Astapa
- a town in Hispania Baetica, now Estepa, Liv. 28, 22 and 23; cf. Mann. Hisp. 309.
A´STAPA (Ἀσταπά: Eth. Ἀσταπαἰοι, Astapenses: Estepa, Ru.), an inland city of Hispania Baetica, in an open plain on the S. margin of the valley of the Baetis, celebrated for its fate in the Second Punic War. Its firm attachment to Carthage had made it so obnoxious to the Romans, that, though it was perfectly indefensible, its inhabitants resolved to hold out to the last, when besieged by Marcius, the lieutenant of Scipio, and destroyed themselves and their city by fire, rather than fall into his hands. (Appian, App. Hisp. 33; Liv. 28.22.) A coin is extant, bearing its name, the genuineness of which, however, is questionable. It was not, as Hardouin thought, the OSTIPPO of Pliny: its total destruction accounts for the absence of its name from the Itineraries and the pages of the geographers. (Morales, Ant. 6.28; Florez, vol. 3. p. 16; Sestini, p. 33; Eckhel, vol. 1. p. 15; Ukert, 1.2, p. 360.)
[P.S]Situated between Osuna and Puente Genil and mentioned by Pliny (NH 3.12). The modern town surrounds the hill on which Astapa must have stood; but excavation has produced no traces. Livy (28.22; 28.23.5) and Appian (Iber. 33) recount the capture of Astapa by Marcius while Scipio retired to Carthago Nova after taking Castulo and Iliturgi in 206 B.C. Famous for its defense by its inhabitants who, after firing the town and consigning its valuables to the flames, slew their wives and children and one another. Rome gained nothing by its capture. Livy writes of it “ingenia incolarum latrocinio laeta.” Its final fate reminds us of Numantia.
BIBLIOGRAPHYCIL II, 1435-66; Fontes Hispaniae Antiquae III, 148ff.
J. ARCE