CHAPTER V. HISPANIA. A. G. Plate III. SPAIN was antiently called Iberia by the Greeks, and by the Poets Hesperia, as the furthest land toward the west, with the addition of the term Ultima, to distinguish it from Italy. It was divided by the Romans into two provinces, called Hispania Citerior, or nearer, and Hispania Ulterior, or further Spain. Hispania Citerior was afterwards called Tarraconensis, from Tarraco, its capital, and extended from the foot of the Pyrenees to the mouth of the Durius, or Douro, on the Atlantic shore, comprehending all the north of Spain, together with all the south as far as a line drawn below Carthago Nova, or Carthagena, and continued in an oblique direction, to the Durius, northward of Salmantica, now Salamanca. Hispania Ulterior was subsequently in the time of Augustus divided into two provinces, Bætica, or the south of Spain, between the river Anas, or Guadiana, and Hispania Citerior; and above it, Lusitania, corresponding in great measure, but not entirely, to our Portugal. Hispania Citerior, or Tarraconensis, contained many nations. Between the Pyrenees and the Iberus, or Ebro, the Ceretani, Laletani, Cosetani and Ilergetes, occupied what is now Catalonia. Here were Barcino, or Barcelona; Tarraco, or Tarragona, the capital of the province; and Ilerda, the capital of the Ilergetes, now Lerida, celebrated for the resistance it made against Cæsar, under the Lieutenants of Pompey, Afranius and Petreius. At the mouth of the Iberus was Dertosa, now Tortosa. North-westward, at the foot of the Pyrenees, were the Vescitani and Jacetani. The Vascones were seated in the kingdom of Navarre; whose chief city was Pompelo, or Pampeluna. The Autrigones, Varduli and Caristi, were inconsiderable people in this region. Returning to the Iberus is Calagurris, now Calahorra, memorable for the dreadful sufferings of the army of Sertorius, when besieged by Pompey and Metellus, A. U. C. 679, B. C. 75. (See Juv. Sat. XV. 92.) It was the birth-place of Quintilian and Prudentius. The Cantabri* possessed Biscay, and part of Asturias, and held out against the Roman power for many years. Among them were the Concani, whose ferocity is also celebrated by Horace. † Next to the Cantabri were the Astures, or inhabitants of Asturias, whose capital, Asturica, is still called Astorga. The station of the seventh legion gave name to the colony of Legio, or Leon. Still westward, the Callæci or Calliaci inhabited the country now called Gallicia. Their principal places were Lucus Augusti and Bracara. Here was the promontory of Artabrum, or Cape Finisterre, north-east of which was Brigantium, now Betanços, near Corunna. At the mouth of the Durius is the port of Calle, which having been corrupted into Portugal, has given a modern name to the ancient province of Lusitania: it is now Oporto. South-east of the Astures are the Vaccæi. Among them was Pallantia; and east of it was Numantia, among the Pelendones, which resisted the Roman armies fourteen years, and was utterly destroyed by Scipio Africanus Minor, B. C. 133, A. u. C. 621. It was situated near the * Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra. † Et lætum equino sanguine Concanum. Hor. Od. II. 6. Hor. Od. III. 8. Hor. Od. III. 4. sources of the Durius. Below the mouth of the river Iberus, were the Ilercaones, and westward of them the Edetani in part of Aragon and Valentia, whose northern boundary was the Iberus, and southern the Sucro, or Xucar. Their capital, Cæsar Augusta, has been corrupted into Sarragossa. A little above the southern boundary of the Edetani was Valentia; and above it the famous city of Saguntum, a colony from Zacynthus, whence its name, by the siege of which Hannibal began his first attack on the Romans, which was the commencement of the second Punic war, B. C. 219, a. u. c. 535. Hannibal took it after a siege of four months, and the inhabitants burnt themselves and their effects that they might not fall into his hands. It was afterwards rebuilt, and some remains of it are still to be seen, under the name Murviedro, a corruption of Muri Veteres. North-west of Saguntum was Segobrida, now Segorbe. West of the Edetani were the Celtiberi, mixture of Celts with antient Iberians, a great and powerful people in the remainder of Aragon and Valencia, who long resisted