Spanish

There is some confusion over the precise identity of the Spanish troops that fought in the Punic Wars. The original inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula were the Iberians, a Caucasoid people who were famed as warriors, and who served as mercenaries in many parts of the Mediterranean world. They served as mercenaries in the Carthaginian armies from at least 342BC.

By the 3rd Century BC the Celts, (who had invaded from the North) and Iberians had merged to form a distinctive new people in the north east and central plateau of the peninsula, known as the Celt-Iberians.

The Celt-Iberians fought for the Carthaginians and by the time of the 2nd Punic War it is thought that both soldiers were similar in appearance and equipment.