extensive legal protections.
The Celtiberian confederacy was a tribal federation formed around the mid-3rd century BC, by the Arevaci, Lusones, Belli and Titii, with the Arevacian city of Numantia as the federal capital.
There are remains of two Roman aqueducts which supplied the Roman city of Toletum in Castile-La Mancha, Spain. The infrastructure carried water from various sources with the main reservoir located at Mazarambroz to the south of the city in the Montes de Toledo Comarca.