Lusitanian War

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Roman conquest of Hispania
Second Punic War - First Celtiberian War – Third Punic War – Lusitanian War - Numantine War – Sertorian War – Cantabrian Wars

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The Lusitanian War, called the Purinos Polemos (meaning Fiery War),^[1] was a war of resistance fought between the advancing legions of the Roman Republic and the Lusitani tribes of Hispania Ulterior from 155 to 139 BC. The Lusitani revolted on two separate occasions (155 and again 146 BC) and were pacified. In 154, a long war in Hispania Citerior known as the Numantine War was begun by the Celtiberians. It lasted until 133.

In 194, war first broke out in between the Romans and the Lusitani. By 179, the Romans had mostly succeeded in pacifying the region and bringing it under their control. In 155, a major revolt was reignited. The praetor Servius Sulpicius Galba and the proconsul Lucius Licinius Lucullus arrived in 151 and began the process of subduing the local population. Galba betrayed the Lusitani leaders he had invited to peace talks and had them killed in 150, thus ending the first phase of the war.

In 146, the Lusitani found a new leader. This leader, named Viriathus, was to gain renown throughout the Roman world as a guerilla fighter. In the words of Theodor Mommsen, "It seemed as if, in that thoroughly prosaic age, one of the Homeric heroes had reappeared." In 145, the general Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus campaigned successfully against the Lusitani, but failed in his attempts to arrest Viriathus. In 143, Viriathus formed a league against Rome with several Celtic tribes. In 139, Viriathus was finally killed in his sleep by three of his companions (that had been sent as emissaries to the Romans), Audax, Ditalcus and Minurus, bribed by Marcus Popillius Laenas. The Roman general Servilius Cipianus had them executed, however, declaring "Rome does not pay traitors".