The Pellendones (also known as ''Pelendones Celtiberorum'' or ''Cerindones'') were an ancient pre-Roman

Celtic people The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

living on 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, defi ...

. From the early 4th century BC they inhabited the region near the source of the river

Duero The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

in what today is north-central Spain. The area comprises the north of

Soria Soria () is a municipality and a Spanish city, located on the Douro river in the east of the autonomous community of Castile and León and capital of the province of Soria. Its population is 38,881 (INE, 2017), 43.7% of the provincial population. ...

, the southeast of

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

and the southwest of

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N� ...

provinces.

Origins

Possibly of mixed Illyrian and

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

origin, the Pellendones migrated to the

around the 4th Century BC. Their original native name might have been ''*Kellendones'' and it is believed that they were related to the Gallic Belendi or Pelendi of the middle ''Sigmatis'' (today's Leyre) river valley (approximately today's

Belin-Béliet Belin-Béliet (; oc-gsc, Belin e Beliet) is a commune in the Gironde department in southwestern France. It was created in 1974 by the merger of the former communes Belin and Béliet. Population The population data given in the table below for ...

territory) in

Gallia Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during Re ...

(

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

). They spoke a '

Q-Celtic The Celtic languages (usually , but sometimes ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward L ...

' language.

Culture

A predominantly stock-raising people that practiced

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower vall ...

in the grazing lowlands 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 ...

valley, they had their capital at ''Visontium'' ( Vinuesa –

), and are credited as being the original founders of ''

Numantia Numantia ( es, Numancia) is an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the current municipality of Garray (Soria), Spain. Numantia is famous for its role in the Celtiberian Wars. In 15 ...

'' (

Muela de Garray Villa Rivero, Rivero, or Muela is a village in the Cochabamba Department, Bolivia. It is the seat of the Villa Rivero Municipality (or Muela Municipality), the second municipal section of the Punata Province. At the time of the 2001 census it had ...

– Soria) and ''Savia'' (

?). They also controlled the towns of ''Aregrada'' (

Ágreda Ágreda is a municipality located in the province of Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. Ágreda is the regional services center in the Northeast of the province of Soria. Its abundant heritage as well as the local fi ...

? – Sória; Celtiberian mints: ''Areicoraticos''/''Arecorataz''), ''Arenetum'' (

Arnedo Arnedo is the third largest town in La Rioja, Spain. It is located near Calahorra, and has a population of about 15,000 people. Its economy is based on the shoe industry. History The area of Arnedo has been inhabited as early as the Neolithic A ...

, near Inestrillas –

), ''Quelia''/''Quelium'' ( Quel, near

–

; Celtiberian mint: ''Cueliocos'') and '' Contrebia Leukade'' ( Aguillar del Rio Alhama –

), although the location of ''Viscintium'', ''Lutia'' ( Cantalucia?), ''Olibia'' and ''Varia'' remains either incertain or unknown.

History

Closely related with both the

Arevaci The Arevaci or Aravaci (''Arevakos'', ''Arvatkos'' or ''Areukas'' in the Greek sourcesPtolemy, ''Geographia'', II, 6, 55.), were a CelticCremin, ''The Celts in Europe'' (1992), p. 57. people who settled in the central Meseta of northern Hispania ...

– to whom they were a dependant tribe, though regarded as a separated people – and the

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 ...

, they threw off the Arevacian yoke possibly with

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 letter ...

help in the late 2nd century BC, receiving the town of Numantia and respective lands when the Romans partitioned the territory of the defeated Arevaci amongst their neighbours. However, they lost these lands to the

Uraci The Uraci or Duraci (Greek: ''Urakoi'') were a little-known Celtic people of pre-Roman Iberia who dwelt to the east of the Vaccaei and the Carpetani, occupying the southern Soria, northern Guadalajara and western Zaragoza provinces since the 4th c ...

after supporting the ill-fated early 1st Century BC anti-Roman uprisings in

Celtiberia The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BCE. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strabo) ...

(the 4th

Celtiberian War The First Celtiberian War (181–179 BC) and Second Celtiberian War (154–151 BC) were two of the three major rebellions by the Celtiberians (a loose alliance of Celtic tribes living in east central Hispania, among which we can name the Pellendon ...

). Later 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, they 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 ...

and provided unspecified troops to his army.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...

, ''Fragmenta Librii'', 91.

Romanization

In the late 1st Century BC, the Pellendones were aggregated to the new

Hispania Terraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...

province created by Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

, who founded the Roman colony of ''Augustobriga'' ( Muro de Ágreda) in their territory.

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) *

External links

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