ABSTRACT
Archaeological analyses of new provinces have also traditionally highlighted – and still do so today – a pattern of increased levels of urbanism and monumentality, the spread of Latin epigraphy and Roman law as a consequence of the integration into the Roman Empire. According to the German philologist, the archaeological remains clearly corresponded to the best description that has survived from Roman times of the manipular army structure, and how different ranks of soldiers were housed inside the camp. The interpretation turns the spotlight from the camps that laid siege to Numantia and the narrative of the ancient sources about the collective suicide and defeat of the Celtiberian settlement, to Renieblas, the real centre of Roman military operations. Since then the siege of Numantia and Renieblas has figured prominently in analyses of the Roman Republican army. The comparison of the size of Renieblas III with Numantia and the camps involved in the siege is remarkable by itself.
