Indibilis and Mandonius
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Indibilis and Mandonius (fl. 3rd century BC) were chieftain
s of the Ilergetes
, an ancient Iberian
(pre-Roman) people of the Iberian Peninsula
. Polybius
speaks of the brothers as the most influential and powerful of the Spanish chieftains in that time period. Livy
calls one of the chieftains of the Ilergetes "Indibilis", while Polybius gives "Andobales" for the same person. They agree the brother chieftain is Mandonius.
in 218 BC when Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
fought them. Indibilis was defeated at this battle and became a prisoner, along with the Carthaginian general Hanno
. In 217 BC Indibilis had regained his freedom and with his younger brother Mandonius decided to harass neighboring Spanish tribes that were friendly and in alliance with Rome. This harassment was fended off by Calvus by counter measures which involved killing off some of Indibilis's tribesmen, taking some prisoners, and disarming the others. When Hasdrubal Barca
, who was in northwestern Spain, heard of this he came back to help out his Spanish allies south of the Ebro River. At this time the tide of war took a turn because of unexpected intelligence received by Calvus from the Celtiberians
. The Celtiberi were induced to collaborate with Calvus and invade New Carthage. On the way there their combined armies took three fortified towns and fought two successful battles with Hasdrubal and Indibilis with Mandonius. Calvus with the combined armies killed 15,000 of the enemy and took 4,000 prisoners.
This pretty well kept Indibilis and Mandonius and their remaining tribesmen out of the picture until 211 BC. At that time they gathered 7500 Suessetani and joined forces with Hasdrubal. Publius Cornelius Scipio
, father to Scipio Africanus
and younger brother of Calvus, decided to attack the Iberian chieftain brothers since they were moving across his line of retreat where he was camped. Scipio didn't want to be trapped and surrounded by Carthaginians. He marched at midnight to meet them and skirmished with them about daybreak. Scipio was speared with a lance and killed here at the Battle of Castulo, one of the battles of the Upper Baetis
. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, Scipio’s older brother was killed at the Battle of Llorca, the other battle in Upper Baetis, a few days later.
Even though the chieftains were generally pro-Carthaginian, for which they were rewarded by being given back their tribal territories after the death of the two Scipios in 211 BC, they soon changed their minds after the conduct of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal Gisco
. He demanded much money from them on his own whimsy and for his own benefit. He also required that the wife of Mandonius and the daughters of Indibilis be held at New Carthage in pledge for their fathers' fidelity. The hostages were part of the booty when Scipio Africanus
captured New Carthage in 209 BC. Africanus treated them with much dignity and returned them to their rightful places, which impressed the Spaniards. This added to Africanus's already excellent reputation of his personal character.
The two brothers soon abandoned the Carthaginians and sided with the Romans. In 209 BC they concluded a treaty of alliance with the Romans with most of the tribal territories of Spain, since basically they were their overall leader chieftans. They then collaborated in a campaign against Hasdrubal Gisco which ended in a victory at the Battle of Baecula
in 208 BC.
Because of the presence of the reputable Roman general Africanus, Indibilis and Mandonius with their influence over all the territories of Spain was in friendly association with the Romans. However on the rumor of the serious illness of Africanus and his possible death in 206 BC, they started a rebellion for the Romans to leave Spain. A mutiny at the military camp at the Sucro River
was started also because of this rumor which involved some 8,000 soldiers. Indibilis and Mandonius sided with them. Africanus became better and returned to good health and ultimately squelched the mutiny with the 35 main instigator ringleaders beheaded. He then went after the armies of Indibilis and Mandonius and slaugthered their army. Indibilis in person surrendered to Africanus asking for mercy. Indibilis and Mandonius were released to their territories with favorable terms. This special kindness on the part of Africanus did not however have the effect he was hoping for. The next year Africanus left Spain in the hands of his generals L. Lentulus and L. Manlius and returned to Rome for preparation on an attack on Carthage
. Since Africanus was now gone, the only general Indibilis and Mandonius were deathly afraid of, they aroused the Spanish territory tribes and assembled an army of 30,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 calvary and decided to rebel again. They soon realized their mistake. In a battle with the Romans the Spaniards were all but totally destroyed. Indibilis was killed in this battle and Mandonius escaped with the remnants of the army. He was soon given up by his own tribesmen and then killed by the Roman generals.
