Abstract

2150 years ago, the world experienced an incredible historical event. A smallvillage in the Hispania Plateau resisted for 20 years the most powerful army in the world.Seneca, Ovid, Appian, Polybius, Cicero, Cervantes, Goethe, Machado, Gerardo Diego,would all pay homage with gilt letters to this remarkable feat as a universal historicalsymbol, legend, and factual myth.

Numancia is the history of a people that wanted to die to defend, human freedom, dignity, honor, sacrifice, common efforts, unity, independence, nobility, and peace. Together with Rome that gifted the law, cities, citizenship, infrastructure, language and religion, with Greco-Roman and Christianculture, the history of Numancia ultimately establishes the origin of the history ofhuman rights and democracy.

Numancia is a hidden treasure; a multi-faceted historical diamond reflecting theuniversal paradigm of human liberty. The essential values that twenty-two centurieslater Numancia lent to us, moreover represent the universal paradigm of the liberty ofhumanity as the essence of our “best moral heritage” that, in and of itself, is the ultimatedefinition of culture. This now forms what we refer to as the “Fourth Pillar;” thecornerstone upon which we can construct a world of intelligent, sustainabledevelopment forever peruse the betterment of present and future generations.

Biography

AMALIO DE MARICHALAR Y SÁENZ DE TEJADA, Count of Ripalda (b. 1958, Pamplona, Spain) independently studied law, political science and sociology at the Complutense University, Madrid, and an MBA Agricultural Business, Instituto de Empresa, Madrid. His professional activities encompass sectors including innovations in the fields of insurance (founder of Armed Forces Peacekeeper insurance, Spain), international investment, foreign trade, real estate, and technology. He is Professor at the Society of International Studies (SEI, Madrid), Member of the Council of the European Environmental Foundation (Freiburg, Germany), and President of Soria 21 Forum for Sustainable Development. He organizes and participates in prestigious international conferences on Global Sustainable Development, Climate Change, and Corporate Social Responsibility including United Nations and World Bank initiatives. Marichalar proposes the understanding of culture and sustainability as the best moral inheritance of society, standing as the “fourth pillar” of development and the cornerstone upon which to support the healthy growth of present and future generations.