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Phoenicians and Tartessos

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Jonna Herring
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« on: December 12, 2012, 12:16:26 am »

Greek and Phoenician Colonies in Iberia
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Greek and Phoenician Colonies in Iberia

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                A number of Ancient writers (Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny etc.) make reference to an ancient civilization at the western extreme of the Mediterranean known as Tartessos, Herodotus tells the legend of a Greek Sailor called Koliaos who blew off course and arrived in Tartessos to find a kingdom rich in silver and other metals. After being royally entertained for some months, his ship was loaded up with silver and he was sent home.
Detail of a Female Sarcophagus from Cadiz, Alabaster, 5th-4th Century BC
Phoenician Sarcophagus from Gades    

     Whilst there is little firm evidence of any formal kingdom of Tartessos, we do know that Iberia was a major source of silver for the Iron Age Near East. For this reason, Phoenician traders and colonists arrived in droves to ship back silver to the Assyrian Empire. The Phoenicians began to arrive around 1,000-900 BC, their first major colony was Gades (modern Cadiz). Centuries later, the Greeks arrived and set up their main colony at Emporiae (modern Ampurias) in 575 BC. A similar process of cultural diffusion took place in Iberia as in Sicily, the local Iberians began to adopt Greek and Phoenician artistic styles, most evident of this are a set of famous sculptures from South East Spain such as the Dama de Elche.

http://explorethemed.com/IberiaClass.asp?c=1
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« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2012, 12:18:24 am »



 A map of Tartessos, showing its sphere of influence, as well as Greek and Phoenician colonies in southern Spain.

Original illustration by Té y kriptonita with modifications by Jan van der Crabben. Uploaded by Jan van der Crabben, published on 26 April 2012 under the following license: GNU Free Documentation License. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
http://www.ancient.eu.com/image/177/
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« Reply #2 on: December 12, 2012, 12:18:58 am »



Detail of a Female Sarcophagus from Cadiz, Alabaster, 5th-4th Century BC
 
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« Reply #3 on: December 12, 2012, 12:19:38 am »

Phoenicia and Carthage
Phoenicia was a country in the area that is now known as Lebanon. From before 1000 BC, Phoenician traders gradually spread out over the Mediterranean, became the region's main traders, and established colonies in the Western Mediterranean. Phoenicia was not a single nation, it consisted of city states such as Byblos, Tyre and Sidon.

Apart from the major civilizations on the Mediterranean, such as Egypt and Greece, one major trading partner of the Phoenicians was Tartessos (also known as Tartessus and Tarshish), a wealthy trading nation in South Spain, on the Gualdaquivir. The Phoenician colony of Gades (the current city of Cadíz) was built to enable trade with this nation. Tartessus was important because it provided tin, which was important for the fabrication of bronze. The tin mainly came from England. Tartessos disappeared somewhere in the 6th century BC. It is believed that it was destroyed by the Phoenicians, possibly with the goal of securing the trade route to the British islands for themselves.

Of the great amount of Phoenician voyages, only one report is known to us. It is a description by Herodotus of a voyage around Africa, sent out by the Egyptian pharaoh Neco. It is assumed that the Phoenicians kept their sailing directions and such a well-guarded trade secret, which is the reason why we do not know more of their voyages.

During the seventh to fifth centuries BC, the Phoenician cities lost their independence, and were conquered by Assyria, and later by Persia and Alexander the Great. It was one of the former colonies in the Wester Mediterranean, Carthago (often called Carthage), which now became the most important Phoenician city, in time controlling much of the Western Mediterranean and having colonies out in the Atlantic.

Although the Carthaginians were secretive about their voyages just like the Phoenicians, we have the names of two of its great explorers, from the fifth century BC. A sailor called Himilco found the route to the Tin Islands (Cornwall), while Hanno, a Carthaginian king, set out to establish colonies on the Atlantic coast of Africa, and explored the coast possibly all the way to Cameroon. In the end, Carthago was destroyed in three wars (the so-called Punic Wars) with the Roman republic, to which it was the main contender for the control of the Mediterranean.

Related subjects
What came before:

    The first explorers

What followed:

    Greek explorers
    The Roman period

General links

    Salim George Khalaf: A Bequest Unearthed, Phoenicia and the Phoenicians - Phoenician Enterprising - Phoenician Ships, Navigation and Commerce
    The Mariners' Museum: Phoenicians
    George Rawlinson: History Of Phoenicia (19th century book)
    Herodotus: History - The Phoenicians and the cause of the Trojan war
    Patricia M. and Pierre M. BikalTimelines: A Phoenician Fable - discussion of the possible discovery by the Phoenicians or Carthaginians of the Azores.
    Lionel Casson: Setting the Stage for Columbus - the discovery of West Africa from the Phoenicians to the Portuguese

The explorers

Hanno (Carthago, dates unknown)
    ca. 480 BC: Establishes various colonies on the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Western Sahara, and follows the coast further, possibly upto Cameroon.
    Tim Spalding: Hanno's Periplus On the Web
    Jona Lendering: Hanno

Himilco (Carthage, dates unknown)
    5th century BC: Sails north from the Straits of Gibraltar and reaches England.
    Jona Lendering: Himilco

Necho II (also known as Necos, Egypt)
    ca. 600 BC: Sends out a Phoenician fleet which sails around Africa, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
    Herodotus: History
    Jona Lendering: The first circumnavigation of Africa

Sataspes (Carthage)
    See Greek Explorers


http://www.win.tue.nl/~engels/discovery/phoenicia.html
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« Reply #4 on: December 12, 2012, 12:20:14 am »

Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans in Southern Iberia
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Author: Professor Simon Keay 30 June 2011

Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans in Southern Iberia – by Professor Simon Keay

This cruise provides you with a unique opportunity to travel along one of the earliest and most important maritime routes in western Europe. You travel in the footsteps of sailors and merchants who traversed the seas between the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and Spain, through the Straits of Gibraltar into the heart of the Mediterranean at Livorno, throughout antiquity. Prior to the arrival of the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC, the west and south of the Iberian peninsula had been settled by different Late Bronze Age peoples, living in a myriad of fortified hilltop settlements. They were in the possession of prestige goods, and their societies were organized hierarchically around the control of precious resources and prestigious imports. While there were  significant regional differences between them, there were also important cultural similarities, as evidenced by their bronze artefacts, which show stylistic similarities with those from peoples further north along the Atlantic coast as well as from the Mediterranean. The most significant grouping of these peoples is known to archaeologists today as Tartessos, possibly to be identified with Biblical Tarshish. Tartessos was situated in south-western Spain between the 7th and 6th centuries BC. It probably had some kind of urban centre on the site of the modern port of Huelva, and the presence of its characteristic ceramics and inscribed warrior stelae point to associated settlements across much of southern Spain. The principal source of its wealth was the silver, and to a lesser extent copper, to be found in the Rio Tinto mines in the Sierra Morena. The peoples of Tartessos traded these with both the peoples of central Spain, and Phoenician communities that had settled along the southern coast of Spain.

 

Gadir (Cádiz), the earliest and westernmost Phoenician colony, was the major trading partner with Tartessos, although there were a number of other smaller Phoenician settlements along the coast of southern Spain, and possibly Portugal, with outliers along the Moroccan coast as well. The colony was probably established by c. the 8th century BC, and would have acted as the key centre for the exchange of Tartessian metals for a range of imported jewellery, metalwork and ivory objects that are found on sites throughout southern Spain down until the end of the 6th century BC. This was symptomatic of intense Phoenician influence in the development of communities in southern Spain, a phenomenon often referred to by archaeologists as “orientalization” and which was to have profound influences on the cultural development of the region well into the Roman period. It is also important to note that while there were no Greek colonies in this part of Iberia, the presence of Greek objects at sites in southern Spain suggests that Greek merchants may have mingled while those from Tartessos and the Phoenician colonies at a number of coastal sites in southern Spain, including Malaca (Málaga).
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« Reply #5 on: December 12, 2012, 12:20:36 am »

 Following the collapse of the loosely federated Phoenician trading network in the later 6th century BC, the communities of southern Spain gradually fell under the increasing economic power of Carthage. The broad cultural koiné of Tartessos had given way to a range of markedly hierarchical societies in south-west, south-east and eastern Iberia, and the Balearic islands, whose peoples came to be referred to loosely as “Iberians” by Greek and Latin writers in the course of the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. These peoples developed regional dynamics that drew differentially upon Carthaginian, or Punic, influence from the south, as well as Greek, or Hellenized, influences from the north and east, which were particularly evident in the layout of their towns. Punic cultural influence, however, is never particularly visible in archaeological terms, except at such exceptional sites as Villaricos (Almeria) and on the island of Ibiza (Ebussus).

