Iberian Celts from various sources:
Brief History:
The first to arrived in Spain were a people called the Iberians from North Africa. These people would mix with the Celts who were next to settle in the region as they migrated across Europe. Together, forming what would be considered the foundation of what would be the Spanish people. Attracted by the land's mineral wealth, the Phoenicians and then later Greek Merchants also set up a number of trade colonies along the coast. The Carthaginians as inheritors of the Phoenician Empire eventually conquered the Greek settlements in Spain to seize control of the entire Southern coast. However, the Romans saw the expansion as a threat to Rome itself. This would lead to the Second Punic War and the period of Roman influence over the Iberian Peninsula that would last for six centuries.
Though the Iberians were considered second-rate troops by both the Carthaginians and Romans, they may well have taken a lack of enthusiasm to die for their colonial masters as an indication of their true capabilities. Certainly the Iberian tribes put up a tremendous struggle against the Roman occupation for some 200 years following the overthrow of Carthaginian power in Spain.
Celts, living on the central mesetas in direct contact with the Iberians, adopted many Iberian cultural fashions, but they did not organize themselves into urban settlements until the 3rd century BC.
The Celt-Iberians were tribes of mixed Iberian and Celtic stock who inhabited an area in present north-central Spain from the 3rd century BC onward . These Celtiberians inhabited the hill country between the sources of the Tagus (Tajo) and Iberus (Ebro) rivers, including most of the modern province of Soria and much of the neighbouring provinces of Guadalajara and Teruel.
In historic times the Celtiberians were composed of the Arevaci, Belli, Titti, and Lusones. The earliest population of Celtiberia was that of the southeastern Almería culture of the Bronze Age, after which came Hallstatt invaders, who occupied the area shortly before 600 BC. The Hallstatt people were in turn subjugated by the Arevaci, who dominated the neighbouring Celtiberian tribes from the powerful strongholds at Okilis (modern Medinaceli) and Numantia. The Belli and the Titti were settled in the Jalón valley, the Sierra del Solorio separating them from the Lusones to the northeast.
The material culture of Celtiberia was strongly influenced by that of the Iberian people of the Ebro valley. Horse bits, daggers, and shield fittings attest the warlike nature of the Celtiberians, and one of their inventions, the two-edged Spanish sword, was later adopted by the Romans. To the west and north of Inland Spain developed a world that classical writers described as Celtic. Iron was known from 700 BC, and agricultural and herding economies were practiced by people who lived in small villages or, in the northwest, in fortified compounds called castros.
The warriors of Celt-Iberia enjoyed a reputation as the finest barbarian mercenary infantry in the western world. They were believed to possess the finest qualities of the Celts, savage battle lust and great physical courage, along with the steadiness and organization of the more civilized Iberians. Their reputation was such that after the rout of the Carthaginians by Scipio Africanus at the Burning of the Camps in 203, the arrival of a band of only 4,000 Celt-Iberians encouraged the Carthaginians to take the field once more.
The Celtiberians first submitted to the Romans in 195 BC, but they were not completely under Roman domination until 133 BC, when Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus destroyed Numantia. The Mediterranean way of life reached the interior only after the Romans conquered Numantia. Asturias was only pacified in 19 BC.
Weapons:
Espasa : In the third century BC, Rome fought against the Iberian Celts and their iron weapons, gaining so much respect for their adversaries’ short swords that they adopted the design as their own. The sword that eventually conquered most of the known world evolved from the Gladius Hispanicus – Spanish Sword.
Falcatas: A heavy machete-like short sword similar to a greek Kopis with a single edged forward sweeping curved blade 18-20" long.
Céltico: oval celt body shield.
Caetra: small round shield.
Soliferrum: Amongst other javelins and spears, the Iberians used a heavy javelin made completely of iron, capable of punching through shields and possibly adopted by the Romans in the form of the composite iron and wood pilum.
Appearance:
The Celts in the Carthaginian army wore traditional Celtic dress. The Iberians tended to wear white linen bordered in bright colours, and fought as everything from light infantry with javelins to a heavier form of infantry that used a very heavy javelin. The Iberians also had some of the very finest horsemen who used a thrusting spear and a small round shield, a light bronze helm, they wore the same basic colours as their countrymen who fought on foot. The Iberians used a rudimentary saddle made from padded hides and held in place by a broad cinch strap. They also used a heavy iron bit to control their horses.
Iberian troops who wore mail in most instances wore a tunic of soft leather under it, which was probably either kept in its natural colour or in some instances dyed with bright natural dyes in geometric patterns. The Iberian helmet usually had a tall conical shape with a very small crest socket at the very top center. The Iberians' heavier infantry also used the scutum, which they had adopted from the Celts.
On Cavalry:
Xenophon, considered by most as the founder of classical equitation, wrote of the Iberian horses that they had the ability to gather the hind legs under the fore, falling back on their hocks and raising the forehand, so that the belly can be seen from the front. This ability, which we now call collection, was impressive in that it allowed warhorses to be swift and agile and to stop and turn quickly in any direction. The Iberian horses and their riders undoubtedly gave Xenophon his first glimpse of classical riding. Iberian cavalry was one of the most important weapons of generals from Hannibal to Julius Caesar. The Iberian horse both shaped the way mounted warfare was conducted and was shaped by it. Its speed, agility and courage were unequaled and lent themselves to the mastery of mounted fighting. The Romans were so impressed by the Iberian Celts that after meeting them in battle they adopted both their weapons and fighting style and set up remount breeding stations for their legions in Baetica (modern Andalucia) to take advantage of the fine horses to be found there. There is also mention of mares brought from the Tagus valley region (Portugal) who were described by Pliny the Elder, a Roman cavalry officer and writer, as “fine, docile and impregnated by the west wind, (which) brought forth offspring of surprising fleetness.”
