|
Lusitania, an ancient Roman province approximately including current Portugal and
part of western current Spain, named after the Lusitani people. The
Lusitani were strong warriors whose origins are uncertain; some authors presume they may have descended from the central Iberian
Lusoni.
The first colonized by the Lusitani was probably the Douro valley and the region of
Beira Alta; in Beira they stayed
until they defeated the Celts and other tribes, then they expanded to cover a territory
that reached Estremadura before the arrival of the Romans.
The Lusitani are mentioned for the first time in Livy (218 BC) and are described as Carthaginian mercenaries; they are
reported as fighting against Rome in 194 BC, sometimes allied with the Celtiberians.
In 179 BC the praetor Lucius Postumius
Albinus celebrated a triumph over the Lusitani, but in 155 BC, on the command of Punicus (perhaps a Carthaginian general) first and Cesarus after, the
Lusitani reached Gibraltar. Here they were defeated by the praetor Lucius Mummius.
Servius Sulpicius Galba organized a false
armistice, but while the Lusitani celebrated this new alliance, he massacred them, selling the survivors as slaves; this caused a
new rebellion led by Viriathus (who was soon killed by traitors). Romans scored
other victories with proconsul Decimus Junius Brutus and
Marius (113 BC), but still the Lusitani
resisted with a long guerrilla war; they later joined Sertorius' troops and were
finally exterminated by Augustus.
With Lusitania (and Asturia and Gallecia), Rome had completed the conquest of the
Iberian peninsula, which was then divided by Augustus (25-20 BC)
into the southwestern Provincia Betica and the western Provincia Lusitana. Originally Lusitania included the
territories of Asturia and Gallecia, but these were later ceded to the jurisdiction of new Provincia Tarraconensis and
the former remained as Provincia Lusitania et Vettones. Its northern border was along the Douro, while on its eastern
side its border passed through Salmantica and Caesarobriga to the Anas (Guadiana) river.
The capital of Lusitania was Augusta Emerita (currently Mérida).
Under Diocletian, Lusitania kept its borders and was ruled by a
praeses, later by a consularis; finally, it was united with the other provinces to form the Diocesis
Hispaniarum.
See also: Lusitanian - Lusitanian mythology - Ophiussa - History of Portugal - Monuments of Portugal - RMS
Lusitania
In Orson Scott Card's 'Ender' series, Lusitania
is a planet settled mostly by Portuguese-speaking Brazilians. See: Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind.
|