 

However, centuries of earlier Phoenician influence ensured that the communities of southern Spain were quite receptive to it. It thus comes as no surprise to find how quickly the communities of southern Iberia succumbed to the new surge of Carthaginian imperialism ushered in after the end of the first war between Carthage and Rome (264-241 BC). Hamilcar Barca embarked a period of aggressive overseas expansion, whose first phase ended with the foundation of Carthago Nova (Cartagena) in 228 BC, a major strategic base with capacious harbour. This rapidly drew Carthage into conflict with Rome both in Iberia and in Italy during the second war between Carthage and Rome (218-205 BC) under the leadership of Hannibal. Recent excavations in Cartagena have revealed important evidence for the layout of the Carthaginian centre. Rome’s eventual victory was marked with the establishment of a settlement of wounded veteran soldiers at Italica  (Santiponce), just outside of modern Seville, in 206 BC, and was followed by the formal incorporation of Iberia into the Roman Empire in 197 BC. Southern Spain was initially designated as the province of Hispania Ulterior Baetica (literally Hispania further from Rome), with its main administrative centre at Corduba (Córdoba) and a scattering of other Roman settlements, including Carteia (El Rinconcillo), near Algeciras.

 

However Gadir, or Gades (Cádiz) as it came to be called, Carthago-Nova and many of the other earlier towns also retained administrative roles in the new provincial framework, often recalling aspects of their diverse cultural origins on their coinages. The very rich silver resources in the hinterland of Carthago-Nova, made this Carthaginian foundation a focus of particular interest to Rome, and the source of much of the silver used in the Denarius coinage of the later Roman Republic. It is probably for this reason, and its relative proximity to Rome by sea, that this town may have acted as chief administrative centre of the province of Hispania Citerior Tarraconensis (literally Hispania closer to Rome), down until some time afrer the reign of Augustus, after whose reign it was displaced by the growing importance of Tarraco (Tarragona).
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« Reply #6 on: December 12, 2012, 12:21:05 am »

There is very little doubt that southern Spain was of major economic importance to the Roman empire, with the ports of Hispalis, Gades, Malaca and Carthago Nova acting as key conduits in the movement of a range of commodities to the ports of Rome and other parts of the western Mediterranean, and for a rich range of return cargoes. Hispalis was the principal conduit for olive oil from estates in the Guadalquivir and Genil valleys, as well as gold mined in north-west Spain, also bound for Rome. Gades, by contrast, was a major centre for the production and export of a range of fish sauces produced in the hinterland of the port, and along the Moroccan coast, while Malaca was a centre for the export of locally quarried stone destined for other parts of southern Spain. This trade between southern Spain, Rome and the western Mediterranean was very intense, particularly for the period between the later 1st century BC and the middle of the 3rd century AD. It generated substantial fortunes for regional landowners, merchants and shippers,and goes at least some way towards explaining a growth in the power of Senators from Baetica at Rome in the later 1st century AD, and the rise to power of the “Spanish” emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.

http://www.swanhellenic.com/library/phoenicians-carthaginians-and-romans-in-southern-iberia-13715.html
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« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2012, 12:21:54 am »

TARTESSOS
 

Tesoro de la Aliseda
Treasure of the Alisedas
Tartessian civilization was the most outstanding unknown in Iberian Peninsular history. It was developped from year 1.200 b.C. to 6th Century b.C. and scholars only know with surety about a monarch: king Argantonio. First written allusions are from Phoenicians and Greeks who named "Tartessos" a city or a river -probably river Betis, nowadays Guadalquivir.
 
Theories about existence of this culture are different and uncertain: maybe a natural evolution of native tribes, maybe an indoeuropean people, maybe a single colonial invasion.
 
