The Carpetani (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''Karpetanoi'') were one of the Celtic pre- Roman peoples of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

(the Roman

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

, modern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

), akin to the Celtiberians, dwelling in the central part of the '' meseta'' - the high central upland plain of the Iberian Peninsula.

Location

Since the 5th century BC the Carpetani inhabited the Toledo and Alcaraz highland ranges along the middle

Tagus basin The Tagus Basin is the drainage basin of the Tagus River, which flows through the west of the Iberian Peninsula and empties into Lisbon. It covers an area of 78,467 km2, which is distributed 66% (55,645 km2) on Spanish territory and 34% on Po ...

, occupying a territory that stretched from the

Guadarrama Guadarrama is a town and municipality in the Cuenca del Guadarrama comarca, in the Community of Madrid, Spain. Its population is 13,032 (winter, according to a 2006 census); the population swells to approximately 60,000 in summer. Its name co ...

river at the north to the upper ''Anas'' ( Guadiana) in the modern provinces of Guadalajara, Toledo,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and Ciudad Real, an area designated as

Carpetania 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 Madri ...

in the ancient sources. Main

city-state A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

s ('' Civitates'') in the region were ''Toletum'' (near modern Toledo; Roman or Celtiberian-type mint: ''Tole''), ''Iplacea''/''Complutum'' ( Alcalá de Henares –

); Celtiberian-type mint: ''Ikezancom Konbouto''?), ''Titulcia'' (El Cerrón, near modern

Titulcia Titulcia is a municipality of the Community of Madrid, Spain. History Supposedly of Roman origin, Titulcia is situated on the ancient military road from Emerita Augusta and Cesaraugusta (now Zaragoza). With the arrival of the Arabs, the city w ...

–

), ''Consabura'' ( Consuegra – Toledo), ''Barnacis'' (

Orgaz Orgaz is a municipality located in the province of Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2012 census, the municipality had a population of 2804 inhabitants, but it has since declined. Burial of the Count of Orgaz The town has an a ...

– 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 – Guadalajara), ''Thermida'' ( Trillo – Guadalajara), ''Ilarcuris'' (

Horche Horche is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2004 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a give ...

– Guadalajara) and ''Ilurbida'' ( Lorvigo, near

Talavera de la Reina Talavera de la Reina () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Its population of 83,303 makes it the second most populated municipality of the province of Toledo and the fourth largest in the ...

– Toledo). The exact location of the remaining Carpetanian towns is either uncertain or unknown, this is true in the cases of ''Dipo'' (near Toledo?), ''Libora'', ''Varada'', ''Caracca'' or ''Characa'', ''Rigusa'', ''Paterniana'', and ''Alternia''.

Origins

The origins of the Carpetani are obscure though their ruling elite certainly had Celtiberian and Gallic- Belgae elements, whose ancestors arrived to the Peninsula in the wake of the Celtic migration at the 4th century BC; the rest of the population was clearly

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

and very mixed, including people of native Ibero- Tartessian and Indo-Aryan 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.

Culture

In archeological terms, it is now believed that they stemmed from both the transitional Late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

/early

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

‘Campiñas de Madrid’ farmers’ and the ‘ Cogotas I’ cultural groups. 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 The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

History

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 Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ''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 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 (specifically in Castile and León). Their capital was ''Intercatia'' in P ...

Vettones The Vettones (Greek: ''Ouettones'') were a pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula of possibly Celtic ethnicity. Origins Lujan (2007) concludes that some of the names of the Vettones show clearly western Hispano-Celtic features. Reissued i ...

and Celtiberians against

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

Marcus Fulvius near Toletum in 193 BC, but he was defeated in battle and captured; another ''Regulus'', Thurrus, ruler of Alce signed a treaty with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 179 BC. Prior to the Second Punic War, they opposed Carthaginian expansion in central Spain, but in 220 BC Hannibal defeated a combined force of

, Olcades and Carpetani at the battle on the Tagus, thus completing his conquest of Hispania south of the

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

with the exception of

Saguntum Sagunto ( ca-valencia, Sagunt) is a municipality of Spain, located in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community. It belongs to the modern fertile ''comarca'' of Camp de Morvedre. It is located c. 30 km north of the city of Valencia, cl ...

. They also provided mercenary troops to the Carthaginian armies, for

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...

mentions the desertion of 3,000 Carpetani warriors from Hannibal’s army when he entered in Italy after crossing the Alps. During the

Sertorian War The Sertorian War was a civil war fought from 80 to 72 BC between a faction of Roman rebels ( Sertorians) and the government in Rome (Sullans). The war was fought on the Iberian Peninsula (called ''Hispania'' by the Romans) and was one of the ...

s, the Carpetani remained loyal to Rome, whilst their perpetual rivals and enemies the

and Celtiberians sided with

Quintus Sertorius Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...

.Matyszak, ''Sertorius and the struggle for Spain'' (2013), p. 79.

Notes

Bibliography

* Ángel Montenegro ''et alii'', ''Historia de España 2 - colonizaciones y formación de los pueblos prerromanos (1200-218 a.C)'', Editorial Gredos, Madrid (1989) * Francisco Burillo Mozota, ''Los Celtíberos - etnias y estados'', Crítica, Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007) *Harry Morrison Hine, ''Hannibal's Battle on the Tagus (Polybius 3.14 and Livy 21.5)'', Latomus: revue d'études latines, Société d'Études Latines de Bruxelles 38 (4), Bruxelles (1979) * João Ferreira do Amaral, ''Os Filhos de Caim e Portugal - povos e migrações no II milénio a.C.'', Quetzal Editores, Lisbon (2004) * Juan Pereira Siesto (coord.), ''Prehistoria y Protohistoria de la Meseta Sur (Castilla-La Mancha)'', Biblioteca Añil n.º 31, ALMUD, Ediciones de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real (2007) * Julián Hurtado Aguña, ''Las gentilidades presentes en los testimonios epigráficos procedentes de la Meseta meridional'', Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: BSAA, Tomo 69-70, (2003-2004) pp. 185–206. - http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=1404299 * *Philip Matyszak, ''Sertorius and the struggle for Spain'', Pen & Sword Military, Barnsley (2013)

External links

Jesús R. Álvarez-Sanchís, "Oppida and Celtic society in western Spain,"
in ''e-Celtoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies'', Vol. 6 (''The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula'')

*http://www.celtiberia.net {{Pre-Roman peoples in Spain Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Celtic tribes of the Iberian Peninsula Ancient peoples of Spain