the Romans. Among them we may notice the city of Bilbilis, south-east of Numantia, the birthplace of the poet Martial. At the back of the Celtiberi were the Arevaci, having the Durius for their northern boundary, and below them were the Carpetani, in New Castile, occupying the centre of Spain. Their principal city was Toletum, now Toledo, and north-east of this, Complutum, now Alcala. West of Toletum was Libora, now Talavera, on the Tagus. South-east of the Carpetani were the Oretani, about La Mancha: east of whom, on the coast, were the Contestani, in the kingdom of Murcia. Their capital was the celebrated city of Carthago Nova, or Carthagena. The shore of this country was called the Spartarius Campus, from the quantity of rushes growing there. On the confines of Bætica were the Bastitani, in Jaen and Murcia. In Hispania Ulterior the province of Bætica was so called from the River Bætis, or Guadalquivir. It is now known by the name of Andalusia, a corruption of Vandalitia, from the Vandals, who, in the decline of the Roman Empire, were settled there. Along the southern shore were the Phœnician Bastuli, occupying part of the kingdom of Granada. * West of the Bastuli extending inland were the Turduli, and still west of them, the kindred nation of the Turdetani. Among the Bastuli was Malaca, now Malaga; and a little south-west of it Munda, celebrated for the victory of Scipio over the Carthaginians, B. C. 216, A. U. Cc. 538, and still more for that of Cæsar over the younger Pompey, March 17. B. C. 45, A. U. C. 709. At the Fretum Herculeum stood Calpe, or Gibraltar, celebrated as one of the pillars of Hercules; the other was at Abila, on the African coast. These pillars are said to have been erected by Hercules as the limits of the western world. Gibraltar is a corruption of Gibel Tarik, the mountain of Tarik, a Moorish general, who first led the Moors into Spain, A. D. 710. On the Atlantic side of the straits is Junonis Promontorium, the ever memorable Cape Trafalgar. Above it is Gades, slightly corrupted into Cadiz; and Tartessus, an island formed by the two mouths of the Bætis, antiently the Tartessus, one of which is now dried up. North-west of these were the Turdetani in Seville. Among them was Hispalis, now Seville; and not far from it, Italica, the birth-place of the Emperors Trajan and Adrian, and of Silius Italicus, the poet. Among the Turduli, was Corduba, now Cordova, the birth-place of both the Senecas and Lucan. In Lusitania, the principal nation was that of the Lusitani * Hence we may fully understand Horace, when he says Latius regnes avidum domando Gadibus jungas, et uterque Pœnus Alluding to the Carthaginians, or African Pœni, and the Bastuli Pœni, in whose country Gades was situated. between the Durius and Tagus; which latter river, though called the Tajo by the Portuguese, still retains its name in general use. Below the Durius was Conimbriga, now Coimbra, on the Munda, or Mondego; and considerably below it, on the Tagus, was Scalabis, afterwards called St. Irene, and now corrupted into Santarem. At the mouth of the Tagus was Olisippo, fabled to have been founded by Ulysses, the name of which is now corrupted into Lisbon. The Vettones occupied part of the provinces of Salamanca and Estremadura. On the frontier of the Lusitani is Lancia Oppidana now La Guarda, near the source of the Munda; and north-east of it Lancia Transcudana, or Lancia beyond the Cuda, now Ciudad Rodrigo. On the frontier of the Arevaci is Salmantica, now Salamanca. About the middle of Lusitania, on the Tagus, was Norba Cæsarea, now Alcantara. Below it, on the north bank of the Anas, is Emerita Augusta, now Merida. On the south part of Lusitania were the Celtici, in Alontejos; their principal town was Pax Julia, or Beja: and below them the extreme southern part of Lusitania was called Cuneus, or the wedge, now Algarve, or the western part; Garb, in Arabic, signifying west. Its extreme promontory was called the Sacrum Promontorium, now the memorable Cape St. Vincent. It was called Sacrum, because the antients believed this to be the place where the Sun plunged his chariot into the sea. * The Baleares Insulæ Major et Minor are now Majorca and Minorca. They were called by the Greeks Gymnesiæ. Their inhabitants were celebrated for their skill in slinging †, |