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« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2012, 12:22:29 am »

To tell the truth, archaeological remains are important enough to set without mistake the location and development of this culture in Peninsule. It was extended from Huelva area until low Guadalquivir, with inner points in Badajoz and Portugal.
 
All these remains have been spoiled or, in many cases, used again by later cultures, specially by Turdetanians: the Iberians who lived by the same area.



 
Muro de Cabezo de San Pedro
Wall of Cabezo de San Pedro

 
1º.- Geometric period (1200 to 750 b.C.)
 
There are few architectural remains. Constructions of villages by their first inhabitants, in the age of Bronze, share features common to other cultures: they are made in elevated and strategic points. Its location is marked by the distance to trade centers. Nevertheless, walls were built later, ca. 8th Century b.C. and they are all formed by two worked stone walls stuffed with debris and sand. Some of them are endowed with watchtowers.
 
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« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2012, 12:22:49 am »


    Wall of Cabezo de San Pedro, in Huelva. The wall of Cabezo de San Pedro was built with slate stones, hardly worked. It had the shape of a slope and was supported by a pillar made of stones, built with the tecnique of rope and stain -some of them are perpendicular to the most part- as if they were bricks. It was made ca. 8th Century b.C.
     
    Wall of Carmona, in Seville.


Constructions in villages were single and got no urban design. Houses usually had a circular plan with stone plinths, walls of mortar, stone, adobe and wooden-and-trash covers.
 
This is also the age of Stellae, burial buldings or boundary stones with information about the land on carved stones. They are rectangular. Engravings usually appear on the top of them and are of varied subjects: shields, swords, carts, wheels, even human figures.
 
Later, this kind of habitation evolutioned to houses of rectangular plan with Phoenician features with an urbanistic design. Building houses remains the same: stone plinths, walls of adobe and wooden-and-trash covers. Also walls changed and counterforts did appear.

    Deposit of Tejada la Vieja in Escacena, Huelva. BASIC INFORMATION


2º.- Oriental period (750-550 b.C.)
 
Singular buildings were constructed: palaces, temples, trade centers...

    Sanctuary of Cancho Roano in Zalamea de la Serena, Badajoz. Very outstanding deposit.BASIC INFORMATION
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« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2012, 12:23:30 am »

Ca.7th Century b.C. necropolis did appear.
 
First ones were single burials of ashes with household furnishings marked by a tumulus. Necropolis of "Alcantarilla" and "Cruz del Negro" in Carmona can be pointed out.
 
Later, funeral chambers with a rectangular plan and masonry construction, also covered by a tumulus. Chamber of la "Setecilla" is a good instance.
 
Lastly, divided tombs and walls of ashlar, as "La Joya", in Huelva.



 
Tesoro del Carambolo
Treasure of the Carambolo
Pottery is one of the sources that let us learn more about this age of Tartessos. Deposits offered two ways of technique: polished pottery -bowls and dishes- and painted pottery of jars and tumblers.
 
Tartessians can be identified because of their crafts of pottery and orfebrery, from 750 to 550 b.C., in Iron Age. They evolutioned as they found a new technique based in Phoenician and Greeks ideas. Treasures of the Carambolo and the Aliseda are outstanding.
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« Reply #11 on: December 12, 2012, 12:23:55 am »

From an architectural point of view, necropolis were a symbol of social level for lower and upper classes. They showed their difference through the kind of household furnishings kept in each necropolis.
 
Tartessian epigraphy is probably the first one in Peninsula. Scholars think it was influenced by Phoenician civilization.
 
Fall of this culture was probably due to a crisis in Phoenician trade. Phoenicans were, since year 550 b.C., their most important customers since they were interested in buying metals. Then Tartessians began to trade with Greeks, but presence and conquests of Carthaginians made navigations through Mediterranean sea difficult and so commerce in it.


http://www.spanisharts.com/arquitectura/i_protohistoria_tarteso.html
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« Reply #12 on: December 12, 2012, 12:24:40 am »

Tartessos
"Tartessos" is the name given by the Greeks to the first Western civilization they knew, which was inhabiting the southwest of Spain. It was the first organized state of the Iberian Peninsula and was highly developed politically and culturally by the end of the second millennium before Christ.

