The Germani were an obscure pre-
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
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
Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...
provinces.
Origins
Roman authors believed that a people of mixed
Belgic and
Germanic descent had somehow migrated to 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 ...
around the fourth Century BC. They also included people of
Celtiberian and native
Iberian-
Tartessian affiliation.
Culture
Archaeological evidence retrieved from local
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 ...
hillforts
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...
such as
Alarcos (Ciudad Real) and
Cerro de las Cabezas
Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain".
Toponyms
;Bolivia:
* Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia
;Brazil:
*Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul
*Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...
confirm that the material culture of the Germani did not differ from their southeastern
Iberian neighbours or from the
Celtiberians.
Location
Located to the west of the
Olcades 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.
Origins
Related to both the Celtiberians and Carpetani, the Olcades ...
, they are credited of founding in western
Oretania the towns of ''
Mirobriga'' (near
Capilla, Badajoz), their Capital ''Orissia'' or ''Oria'', also designated ''Oretum Germanorum'' (
Cerro Dominguez, near
Granátula de Calatrava – Ciudad Real), ''Gemella Germanorum'' (
Almagro – Ciudad Real), ''Lacurris'' (
Alarcos – Ciudad Real), ''Sisapo'' (
La Bienvenida,
Almodóvar – Ciudad Real) and ''Mentesa Oretana'' (
Villanueva de la Fuente
Villanueva de la Fuente is a small village located in the Province of Ciudad Real, in the region of Castile-La Mancha, Spain.
In the past it was a Roman village called ''Mentesa'' which was a typical crossroads in the Roman
Roman or Romans mos ...
– Ciudad Real).
History
Whether the Germani were clients or allies of the wealthy
Iberian Oretani
The Oretani or Oretanii (Greek: ''Orissioi'') were a pre-Roman ancient Iberian people (in the geographical sense) of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania), that lived in northeastern Andalusia, in the upper Baetis (Guadalquivir) river valley, ...
people during the 3rd century BC remains unclear, but they certainly supported the powerful Oretanian king
Orison at the Battle of Helicen in 228 BC (''Helike'' in the
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 ...
sources, perhaps
Elche de la Sierra,
Elche
Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,[Carthaginians
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...]
under
Hamilcar Barca
Hamilcar Barca or Barcas ( xpu, 𐤇𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤁𐤓𐤒, ''Ḥomilqart Baraq''; –228BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father- ...
. Orison’s defeat in 227 BC
[ Diodorus Siculus, '' Bibliotheca historica'', 25, 42.] and his signing of an alliance treaty with Carthage, however, caused a major friction between the Oretani and their Germani allies who promptly repudiated its terms, and continued to resist Punic expansion until they were subdued by
Hannibal in 221 BC. They were certainly amongst the Oretani troops sent to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
at the outbreak of the
Second Punic War. The Germani appear to have adopted a less hostile stance towards
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, in 156 BC were included into
Hispania Citerior Province and were gradually assimilated by the Oretani.
See also
*
Germani
*
Germania
*
List of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
This is a list of the pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania, i. e., modern Portugal, Spain and Andorra). Some closely fit the concept of a people, ethnic group or tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of tri ...
*
Proto-Germanic language
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
References
Sources
* 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 Motoza, ''Los Celtíberos – Etnias y Estados'', Crítica, Grijalbo Mondadori, S.A., Barcelona (1998, revised edition 2007)
* 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)
{{Germanic peoples
Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula
Celtic tribes of the Iberian Peninsula
Ancient peoples of Spain