Roman Republic · 155-133 BC

Hispania: Viriathus and Numantia resist Rome

Rome needed about 200 years to conquer the whole Iberian Peninsula. Students meet the Lusitanian leader Viriathus and the town of Numantia, and look at the conquest from the side of the conquered.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, 200 BC to 1 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Rome needed about 200 years to conquer the whole Iberian Peninsula. Students meet the Lusitanian leader Viriathus and the town of Numantia, and look at the conquest from the side of the conquered.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why Rome's conquest of Hispania took about 200 years.
  • Describe the resistance of Viriathus and of Numantia.
  • Compare a Roman and an Iberian view of the same war.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

200 BC

A divided peninsula

Open the map in 200 BC and look at the Iberian Peninsula. Which parts are Roman after the war with Hannibal? Which peoples live in the rest?

Open this view on the map
b

133 BC

Mountains and plateaus

Zoom in on the high plateau of central Hispania, where Numantia stood on a hill above the river Duero. Why might this land be hard for an army to conquer?

Open this view on the map
c

1 BC

Two hundred years

Drag the time slider from 200 BC to 1 BC and watch Roman rule spread over the peninsula. Why do you think the north and west took longest?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Viriathus was a shepherd who became a war leader. Why might a fighter who uses ambushes beat bigger armies?
  2. In 150 BC the Roman governor Galba killed or enslaved Lusitanians who had surrendered to him; Viriathus was one of the few who escaped. How might such acts make a war last longer?
  3. Numantia was a small town, yet it held out for years. What do you think kept its people fighting?
  4. Rome finally got rid of Viriathus by bribing men close to him. Is that a victory?
  5. Hispania later gave Rome the writer Seneca and the emperor Trajan. How did a conquered land become so Roman?
4

Game round

9 min

Play one round of Rule History as Hannibal Barca, whose family ruled much of Hispania before Rome. Discuss: Iberian peoples fought for Carthage, then against Rome. Were they choosing sides in someone else's war, or defending their own land?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.