Middle Roman Republic, Western Mediterranean (206-146 BC), Carthage: Third Celtiberian War (=2nd Numantine) War (143-133 BC)

In 143 BC the Lusitanian leader, Viriathus, had persuaded the Arevaci, Belli and Titti to break with Rome. As a response the consul ⁰³Caecilius Metellus (Citerior) was sent with a large army, but he found that many of the Arevaci had taken refuge in Termes (central-north) and Numantia. In 141 BC his replacement Quintus Pompeius (1) laid siege to Numantia, but his position became so desperate that he had to conclude a peace with the Numantines, which he afterwards denied.

In 139 BC Pompeius was succeeded by ⁰³Popillius Laenas and he made no headway against the city either. In 137 BC his replacement ⁰²Hostilius Mancinus established his camp north of Numantia, but after some unfavourable skirmishes he surrendered his entire army to the Numantines. ¹²Sempronius Gracchus, a quaestor in Spain thanks to his family’s popularity, got better terms for the captured Roman soldiers. However, the Senate rejected the treaty and in the next two years new commanders tried and failed to take the city.

In 134 BC the Senate finally gave in to public demand and reappointed ²⁸Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus to the consulship. Service in Spain was so unpopular that he had to use his own prestige to raise a force of volunteers to accompany him to Spain. In winter 134 BC he marched to Numantia with twenty thousand Italian troops and forty thousand Iberians. 

To preserve his force he decided to blockade the city and starve its citizens out. He quickly built two camps, and over the course of the siege he set up five more. Between the camps he built a wall, ultimately with seven towers interspersed along its length. Where a wall could not be built because of a swamp he built a dam to block up the water flow, creating a lake between his walls and Numantia.

In late summer 133 BC the Numantines surrendered. Those who had not perished by their own hand were sold as slaves, and the city was razed. What little resistance remained on the peninsular was scattered. Following this latest victory after almost a century of warfare, the resulting Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean area brought relative peace.