The Belli, also designated Beli or Belaiscos were an ancient 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 lett ...

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 Foo ...

Celtiberian people who lived in the modern Spanish

province of Zaragoza Zaragoza (), also called Saragossa in English,''Encyclopædia Britannica''Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)/ref> is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon. Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also t ...

from the 3rd Century BC.

Origins

Roman authors for unknown reasons wrote that the Belli were of mixed Illyrian and

( Belgic) origin and probably related with the

Bellovaci The Bellovaci (Gaulish: ''Bellouacoi'') were a Belgic tribe dwelling in the modern Picardy region, near the present-day city of Beauvais, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. After they were defeated by Caesar in 57 BC, they gave lukewarm s ...

, who were said to have 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 4th Century BC and part of the

Celtiberians 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. Strab ...

. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence that the ancestors of the Celtiberian groups were installed in the Meseta area of the peninsula from at least 1000 BC and probably much earlier.

Location

The Belli inhabited the middle Jiloca and

Huerva The Huerva River is a river in Aragon, Spain. It is a tributary of the Ebro. Its mean annual discharge is only . Course This long river rises in the Sierra de Cucalón, near Fonfría in the Jiloca Comarca. Flowing northwestwards near Lagueru ...

river valleys in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

province with their territories stretching up to the

Guadalope The Guadalope (Guadalop in Catalan and Aragonese) is a river in Aragon, Spain. It is a tributary of the Ebro (Ebre in Catalan). Course This long river rises in the Sierra de Gúdar, near Villarroya de los Pinares and Miravete de la Sierr ...

and upper Turia valleys, close to their neighbours and clients, the

Titii The ''Titii'' (or ''Titii sodales'', later ''Titienses'', ''Sacerdotes Titiales Flaviales'') was a college ('' sodalitas'') of Roman priests. Origins There are two versions of how the college was established. One credits Titus Tatius with creati ...

. Their early capital was '' Segeda'' ( Poyo de Maya –

; Celtiberian mint: ''Sekaiza''), subsequently transferred to nearby Durón de Belmonte and later offset by ''Bilbilis'' ( Valdeherrera, near

Calatayud Calatayud (; 2014 pop. 20,658) is a municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest town in the province after the capital, ...

–

; Celtiberian mint: ''Bilbiliz''). Other Belli urban centers included ''Nertobriga'' (

La Almunia de Doña Godina La Almunia de Doña Godina is a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. This town is located by the E90 (N II) Highway. It is home to the church of ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción'', rebuilt from 1754; it has maintained the or ...

–

; Celtiberian mint: ''Nertobis''), ''Contrebia Belaisca'' (

Zaforas de Botorita Zaforas ( el, Ζαφοράς) is a small Greek island in the southern part of the Dodecanese chain, about south of the island Astypalaia Astypalaia (Greek: Αστυπάλαια, ), is a Greek island with 1,334 residents (2011 census). It bel ...

–

; Celtiberian mint: ''Contebacom Bel''), ''Beligiom'' (

Piquete de la Atalaya de Azuara Piquete is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 13,575 (2020 est.) in an area of 176.00 km². The elevation is 645 m. The municipality co ...

– Zaragoza; Celtiberian mint: ''Belikiom''), ''Lesera'' (

El Forcal EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

) and ''Belgeda'' (

Belchite Belchite is a municipality and town in the province of Zaragoza, Spain, about 40 km southeast of Zaragoza. It is the capital of Campo de Belchite ''comarca'' (administrative region) and is located in a plain surrounded by low hills, the high ...

– Zaragoza). It is plausible that by the 2nd Century BC they exerted some form of control over the strategic frontier towns of ''Belia'' (sited somewhere between the

' and Aguas Vivas' rivers; Celtiberian mint: ''Belaiscom''), ''Osicerda'' (

El Palau de Alcañiz EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

–

Teruel Teruel () is a city in Aragon, located in eastern Spain, and is also the capital of Teruel Province. It has a population of 35,675 in 2014 making it the least populated provincial capital in the country. It is noted for its harsh climate, with ...

; Iberian designation: ''Usercerte''), ''Damania'' ( Hinojosa de Jarque – Teruel; Celtiberian mint: ''Tamaniu'') and ''Orosis'' ( La Caridad de Caminreal – Teruel; Celtiberian mint: ''Orosiz''), facing the Iberian Lobetani and

Edetani The Edetani were an ancient Iberian (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania). They are believed to have spoken a form of the Iberian language. See also * Iberians * Edeta *Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula Th ...

peoples of the modern

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

coastal region.

Culture

The most culturally advanced of the peoples of southern

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. Strab ...

