Such was their reputation that when a battered Roman army under Consul Gaius Hostilius Mancinus was besieging Numantia in 137 BC, the rumour of the approach of a large combined Cantabri-Vaccaei relief force was enough to cause the rout of 20,000 panic-stricken Roman legionaries, forcing Mancinus to surrender under humiliating peace terms.
Góntia, a Celtic moon goddess, considered a horse goddess by the Cantii, the Cantabri and the Ghent in Belgium.