The siege of Aracillum was a siege of the

Cantabrian Wars The Cantabrian Wars (29–19 BC) (''Bellum Cantabricum''), sometimes also referred to as the Cantabrian and Asturian Wars (''Bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum''), were the final stage of the two-century long Roman conquest of Hispania, in what to ...

that occurred in 25 BC. The battle took place between the forces of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, which consisted of five

Roman legions The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...

commanded by Gaius Antistius Vetus and the forces of the

Cantabri The Cantabri ( grc-gre, Καντάβροι, ''Kantabroi'') or Ancient Cantabrians, were a pre-Ancient Rome, Roman people and large tribal federation that lived in the northern coastal region of ancient Iberia in the second half of the first mille ...

people, who had fortified the hill fort at Aracillum. The battle resulted in a Roman victory. ''Aracillum'' was subjected to a fierce siege by the Romans, who would eventually take the settlement. The Roman commander, Gaius Antistius Vetus had taken charge of Caesar's legions when

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 ...

had fallen ill on the campaign (though Caesar did conduct a majority of the battles in this campaign himself). The hill fort was able to withstand the Roman forces for some time, but the fort was eventually surrounded by three Roman camps. The Romans constructed more than 20 kilometers of walls, battlements and trenches ('' circumvallatio'') to trap the defenders inside the fort and to prevent any aid or reinforcements from gaining entrance. In the face of starving to death, many of the Cantabri warriors opted instead to commit suicide rather than dying of starvation or being taken prisoner and being turned into slaves. Traditionally identified as (

Campoo de Enmedio Campoo de Enmedio is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. According to the 2007 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given ...

), there has never been any concrete discovery of the actual location of the battle.

References

* Much of the information on this page was translated from its Spanish equivalent. {{coord missing, Spain Aracillum Aracillum Aracillum Aracillum Aracillum Aracillum

See also

References