Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sacred Precincts: A Tartessian Sanctuary in Ancient Spain
Archaeology Odyssey (via Web Archive) ^ | December 2003 | by Sebastián Celestino and Carolina López-Ruiz

Posted on 12/11/2004 9:20:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv

When the Phoenicians arrived on the Iberian peninsula, probably at the end of the ninth century B.C., they came into contact with an indigenous people called the Tartessians... The structure at Cancho Roano... was not a palace at all; it was simply a Tartessian sanctuary, which over time became influenced by Phoenician culture. Scholars have only recently begun to separate Tartessian history from myth. When the Greeks reached the Iberian peninsula a few centuries after the Phoenicians, they called the land Tartessos... According to the fifth-century B.C. historian Herodotus, Tartessian civilization was discovered accidentally by a Greek named Kolaios, who became extremely rich as a result of his trade with the Tartessians... From Herodotus, we also learn of a legendary Tartessian king named Arganthonius, who welcomed the Greek merchants with rich gifts. A number of other ancient works also make reference to Tartessos. One of them, Ora Maritima, a tantalizing Latin account of Phoenician travelers who explored the Atlantic coast up to Ireland and Britain, was written in the late fourth century A.D. by the Roman fabulist Avienus, who apparently based his text on a sixth-century B.C. Punic periplus... Exactly when the Phoenicians arrived remains in question. According to ancient sources, such as Strabo (c. 60 B.C.-21 A.D.) and Pliny (23-79 A.D.), they arrived in the late 12th century B.C. and laid the foundations of sites such as Cadiz (Gadir) and Utica. But archaeological excavations at these sites have not uncovered remains earlier than the eighth century B.C. [footnote: The same problem exists at Carthage: According to tradition, Carthage was founded in 814 B.C., but no Phoenician remains as early as this have been discovered.]

(Excerpt) Read more at web.archive.org ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; archaeology; celtiberians; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; herodotus; history; iberia; misnomer; oramaritima; phoenicia; phoenician; phoenicians; spain; tarshish; tartessian; tartessians; tartessos
Archaeology Odyssey had that article about the so-called Tartessians, who were nothing but Celtiberians, as is obvious from the art and architecture they left behind. This "Tartessian" sanctuary does not long predate the Phoenician influences at the site.

There's no evidence that a) Tartessos was the Phoenician term for Spain, or b) that Herodotus' tale refers to a town in Spain. In fact, the reference to the "marvellous walls" immediately brought those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade.

Not surprisingly, the surviving version of the Periplus of Hanno doesn't mention Tartessos.

Also not surprisingly, the authors of the above piece note that no remains or even traces of the supposed city have been found in places where they are believed to be, such as the Guadalquivir valley. Nor have any remains of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean earlier than the late 9th century BC ever been found.

Phoenician pottery of a later time has however been found in sites on the Atlantic coast of Africa (Mogador for example), and the Periplus of Hanno refers to gorillas and to an erupting Mount Cameroon.

In fact, the term we use for that animal -- which was rediscovered in the 19th century -- was taken from the Periplus of Hanno as it was recognized from the description.

FR Lexicon:Posting Guidelines:Excerpt, or Link only?:Ultimate Sidebar Management:Headlines
PDF to HTML translation:Translation page:Wayback Machine:My Links:FreeMail Me
Gods, Graves, Glyphs topic:and group:Books, Magazines, Movies, Music


1 posted on 12/11/2004 9:20:40 PM PST by SunkenCiv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: blam; FairOpinion; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SunkenCiv; 24Karet; 3AngelaD; 4ConservativeJustices; ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest
-- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

2 posted on 12/11/2004 9:28:47 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Google

3 posted on 12/11/2004 9:32:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

Bookmark for later.


4 posted on 12/11/2004 9:33:44 PM PST by wagglebee (Memo to sKerry: the only thing Bush F'ed up was your career)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

"Ancient civilizations" bump.


5 posted on 12/11/2004 9:35:27 PM PST by Ciexyz (I use the term Blue Cities, not Blue States. PA is red except for Philly, Pgh & Erie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

oops, a typo:

"In fact, the reference to the 'marvellous walls' immediately brought those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade."

s/b

"In fact, the reference to the 'marvellous walls' immediately brought to mind those (much later) New World walls made of stones, laid dry, with cracks that remain too tight to insert a blade."


6 posted on 12/11/2004 9:39:32 PM PST by SunkenCiv ("All I have seen teaches me trust the Creator for all I have not seen." -- Emerson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

That quote about blocks of stone laid so tightly in walls that you can't insert a knife blade evidently struck a chord. You hear present day archeologists say that from time to time at sites in Greece.


7 posted on 12/12/2004 2:47:57 AM PST by hershey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ciexyz

celtiber bump


8 posted on 12/13/2004 7:51:20 AM PST by Graymatter (Be all that you can be......Eat chocolate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Graymatter

Our history lays buried in the ground, we just have to dig it back out!


9 posted on 12/13/2004 10:25:55 AM PST by Ciexyz (I use the term Blue Cities, not Blue States. PA is red except for Philly, Pgh & Erie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

10 posted on 05/11/2007 5:38:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Time heals all wounds, particularly when they're not yours. Profile updated May 10, 2007.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

· Google · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology magazine · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo ·
· History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


11 posted on 08/30/2008 1:12:57 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile hasn't been updated since Friday, May 30, 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


12 posted on 04/22/2014 1:16:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 75thOVI; agrace; aimhigh; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aragorn; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; ...
Note: this topic was posted 12/12/2004.
One of *those* topics.

13 posted on 04/22/2014 1:21:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

When you read this stuff it becomes apparent that a whole lot of very basic things changed fundamentally in the first millennium BC —that set it off from the second third fourth and fifth millenniums.

That is the first millennium BC is the dawn of time/civilization as we know it.


14 posted on 04/22/2014 7:32:24 PM PDT by ckilmer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ckilmer

The navigation of the Mediterranean resumed and/or kicked up a notch, for one thing. In the western Med the Phoenicians and their buddies the Etruscans took over from the earlier Mycenaean Greeks, and were a few centuries later trying to cope with or accommodate classical Greek colonists, and then just a few hundred years later, with the Romans.

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ancientnavigation/index


15 posted on 04/22/2014 8:08:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

Periplus of Hanno
https://archive.org/details/periplushannoav00hanngoog

The Voyage of Hanno
http://www.metrum.org/mapping/hanno.htm

A Carthaginian Exploration of the West African Coast
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Hanno.html


16 posted on 04/22/2014 8:13:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson