Lusitania
This article concerns the Roman province. For other uses, see Lusitania (disambiguation). |
Roman province of Lusitania, 120 AD |
Lusitania was an ancient
Roman province approximately including current
Portugal, except for the area between the rivers
Douro and
Minho, and part of modern day western
Spain, the present autonomous communities of
Extremadura and (part of)
Castile-Leon. It was named after the
Lusitani or
Lusitanian people. The Lusitani were strong warriors whose origins are uncertain. Its capital was
Emerita Augusta (currently
Mérida)
The etymology of
Lusitania, like the origin of the Lusitani, is unclear. The name may be of Celtic origin:
Lus and
Tanus, "tribe of Lusus". Others say that Lusitania means "City of light".
Ancient Romans, such as
Pliny the Elder (
Natural History,
3.5) and
Varro (cited by Pliny), speculated that the name
Lusitania was of Roman origin, as when Pliny says
lusum enim liberi patris aut lyssam cum eo bacchantium nomen dedisse lusitaniae et pana praefectum eius universae: that Lusitania takes its name from the
lusus associated with Bacchus and the
lyssa of his
Bacchantes, and that
Pan is its governor.
Lusus is usually translated as 'game' or 'play', while
lyssa is a borrowing from the
Greek λυσσα, 'frenzy' or 'rage' (and sometimes the personification thereof). Variant translations take these as proper names:
Lusus and
Lyssa become flesh-and-blood companions of Bacchus. The
Os Lusíadas of
Luís de Camões, which portray Lusus as the founder of Lusitania, follow this translation.
The Lusitani, who were
Indo-Europeans and may have come from the
Alps, established themselves in the region in the
6th century BC, but
historians and
archeologists are still undecided about their origins. Some modern authors consider them to be an indigenous people who were initially dominated by the
Celts, before gaining full independence from them. This hypothesis is also backed by Avienus, who wrote
ORA MARITIMA, inspired by documents from
6th century BC.
The investigator Lambrino defended the position that the Lusitanians were a tribal group of Celtic origin related to the
Lusones (a tribe that inhabited the east of
Iberia). Possibly, both tribes came from the Swiss mountains. But some prefer to see the Lusitanians as a native Iberian tribe, resulting from intermarriage between different tribes.
The first area 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 paid by romans).Viriathus was born in
Lorica, today's
Loriga, in Herminius, today's
Serra da Estrela, in central
Portugal. 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
Gallaecia), Rome had completed the conquest of the
Iberian peninsula, which was then divided by Augustus (25-20 BC) into the eastern and northern
Hispania Tarraconensis, the southwestern
Hispania Baetica and the western
Provincia Lusitana. Originally Lusitania included the territories of Asturia and Gallaecia, but these were later ceded to the jurisdiction of the 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.
 |
Elaborate geometrically patterned mosaic floors survive at Conimbriga |
The capital of Lusitania was
Augusta Emerita (currently
Mérida) in Spain. Modern
Coimbra, was the Roman city of
Aeminium, and near modern
Condeixa-a-Nova, was the Roman city of
Conímbriga. Conímbriga was not the largest city of Lusitania, but it is the best preserved. Built on a long-inhabited site, it was sacked by the
Suevi in 468, and its inhabitants fled to
Aeminium, which inherited its name and is nowadays known as Coimbra. Conimbriga's city walls are largely intact, and the mosaic floors (
illustration, right) and foundations of many houses and public buildings remain. In the baths, visitors can view the network of stone heating ducts (the
hypocaust) beneath the now-missing floors. Archaeologists estimate that, though excavations began in 1898, only 10 percent of the city has been excavated.
*
Roman ConimbrigaUnder
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 ("
Diocese of Hispania").
*
Lusitanian*
Lusitanian mythology*
Lusitanian language*
Ophiussa*
Portugal*
History of Portugal*
Timeline of Portuguese history**
Pre-Roman Western Iberia (Before the 3rd Century BC)**
Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia (3rd Century BC to 4th Century AC)*
Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)
