tribal confederation · Iberia

Lusones

400 BCE – 133 BCE (approx.)

A Celtiberian people of the upper Tagus and Jalón, among the first to fight Rome in the Celtiberian wars of the early 2nd century BCE.

Origins

The Lusones lived on the high plateau around the sources of the Tagus and the Jalón, between modern Guadalajara and Zaragoza. Appian and Strabo count them among the Celtiberians, and they emerged in the later Iron Age.

Rule and society

Little is known of their society beyond their hillfort settlements and herding economy on the cold uplands. They appear in Roman narratives mainly as a source of fighting men in the wars of the 2nd century BCE.

Decline and legacy

In 181 BCE they took part in the First Celtiberian War, which ended with the treaty of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 179 BCE. They were drawn into the later wars that ended with Numantia in 133 BCE and were then absorbed into Hispania Citerior.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Lusones. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lusones
MLA
“Lusones.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lusones. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Lusones.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lusones.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Lusones’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/lusones (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