Embajadas, rendiciones y tratados: los traslados de ligures apuanos y lusitanos (s. II a. C.)

Abstract

The Romans sometimes transferred foreign communities to ager publicus as a means to end conflicts. In this paper, two 2nd century BC cases are considered : the transfer of the Ligures Apuani from the Apennines to Samnium (180) and the transfer of the Lusitani from the Baetis valley to, possibly, an area near the Tagus estuary (138). Regardless of whether they are depicted by Graeco-Roman historians as either burdensome (Livy) or generous (Appian), both transfers are shown to be the result of an intricate diplomatic interaction between indigenous and Roman representatives, involving the sending of embassies, the act of unconditional surrender (deditio), and, last but not least, the making of a treaty that settles the integration of these communities into the imperium populi Romani.