The term“Roman Hispania” is almost a pleonasm, given that it was the Romans themselves who gave the Iberian Peninsula this name. Let that not prevent us, however, from spending a few minutes on the subject. After all, a bit of history can’t hurt before your next teen language trip to Spain with LEC!
Hispania Romana, or Roman Rule
Roman Hispania, which we will refer to as Hispania Romana during his upcoming high school language trip to Spain, is the term used to refer to all the territories controlled on the Iberian Peninsula (or Península Ibérica) by the Roman Republic, and later by the Roman Empire, from around the 2nd century B.C. until the 5th century A.D.
Rome at War with Carthage
If the Romans decided to invade the Iberian Peninsula—which, viewed from across the Mediterranean Sea, seemed very far away—it was primarily to drive out the Carthaginians during the Second Punic War, a conflict that saw the famous Scipio Africanus andHannibal Barca face off against each other.
A struggle for total control of the Iberian Peninsula begins
This marked the beginning of a struggle for total control of the Iberian Peninsula that lasted nearly two centuries for the Romans. In the end, the Romans emerged victorious, at the expense of the Cantabrians and Asturians, whose legacy lives on today in Cantabria and Asturias—two autonomous communities you might visit during a future teen language study trip to Spain.
Names inextricably linked to Roman Hispania
From its birth to its demise, Roman Hispania saw the rise of figures who have since gone down in history. Take, for example, Trajan, the first emperor to hail from the Iberian Peninsula, as well as Hadrian, famous for the wall bearing his name that he had built in Britain. Roman Hispania was also the birthplace of renowned philosophers, such as Seneca, an advisor to the imperial court under Caligula and tutor to Nero.