Unknown | |
|---|---|
 Map of Iberian Peninsula after its occupation by Romans on the defeat of the Carthaginians, circa 200 BC. | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
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| Languages | |
| Iberian, Phoenician, Greek, Latin | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Bastuli, Bastetani, Oretani, Edetani, Ilercavones, Cessetani, Laietani, Lacetani, Indigetes, Ausetani, Sordones |
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The Contestani were an ancient Iberian people who lived in Hispania before and after the Roman conquest. They are mentioned by Greek and Roman writers of the Imperial era, namely Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Livy.
Modern scholars have debated whether the name "Contestani" was an indigenous term or an exonym created by the Romans. Enrique Llobregat, in his book Contestania Iberica, offers this summary of the issue:
We know nothing of the meaning of these geographical names that the Roman invader probably forged on indigenous gentiles. Recent research attempts to unravel the meaning of these terms, which often, as in the present case, have only very late literary documentation, at a time when the country was completely Romanized. ... but what is their significance? For the time being, it is unknown to us, ... There is only one way left open that allows us to identify these compartmentalizations in some way, ... a geographical analysis. ... In a word, to try to identify a homogeneous and reasonable territory that could serve as the basis for the concept of the ancient administrative division.
