Battle of Vellica

The Battle of Vellica was a battle of the Cantabrian Wars fought in the year 25 BC by the emperor Augustus and his Roman legions against the Cantabri forces who resided in the area. The most generally accepted location for the battle is the area around Monte Cildá, Olleros de Pisuerga, Palencia.

Location of the Battle
Cildá was populated by the Cantabri people since the 1st century BC. Claudius Ptolemy (II,6,51) mentions Vellika first amongst the Cantabrian towns.

Certain authors such as Adolf Schulten, Miguel Ángel García Guinea, and Iglesias Gil have situated the battle and the town of Vellica as having been in the area of Monte Cildá. According to Joaquín González Echegaray, this city corresponded with the fortifications built on Monte Cildá (where there appeared an inscription that cites the clan of the Vellicum), and that had to have been taken by the Romans from the south, after the taking of Amaya but before Monte Bernorio.

It has likewise been inferred that Vellica and Bergida refer to the same city in different chronicles. Another widely accepted belief is that the city could be on the adjacent plain of Mave and that the hill fort was merely a complimentary defensive position.

The Battle
In the 1st Century BC, the Roman Empire began its definitive push into the territories contemporaneously dominated by the Cantabri and the Astures, commencing the so-called Cantabrian Wars. The Romans were led in person by the Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.

According to the chronicles of Florus and Orosius, a momentous battle occurred at the base of Vellica between the Romans, led by Caesar Augustus and the Cantabri that culminated in the taking of the city between 25-26 BC. It is likely that this chronicle refers to the lowground surrounding Mave which is where other historians place the battle. Unlike in previous confrontations, in this battle, the Cantabrians opined to face the Romans in open ground to give battle, possibly due to the lack of supplies necessary to defend the hill fort.

This battle was won decisively by the powerful Legio IV Macedonica, mustered in Segisama Iulia (Sasamón), as a prelude to the eventual assault on Castro de Monte Bernorio. It is also likely that the Legio IX Hispana also took place in the fighting given the size of the battle. A la conquista de la ciudad siguió su destrucción por parte de las fuerzas romanas.