The kingdom of Tartessos was the first one in Spain which had relations with the historical eastern Mediterranean civilizations, like Greeks and Phoenicians, and had with them important commercial relations. Therefore, and for their wealth in minerals, the Tartessos reached great importance. The country of the Tartessos is mentioned in many historical sources as a rich and splendorous kingdom.
Location and historical period
The kingdom of Tartessos was located in a region crossed by the river "Tartessos". This river was later called "Betis" by the Romans and "Guadalquivir" by the Moors.

Roman authors describe the region:

"Tartessos is a river in the land of the Iberians. It reaches the sea by two mouths and between these two mouths lays a city with the same name (Tartessos). The river is the longest in Iberia, has tides, and now is called Baetis".

That means; with the name Tartessos the Greek and Roman authors identified a river, a kingdom and the capital of this kingdom, located at the mouth of that river. Further details about the location of this capital we find here:

Ephorus (Escimno, 162) writes that the capital Tartessos was two days of travel (1000 stadiums) from the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar). From Gibraltar to the present mouth of the Guadalquivir there are 900 stadiums.

Despite many detailed descriptions, the capital of Tartessos has not yet been found as the geography of the area has changed during those last 3000 years:
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« Reply #13 on: December 12, 2012, 12:24:56 am »

The eastern mouth of the river is the only one that now exists. It is located in the province of Cadiz, and was much wider historically.

The western mouth does not exist anymore, but it is considered that it was located between the current towns Matalascañas and Huelva. In this area today we only find a number of lakes.

Historically, between these two river arms there was a large lagoon, and in this lagoon there was at least one island where the legendary city probably was located.

Neither this lagoon nor any islands exist today, all this is an area of marshes which form a part of the Doñana National Park along the Costa de la Luz. Investigations in Doñana lead to the conclusion that there have been two natural disasters (tsunamis) that caused the islands and dry areas to sink, one of which happened around 1500 BC and the other 200 AC.

Tartessos was a highly urbanized society with many towns along the banks of the river Guadalquivir. Some Tartessian cities which are known today include: Huelva, Escacena del Campo (in the province of Huelva) where the most important findings of this civilization have been made; "Turtha" (today Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz); Seville; "Urso" (today Osuna in Seville) and Etibirge (today Elvira in Granada).

Based on excavations, Tartessian culture has been divided into two periods: The first one is called "geometric" and coincides with the late Bronze Age and ranges from 1200 to 750 BC. The second one is called "oriental" and ranges from 750-550 BC. By this time the Tartessian culture received oriental influences due to contacts with Phoenicians and Greeks.
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« Reply #14 on: December 12, 2012, 12:25:13 am »

Economy and Commerce
The economic and cultural development of this civilization was possible due to its richness in natural resources (agriculture, livestock, fishing and mining) and its business relationships with Mediterranean civilizations in Europe and Africa.

Tartessos most important resources were metals, especially gold, silver, tin and bronze which were already mined around 1000 years BC. In fact, Tartessos was the main supplier of bronze and silver in the Mediterranean area.

The Phoenicians were the most important trading partners. Already during the 8th century BC, they established trading ports along the coast, within the territory of Tartessos. These commercial centers were Gadir (Cadiz), Abdera (Adra, Almeria) and Sexi (Almuñecar in the province of Granada). These trade relations were very important to them, especially when the Sinai mines fell into disuse. Greeks also maintained trade relations with Tartessos and founded towns on the Iberian peninsula.

Concerning Tartessos wealth we find many historical citations:

Ephorus, Aristophanes and Strabo mention Tartessos as land which is rich in sea and terrestrial resources and as a trade centre for silver and metals.

Strabo wrote that Tartessians were very good in engineering, and that they had a sophisticated system to regulate the river flow. He also ensures that around the river there were many wealthy and flourishing cities.

Herodot wrote in the 5th century BC that Tartessos was a great emporium of wealth beyond the Pillars of Hercules (todays Gibraltar).
Government and Culture
Tartessos political system was a monarchy with a central capital from where they controlled the entire territory.
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