Iberians as Enemies FERNANDO QUESADA SANZ The Iron Age cultures of the Iberian Peninsula reached different stages of development but shared a basically limited, seasonal, predatory concept of warfare. The Iberians to the south and east (the Mediterranean seaboard) came into earlier and closer contact with Phoenician, Punic, and Greek colonists and merchants, while the peoples further inland (Celtiberians, Lusitani, etc.) were in frequent contact with both Mediterranean and Celtic influences. Northern peoples (Astures, Cantabri, Vascones) had less-developed military institutions. The size and composition of armies, tactics, and weaponry during the Roman conquest (c.218 - c.19 BCE) varied greatly depending on the traditions of the different cultures. Iberians and Celtiberians could field large armies and routinely offered pitched battle; Lusitanians and northern peoples relied more on irregular tactics. The Spaniards' allegedly typical "guerrilla warfare" was greatly exaggerated by 19th- and 20th-century scholarship. During the 5th century BCE, armies in Iberia consisted of a nucleus of heavily armed aristo- crats and their military followers, probably backed by a larger but archaeologically almost invisible number of lesser-armed light troops. Burials and iconography (Porcuna and Elche monuments) show elaborate defensive armor and heavy spears and swords, but no bows or slings. Evidence points to "champion warfare" in which skirmishing preceded more decisive single duels between well- armed warriors. This pattern seeins common both to the Mediterranean coast and the central plateau (Meseta). Traces of archaic institutions (devotio, single duel, military clientelae) were still in evidence during the Roman conquest centuries later (Strabo 3.4.18; App. Iber. 53; Livy 26.50).