Ancient Portugal

This article covers the history of ancient Portugal, the period between Prehistoric Iberia and County of Portugal.

Pre-Roman people

Numerous

Pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula

inhabited the territory now known as Portugal.

Roman rule (3rd century BC – 4th century AD)

Conimbriga

.

The first Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula occurred in 219 BC. Within 200 years, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the

Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars

, were expelled from their coastal colonies.

The Roman conquest of what is now part of modern-day Portugal took several decades: it started from the south, where the Romans found friendly natives, the

Conii. It suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus

, wrested control of all of the Portuguese land. Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail — the Lusitanians kept conquering territory. The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed Viriathus's ambassador to kill his own leader. In 139 BC, Viriathus was assassinated, and the resistance was soon over.

Rome installed a colonial regime. During this period, Lusitania grew in prosperity and many of modern-day Portugal's cities and towns were founded. The complete Romanization of Portugal, intensified during the rule of

Beja. The city was named Pax Julia in honour of Julius Caesar and to celebrate peace in Lusitania. Augustus renamed it Pax Augusta, but the early name prevailed. In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Gallaecia, with capital in Bracara Augusta, today's Braga

.

Numerous Roman sites are scattered around present-day Portugal, some urban remains are quite large, like Conimbriga and Mirobriga. Several works of engineering, such as baths, temples, bridges, roads, circus, theatres and layman's homes are preserved throughout the country. Coins, some of which coined in Portuguese land, sarcophagus and ceramics are numerous. Contemporary historians include

Paulus Orosius (c. 375-418)^[1] and Hydatius (c. 400–469), bishop of Aquae Flaviae

, who reported on the final years of the Roman rule and arrival of the Germanic tribes.

Germanic kingdoms (5th–7th centuries)

In the early 5th century,

Bracara

in 584–585.

The Germanic tribe of the

northern Portugal and Galicia). The Buri settled in the region between the rivers Cávado and Homem, in the area known as thereafter as Terras de Boiro or Terras de Bouro (Lands of the Buri).^[2]

Other minor influences from this period include some 5th century vestiges of

Alenquer, Coimbra and even Lisbon.^[3]

References

^ David Rohrbacher, "Orosius," in The Historians of Late Antiquity (Routledge, 2002), pp. 135–137. Rohrbacher bases the date of birth on Augustine's description of Orosius as a "young priest" and a "son by age" in the period 414–418, which would place his age at 30 or younger.
^ Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese)
^ Milhazes, José. Os antepassados caucasianos dos portugueses Archived 2016-01-01 at the Wayback Machine - Rádio e Televisão de Portugal in Portuguese.

[1] David Rohrbacher, "Orosius," in The Historians of Late Antiquity (Routledge, 2002), pp. 135–137. Rohrbacher bases the date of birth on Augustine's description of Orosius as a "young priest" and a "son by age" in the period 414–418, which would place his age at 30 or younger.

[2] Domingos Maria da Silva, Os Búrios, Terras de Bouro, Câmara Municipal de Terras de Bouro, 2006. (in Portuguese)

[3] Milhazes, José. Os antepassados caucasianos dos portugueses Archived 2016-01-01 at the Wayback Machine - Rádio e Televisão de Portugal in Portuguese.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Pre-Roman people

Roman rule (3rd century BC – 4th century AD)

Germanic kingdoms (5th–7th centuries)

See also

References