Viriatus (also spelled
Viriathus; known as
Viriato in
Spanish and
Portuguese; died 139 BC) was the most important leader of the
Lusitanian people that resisted
Roman expansion into the regions of western
Hispania (as the Romans called it) or western
Iberia (as the Greeks called it), where the
Roman province of
Lusitania would be finally established after the conquest. This Roman province spread over areas comprising most of
Portugal (the northernmost part was included in
Gallaecia), all of
Extremadura and the province of
Salamanca. Its eastern frontier reached the proximities of Toletum, in central
Hispania. Current
Galicia was not included in the province, since it comprised most of the territory of another province, the aforementioned
Gallaecia, but like the Vettonian people in the South, the Galaic tribes living there were also related to them.