Today we will discover a singular character of our old Hispania. But, to better understand the origin and context of it, we will have to start with the most basic. Corocotta He was the best-known Cantabrian leader during the wars that pitted this indomitable people against Rome.
But, who were those feral barbarians who so frightened the indigenous peoples of the plains? The Cantabri inhabited present-day Cantabria and part of Burgos, Asturias and the Basque Country. They were elite mercenaries with Aníbal Barca , sullen people of the mountains and their misty lands are described by Cato the Elder in its Origins (195 BC) I will base myself on the definition made by the geographer Strabo of those people who caused so many headaches to Augusto :
[...] These feed, at two times of the year, on acorns, drying it, grinding it and making bread from the flour. They form barley drink; They have little wine, and what arrives they consume later in treats with their relatives. They use butter instead of oil. They dine seated, with seats arranged on the walls for this purpose. Age and dignity take the first places. While the drink is served, they dance to the sound of bagpipes and flutes.
They all dress in black with robes, of which they form a bed, throwing them on a pallet of grass. They have wax vessels like the Celts, and the women wear flowery or rose-colored clothes. Instead of money they exchange one thing for another, or cut something out of a sheet of silver. Those sentenced to death are thrown from a rock, and parricides are covered with stones outside their borders or their rivers.
Marriages are in the manner of the Greeks; and they bring the sick out to the public, like the Egyptians, in order to take advice from those who have healed from such an accident.
The rusticity and fierceness of their customs comes not only from wars, but from living apart from other people, and lacking communication, society and humanity are also lacking. Today something has been remedied by dealing with the Romans after Augustus subdued them; but those who have less communication are more inhuman, contributing to this the roughness of the mountains in which they live.
They wash themselves with urine that they leave to rot in the cisterns, and men and women clean their teeth with it. They resemble the Celts, those of Thracia and Scitia. The women till the fields, and when they give birth they put their husbands to bed and they serve them. It is also told, in proof of the Cantabrian dementia, that some, seeing themselves nailed to crosses by their enemies, sang happily, which indicates fierceness. From an herb similar to celery, they form a very active poison that kills without pain, and they have it on hand to use in any adversity, especially in case they fell into the hands of Romans […]
During the two civil wars, the lands of the Astures and Cantabria were left out of the main operations. They were barbarian lands, still outside the limits of the Republic, although it is known that groups of Cantabrian horsemen participated in the civil war enrolled in the Hispanic cohorts of Pompey's legates during the battle of Ilerda (49 BC)
Cantabrian Wars
We do not know the exact reason why Rome decided to intervene militarily in those cold and inhospitable lands. On the dates of the first Cantabrian confrontation, 26 BC, the new provincial distribution of Hispania took place, with the Ulterior and Citerior disappearing and Lusitania, Bética y Tarraconense being created. . Asturia came under the influence of Lusitania, while Cantabria was the jurisdiction of Tarraconense, a province managed by the new princeps Augusto . Personally, I think that the discovery of the gold mines of Las Médulas (León) in the midst of a hostile land and their consequent need for exploitation justified the mobilization of legions in the north of Hispania. In addition, the Cantabrian custom of looting its neighbors subjected to Rome every summer created the ideal pretext to open the doors of the temple of Janus and justify the campaign.
But let's go to our archenemy today:Corocotta . Everything around him is uncertain, Cantabrian national hero, scourge of Rome, indomitable rebel and leader of the masses. This is the idealistic image of him today in Cantabria. But there are big loopholes that give this extraordinary character the benefit of the doubt:
First thesis:Native Cantabrian leader, with a Celtic name . According to the 19th century German Hispanist Adoff Schulten – an authentic eminence in the Roman past of Hispania – Corocotta unified the various tribes that inhabited the Cantabrian lands (mainly Orgenomescos, Vadinians and Concans) and was the leader of the resistance from 26 to 19 BC. Rome put a price on his head, to be more exact 200,000 sesterces (to seek an equivalence that helps to understand his bulky amount, with a sesterce he dined and slept in a mansio). One day a disheveled barbarian appeared before Augustus with the intention of collecting the reward. The princeps looked at him sideways and asked him where the Cantabrian leader was, to which the subject replied something like “Here I am, I am Corocotta; now pay me what you owe me ”. Augustus Overwhelmed by such bravery, he let him go…and paid him his reward.
Second Thesis:North African Bandit . This new theory contradicts Schulten, raising certain doubts that would break the official version:
- Dion Cassius does not mention him in his chronicles of the Cantabrian Wars, but rather later, in a panegyric on the clemency of Augustus.
- In said text he mentions him as a bandit in Hispania, not as a Hispanic bandit; that simple detail indicates the foreign origin of the individual.
- It is true that Augustus spent most of the war in the praetorium of Tarraco; His health was not strong and his doctors advised him to rest; It is hard to imagine a Cantabrian leader crossing a Roman province in a state of war to collect a reward. In addition, Dion Casio does not speak in his chronicle of any consular camp or surrender by the Cantabrian, which Schulten affirms without any verifiable evidence.
- Obviously, appearing at his own expense before a magistrate in Rome claiming a reward is more like a bandit than an idealistic patriot. Not very logical behavior for a hero of indigenous resistance.
- Lastly, Corocotta is the Latinization of a Greek name that defines a well-known North African animal – Krokóttas, the jackal – a name that fits perfectly with the personality of a pirate or gangster of ancient times. There is a late period document found near Carthage in which a certain M. Grunio Corocotta appears; Our man may have originated from this African province.
Nothing is known of what happened to Corocotta after that encounter with the most powerful man of his time, Augustus. The war ended in 19 BC. and the last unredeemed Hispanics did not come out well; This is how Dion Casio relates the final result of the Cantabrian wars:
“Not many prisoners were taken from the Cantabrians; because when they despaired of their freedom they did not want to endure life any longer, but instead set fire to their walls, some cut their throats, others wanted to perish in the same flames, others ingested a poison by common consent, so that the largest and most bellicose part of they perished. The Astures, as soon as they were pushed back from a place they were besieging, and later defeated in battle, resisted no longer and submitted immediately»
For those who feel the call of Lug and want to know more about those legendary times, I strongly recommend that you read this summer “El Último Soldurio ” by Javier Lorenzo , a fabulous historical novel whose protagonist is this extraordinary man, bandit or hero, who was capable of harassing an entire Empire for more than seven years.
Eighth installment of “Archienemies de Roma “. Collaboration of Gabriel Castelló.