The fact that the Callaeci did not adopt writing until contact with the
Romans constrains the study of their earlier history. However, early allusions to the Callaeci are present in ancient Greek and Latin authors prior to the conquest, which allows the reconstruction of a few historical events of this people since the second century BC. The oldest known inscription referring to the Callaeci (reading
Ἔθνο[υς] Καλλαϊκῶ[ν], "people of the Callaeci") was found in 1981 in the
Sebasteion of Aphrodisias,
Turkey, where a triumphal monument to
Augustus mentions them among other fifteen nations allegedly conquered by this Roman emperor. Protected by their mountainous country and its isolation, the Gallaican tribes did not fell under
Carthaginian rule in the 3rd century BC, though a combined Callaeci-
Lusitani mercenary contingent led by a chieftain named
Viriathus (not the later
Viriathus that defended western
Hispania) is mentioned in
Hannibal's army during his march to Italy during the
Second Punic War, participating in the
battles of Lake Trasimene and
Cannae. On his epic poem
Punica,
Silius Italicus gives a short description of these mercenaries and their military tactics: The Callaeci came into direct contact with Rome relatively late, in the wake of the Roman punitive campaigns against their southern neighbours, the
Lusitani and the
Turduli Veteres. Regarded as hardy fighters, Callaeci warriors fought for the Lusitani during
Viriathus'
campaigns in the south, and in 138-136 BC they faced the first Roman incursion into their territory by consul
Decimus Junius Brutus, whose campaign reached as far as the river
Nimis (possibly the
Minho or Miño). After seizing the town of
Talabriga (Marnel,
Lamas do Vouga –
Águeda) from the Turduli Veteres, he crushed an allegedly 60,000-strong Callaeci relief army sent to support the Lusitani at a desperate and difficult battle near the
Durius river, in which 50,000 Gallaicans were slain, 6,000 were taken prisoner and only a few managed to escape, before withdrawing south. It remains unclear if the Callaeci participated actively in the
Sertorian Wars, although a fragment of
Sallust records the sertorian
legate Marcus Perperna Veiento capturing the town of Cale in around 74 BC. Later in 61-60 BC the
Propraetor of
Hispania Ulterior Julius Caesar forced upon them the recognition of Roman suzerainty after defeating the northern Callaeci in a combined sea-and-land battle at
Brigantium, but it remained mostly nominal until the outbreak of the
first Astur-Cantabrian War in 29 BC. Again, the involvement of the Callaeci in the latter conflict remains obscure, with
Paulus Orosius briefly mentioning that the Augustan
legates Gaius Antistius Vetus and
Gaius Firmius fought a difficult campaign to subdue the Callaeci tribes of the more remote forested and mountainous parts of Callaecia bordering the
Atlantic Ocean, defeating them only after a series of severe battles, though no exact details are given. After conquering Callaecia,
Augustus promptly used its territory – now part of his envisaged
Transduriana Province, whose organization was entrusted to
suffect consul Lucius Sestius Albanianus Quirinalis – as a springboard to his rear offensive against the
Astures.
Romanization In the later part of the 1st century BC military colonies were established at
Portus Cale (
Porto),
Bracara Augusta (
Braga),
Lucus Augusti (
Lugo) and
Asturica Augusta (
Astorga), with the pacified Callaeci tribes being integrated by Augustus into his new
Hispania Tarraconensis province. Later in the 3rd century AD, Emperor
Diocletian created an administrative division which included the
Conventus of Callaecia, Asturica and, perhaps, Cluniense into the new province of Callaecia (
Greek:
Kallaikia), with
Bracara Augusta as the new provincial capital. Callaecia during the Empire became a recruiting district of auxiliary troops (
auxilia) for the Roman Army and Gallaican auxiliary cavalry (
equitatae) and infantry (
peditatae) units (
Cohors II Lucensium,
Cohors III Lucensium,
Cohors I Bracaraugustanorum,
Cohors III Bracaraugustanorum,
Cohors III Callaecorum Bracaraugustanorum,
Cohors V Callaecorum Lucensium,
Cohors VI Braecarorum,
Cohors I Asturum et Callaecorum) distinguished themselves during Emperor
Claudius'
conquest of Britain in AD 43-60. The region remained one of the last redoubts of Celtic culture and language in the
Iberian Peninsula well into the Roman imperial period, at least until the spread of
Christianity and the
Germanic invasions of the late 4th/early 5th centuries AD, when it was conquered by the
Suevi and their
Hasdingi Vandals' allies. ==See also==