Unit 12: Pre-Roman and Roman Hispania

1. Pre-Roman Hispania

During the first millennium BC, a multitude of tribes settled on the Iberian Peninsula. Although many of them had little to do with each other, we have grouped them into cultures for our convenience when studying them. The main cultures are: the Iberians, who settled on the Mediterranean coast and pre-coastal. The Celts, who inhabited the north and west. The Celtiberians, in the center of the Peninsula, and the Tartessians, in the extreme southwest, where Huelva, Seville, Cádiz and part of Badajoz are located today.

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1.1 Peninsular peoples

1.1.1 Kingdom of Tartessos

It seems that between the 8th and 7th centuries BC it was a very rich kingdom, but we know very little about them. We do not know if they were a native population or a Phoenician colony that settled there.
We know that their economy depended on mining, and that they were great goldsmiths. They exchanged metals with the Greeks and Phoenicians, and these, in exchange, gave them pottery, perfumes and jewels and, supposedly, they taught them to write, but there are those who affirm that the Tartessos were the inventors of writing in the Iberian Peninsula. They have bequeathed to us goldsmith works such as the Carambolo Treasure, the Lebrija Candelabra or the Bronze Carriazo.

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1.1.2 Celts

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Although it has always been said that it is an Indo-European people (from Ukraine and southern Russia), today it is thought that a large part of the Celtic people were native to the Iberian Peninsula. Like the Iberians, the Celtic culture is made up of a multitude of peoples: Vettones, Lusitanians, Astures, Gallaeci, etc.
Celtic remains appear from before the first millennium, in the Iron Age. They did not have a written language, but they have bequeathed to us their circular houses (castros) or their sculptures of granite bulls or pigs (the so-called 'cultura de los verracos'), such as the famous Toros de Guisando.

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1.1.3 Iberians

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It seems that they appeared around the 7th century BC and their real origin is unknown. They settled on the Mediterranean coast and pre-coast and lived in rectangular houses in walled towns. Highly influenced by the Greeks who arrived in Hispania through the Mediterranean, their artistic creations remind us of them, such as the famous ladies (Elche, Baza, Cerro de los Santos). They also learned the use of writing and payment with coins from the Greeks .

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1.2 Colonizers

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1.2.1 Phoenicians

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​They arrived in the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century BC. Some theories hold that the kingdom of Tartessos was a Phoenician colony, while others say it was autochthonous.
They were excellent sailors and merchants, and they founded commercial colonies on the coast that would later become cities: Gadir (Cádiz), Malaca (Málaga), Sexi (Almuñécar) or Abdera (Adra). When the Phoenician civilization declined, the Carthaginians occupied its colonies.

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1.2.2 Greeks

They arrived in the 7th century BC and, like the Phoenicians, they were great sailors and merchants. In fact, they came attracted by the riches of Tartessos. They founded several colonies on the Mediterranean coast that later became cities, such as Emporion (Ampurias), Rhode (Rosas) or Hemeroskopeion (Denia). In addition, they called the entire region Iberia because it is located around the Iber (Ebro) river.

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1.2.3 Carthaginians

It was a Phoenician colony that became so rich from trade and conquests that it ended up separating from the Phoenician kingdom. In the 8th century BC they founded Ebussus (Ibiza) and remains of their culture have been found there, such as the famous Lady of Ibiza.
In the 3rd century BC, they settled in the Iberian Peninsula, conquering the ancient Greek and Phoenician colonies. They also founded Akra-Leuke (Alicante) and Qart-Hadasht (Cartagena). On the Iberian Peninsula, they clashed with their enemies, the Romans, which arrived to the Iberian Peninsula around 230 BC. In order not to go to war again (the First Punic War dates from 246 BC) they signed the Treaty of the Ebro in 226, which established the border between them on the river: To the north of the Ebro the Romans settled and to the south, the Carthaginians. However, there was an exception: the city of Sagunto (in the Carthaginian area) was a kind of Roman protectorate. The Carthaginians attacked Sagunto and Rome went to defend it. Thus began the Second Punic War (218-202 BC), in which the Romans definitively defeated the Carthaginian leader Hannibal Barca at Zama (Tunisia, 202 BC).