, the Belli were the first Celtiberian tribe to adopt coinage in the aftermath of the

2nd Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in I ...

and to post laws in written form on bronze tablets (''Tabulae''), using a modified

Northeastern Iberian script The northeastern Iberian script, also known as Levantine Iberian or Iberian, was the main means of written expression of the Iberian language. The language is also expressed by the southeastern Iberian script and the Greco-Iberian alphabet ...

(known as the

Celtiberian script The Celtiberian script is a Paleohispanic script that was the main writing system of the Celtiberian language, an extinct Continental Celtic language, which was also occasionally written using the Latin alphabet. This script is a direct adapta ...

) for their own language. In this script and language they inscribed the characteristic Celtiberian 'hospitality tokens' which are small bronze objects, in two halves, each half being retained by people who stood in hospitality relationship to one another. These would act as a sort of identity card, and were probably used as safe-conducts or other warranties. The two halves have been found in places several hundreds of kilometres apart, which implies that the various Celtic groups maintained a system of communications throughout at least central Spain. The most complete Celtiberian text we have on the bronze 'hospitality tokens' that acted as a sort of identity card is from the Belli and reads ''lubos alisokum aualoske kontebias belaiskas'' meaning 'Lubos of the Aliso family, son of Aualos, from Contrebia Belaisca' showing the self-description of this man, by paternity, extended family and territory which is characteristically Celtic.

History

During the 3rd-2nd centuries BC, the Belli joined the

Celtiberian confederacy The Celtiberian confederacy was a tribal federation formed around the mid-3rd century BC, by the Arevaci, Lusones, Belli and Titii, with the Arevacian city of Numantia as the federal capital. During the Second Punic War the confederacy kept itsel ...

alongside 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 a ...

Lusones The Lusones (Greek: ''Lousones'') were an ancient Celtiberian (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania), who lived in the high Tajuña River valley, northeast of Guadalajara. They were eliminated by the Romans as a signifi ...

and

, with whom they developed close political and military ties – in 153 BC the Numantines even elected the Belli General Caros as leader of the Celtiberian coalition army that ambushed the

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 ...

Quintus Fulvius Nobilior Quintus Fulvius Nobilior was a Roman consul who obtained the consulship in 153 BC. His father Marcus Fulvius Nobilior and his brother Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (consul 159 BC) were also consuls. Nobilior and his father were patrons of the writer Q ...

at the battle of Ribarroya, at the Baldano river valley in the beginning of the first

Numantine War The Numantine WarThe term Numantine War can refer to the whole conflict lasting from 154 to 133 or to just the latter part, from 143 to 133. Thus, the two conflicts are sometimes called the Numantine Wars (plural) and subdivided into the First an ...

. Prior to that, they had been forced in 181 BC to accept Roman suzerainty by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, but this did not prevent them from resisting further Roman encroachment of their lands as well as fighting off

Turboletae The Turboletae or Turboleti (Greek: ''Torboletoi'' or ''Torboletes'') were an obscure pre-Roman people from ancient Spain, which lived in the northwest Teruel province since the early 3rd Century BC. Origins Their ethnical and linguistical affi ...

raids and the Iberian Lobetani people.

Romanization

Defeated in 143 BC by Proconsul

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus (c. 188 BC – 116 BC/115 BC) was a statesman and general of the Roman Republic during the second century BC. He was praetor in 148 BC, consul in 143 BC, the Proconsul of Hispania Citerior in 142 BC an ...

,Appian, ''Iberiké'' 76. and faced with the fall 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 ...

in 133 BC and the subsequent collapse of the

, the Belli territory was incorporated into

Hispania Citerior Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of ...

province though little is known of their history afterwards. The Belli appear to have remained independent until 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 of the early 1st Century BC, when they were gradually pushed back from the upper Jiloca by the

who seized Beligiom, Belgeda, Damania and Orosis, therefore losing all the lands east of the

River. Around 72 BC they and their Titii allies merged with the pro-

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 ...

Cratistii The Cratistii ( Greek ''Kratistioi'') were an ancient pre-Roman, stock-raising people whose lands were situated along the upper Tagus valley, in the elevated plateau region of the western Cuenca and northeast Province of Teruel. Origins An i ...

and Olcades tribes to form the

Late Celtiberian people Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effe ...

(

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, 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 ...

: ''Celtiberi'') of romanized southern

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) * Alberto J. Lorrio, ''Los Celtíberos'', Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Murcia (1997) * Francisco Burillo Mozota, ''Los Celtíberos, etnias y estados'', Crítica, Barcelona (1998) * Rafael Trevino and Angus McBride, ''Rome's Enemies (4): Spanish Armies 218BC-19BC'', Men-at-Arms series 180, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London (1986)

External links

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