Numancia

9th International Classic Theater Festival of Alicante

After more than fifteen years of fruitless struggle against the city of Numancia, the Roman Senate commands Hispania, about the year 130 a. de Cristo, to the victorious general Scipión, who had just defeated the Carthaginians and had been crowned as triumphant in Rome. Scipión had an imposing work of military engineering built so that no one could enter or leave Numancia, surrounding it with a deep and wide moat nine kilometers in perimeter with a set of military camps and watchtowers. He also razed the neighboring towns so that he could not get them any type of aid or food, which created a terrible situation since hunger became the fiercest enemy of the besieged. The Numantians tried to break the siege in a thousand ways, but everything was useless. Time passed and hunger continued to grow, which made them eat human flesh in their desperation. And the city, already without hope, was filling its streets with corpses, so they took the great final decision that changed the course of its history. The legend tells how the decision of a brave boy marked the destiny of Numancia, preventing Scipio from receiving the crown of triumph. And Fame achieved that the end of this story will forever be remembered.