Indibilis and Mandonius (fl. 3rd century BC) were chieftain
Chieftain
Chieftain may refer to:The leader or head of a group:* a tribal chief or a village head.* a member of the 'House of chiefs'.* a captain, to which 'chieftain' is etymologically related.* Clan chief, the head of a Scottish clan....
s of the Ilergetes
Ilergetes
The Ilergetes were an ancient Iberian people of the Iberian peninsula who inhabited the area around present-day Lleida. They are believed to be of Iberian language.-External links:*...
, an ancient Iberian
Iberian
Iberian refers to Iberia, which has two basic meanings, the disused, of Caucasian Iberia , and the modern sense of someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Portugal and Spain...
(pre-Roman) people of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
. Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
speaks of the brothers as the most influential and powerful of the Spanish chieftains in that time period. Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
calls one of the chieftains of the Ilergetes "Indibilis", while Polybius gives "Andobales" for the same person. They agree the brother chieftain is Mandonius.
Biography
Indibilis fought against the Romans and sided with the Carthaginians at the Battle of CissaBattle of Cissa
The Battle of Cissa was part of the Second Punic War. It was fought in the fall of 218 BC south of the Greek town of Tarraco in north-eastern Iberia...
in 218 BC when Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus was a Roman general and statesman.His father was Lucius Cornelius Scipio, son of the patrician censor of 280, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus. His younger brother was Publius Cornelius Scipio, father of the most famous Scipio – Scipio Africanus...
fought them. Indibilis was defeated at this battle and became a prisoner, along with the Carthaginian general Hanno
Hanno, son of Bomilcar
Hanno, son of Bomilcar, was a Carthaginian officer in the Second Punic War, and nephew of Hannibal Barca, Carthages leading General as his mother was one of Hannibals three elder sisters. When Hannibal's army reached the Western bank of the Rhône River they began preparations to cross. A group of...
. In 217 BC Indibilis had regained his freedom and with his younger brother Mandonius decided to harass neighboring Spanish tribes that were friendly and in alliance with Rome. This harassment was fended off by Calvus by counter measures which involved killing off some of Indibilis's tribesmen, taking some prisoners, and disarming the others. When Hasdrubal Barca
Hasdrubal Barca
Hasdrubal was Hamilcar Barca's second son and a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War. He was a younger brother of the much more famous Hannibal.-Youth and Iberian leadership:...
, who was in northwestern Spain, heard of this he came back to help out his Spanish allies south of the Ebro River. At this time the tide of war took a turn because of unexpected intelligence received by Calvus from the Celtiberians
Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group used the Celtic Celtiberian language.Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain...
. The Celtiberi were induced to collaborate with Calvus and invade New Carthage. On the way there their combined armies took three fortified towns and fought two successful battles with Hasdrubal and Indibilis with Mandonius. Calvus with the combined armies killed 15,000 of the enemy and took 4,000 prisoners.
This pretty well kept Indibilis and Mandonius and their remaining tribesmen out of the picture until 211 BC. At that time they gathered 7500 Suessetani and joined forces with Hasdrubal. Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic.A member of the Corneliagens, Scipio served as consul in 218 BC, the first year of the Second Punic War, and sailed with an army from Pisa to Massilia , with the intention of arresting Hannibal's advance on Italy...
, father to Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
and younger brother of Calvus, decided to attack the Iberian chieftain brothers since they were moving across his line of retreat where he was camped. Scipio didn't want to be trapped and surrounded by Carthaginians. He marched at midnight to meet them and skirmished with them about daybreak. Scipio was speared with a lance and killed here at the Battle of Castulo, one of the battles of the Upper Baetis
Battle of the Upper Baetis
The Battle of the Upper Baetis was fought in 211 BC between a Carthaginian force led by Hasdrubal Barca and a Roman force led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and his brother Gnaeus. The immediate result was a Carthaginian victory in which both Roman brothers were killed...
. Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, Scipio’s older brother was killed at the Battle of Llorca, the other battle in Upper Baetis, a few days later.
Even though the chieftains were generally pro-Carthaginian, for which they were rewarded by being given back their tribal territories after the death of the two Scipios in 211 BC, they soon changed their minds after the conduct of the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal Gisco
Hasdrubal Gisco
Hasdrubal Gisco or Hasdrubal son of Gisco was a Carthaginian general who fought against Rome in Iberia and North Africa during the Second Punic War. He should not be confused with Hasdrubal Barca, the brother of Hannibal....
. He demanded much money from them on his own whimsy and for his own benefit. He also required that the wife of Mandonius and the daughters of Indibilis be held at New Carthage in pledge for their fathers' fidelity. The hostages were part of the booty when Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
captured New Carthage in 209 BC. Africanus treated them with much dignity and returned them to their rightful places, which impressed the Spaniards. This added to Africanus's already excellent reputation of his personal character.
The two brothers soon abandoned the Carthaginians and sided with the Romans. In 209 BC they concluded a treaty of alliance with the Romans with most of the tribal territories of Spain, since basically they were their overall leader chieftans. They then collaborated in a campaign against Hasdrubal Gisco which ended in a victory at the Battle of Baecula
Battle of Baecula
The Battle of Baecula was Scipio Africanus’s first major field battle after he had taken command of Roman interests in Iberia during the Second Punic War, in which he routed the Carthaginian army under the command of Hasdrubal Barca.-Prelude:...
in 208 BC.
Because of the presence of the reputable Roman general Africanus, Indibilis and Mandonius with their influence over all the territories of Spain was in friendly association with the Romans. However on the rumor of the serious illness of Africanus and his possible death in 206 BC, they started a rebellion for the Romans to leave Spain. A mutiny at the military camp at the Sucro River
Mutiny at Sucro
The Roman army's mutiny at Sucro, a no longer existing ancient fort in Spain, took place in early 206 BC, during the Roman conquest of Hispania in the Second Punic War against Carthage. The mutineers had several grievances, including not having received the pay due to them and being under-supplied...
was started also because of this rumor which involved some 8,000 soldiers. Indibilis and Mandonius sided with them. Africanus became better and returned to good health and ultimately squelched the mutiny with the 35 main instigator ringleaders beheaded. He then went after the armies of Indibilis and Mandonius and slaugthered their army. Indibilis in person surrendered to Africanus asking for mercy. Indibilis and Mandonius were released to their territories with favorable terms. This special kindness on the part of Africanus did not however have the effect he was hoping for. The next year Africanus left Spain in the hands of his generals L. Lentulus and L. Manlius and returned to Rome for preparation on an attack on Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. Since Africanus was now gone, the only general Indibilis and Mandonius were deathly afraid of, they aroused the Spanish territory tribes and assembled an army of 30,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 calvary and decided to rebel again. They soon realized their mistake. In a battle with the Romans the Spaniards were all but totally destroyed. Indibilis was killed in this battle and Mandonius escaped with the remnants of the army. He was soon given up by his own tribesmen and then killed by the Roman generals.
Primary Sources
- Appian, Roman History
- Cassius Dio, Roman History
- Livy, Ab urbe condita,
- Polybius, Histories,
Secondary Sources
- Acciaiuoli, Donato, Plutarch's Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans, Translated by Sir Thomas North, D. Nutt, 1896
- Ihne, Wilhelm, The history of Rome, Volume 2, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1871
- Liddell, Sir Basil Henry Hart A Greater than Napoleon: Scipio Africanus, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, 1971, ISBN 0819602698
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, The Works of Sir Walter Ralegh, Kt: The history of the world, 1829
- Smith , William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Volume 2; Boston, Mass; Little, Brown and Company (1870)
- Williams, Henry Smith, The Historians' History of the World, The Outlook company, 1904