Description
Like many warriors, Iberian tribesmen were stubborn beyond all reason in defence of their gods, homes, lands and honour. Even when cornered, surrounded and beyond all hope, defeat was not an idea that could be entertained for a moment. In fact, rather than accept the shame of defeat they were known to kill themselves. Possibly they also hoped to deny the enemy the glory of having killed them. Some warriors went into battle carrying vials of quick-acting poison, carefully extracted from a variety of buttercup. All Strabo, the Greek historian described the poison as “…a herb that is nearly like parsley and painless…”, he was not being terribly accurate. Like all poisons, it hurt, and it caused the user’s face to contort into a horrid, sardonic grin before death came. This morbid, mocking expression unnerved enemies, even Romans, who were convinced that the smiling corpses were mocking their foes from the afterlife.
