Spanish History and Culture

Ancient History

17th February – 4th March

Elena Sol Jiménez
Ancient History of the Iberian Peninsula
Pre-roman Iberian Peninsula and the Roman Conquest
1. Geography and Chronology of the Ancient IP
2. Documentary resorces available
3. Roman Presence in the IP
The romanisation: the IP under the Roman Empire
1. Hispania in the High Roman Empire
2. Hispania in the Low Roman Empire
The end of Roman Hispania: the Barbarian invasions
1. Visigoths in Hispania
 Pre-roman Iberian Peninsula
and the Roman Conquest
1. Geography and Chronology of the Ancient IP
2. Documentary resorces available
3. Roman Presence in the IP
Chronology of the Ancient IP
History
Protohistory
Bronze Age/Iron Age Roman Crisis and fall of Western
Romanisation
Conquest Roman Empire
ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE IBERIAN PENINSULA

ROMAN REPUBLIC
ROMAN EMPIRE (27 BC – 476 AD)
(509- 1st cent. BC)

Foundation of Second Punic War Conquest Barbarian Invasions

Diocletian (284 AD)
Gades (1100 BC) (218 BC) (19 BC) (409 AD)
Geography of the IP
• Celtic population
• Migratory movements 600-300 BC
• “Iberians”, Mediterranean coast
• Ebro and Guadalquivir valleys
• Influences from Medit. cultures
(Phoenicians, Greeks, Etruscans…)

• Climate differences
• Linguistic differences
Documentary sources available
• Literary records:
• Polybius (c. 208 – c. 125 BC): Histories (264-146 BC)
• Strabo (63 BC – 24 AD): Geography (book 3)
• Titus Livius (64 CB – 17 AD) History of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita)

• Epigraphic records: inscriptions

• Numismatic records: coins
• Archaeological records: any kind of material remains not written
(roads, pottery, funerary objects, buildings…)
“Celtiberians”

“Iberians”
Origins of the place name Iberia/Hispania

Formerly the name of Iberia was given to the whole

country between the Rhone and the isthmus
formed by the two Galatic gulfs; whereas now they
make the Pyrenees its boundary, and call it
indifferently Iberia or Hispania; others have
restricted Iberia to the country on this side the
Ebro. (…) The Romans call the whole indifferently
Iberia and Hispania, but designate one portion of it
Ulterior, and the other Citerior. However, at
different periods they have divided it differently,
according to its political aspect at various times.

Strabo, Geography, 3.4.19

Origins of the place name Iberia/Hispania
Greek writers (6th-5th BC)
Ibera, Iberiké = “the land of the
river Ebro”
➝Iberians, Celtiberians
→ Iberian Peninsula
Phoenician navigators:
Ispan = “land of rabbits” or “far-
distant land”
→ Spain
Formerly the name of Iberia was given to the whole
country between the Rhone and the isthmus
formed by the two Galatic gulfs; whereas now they
make the Pyrenees its boundary, and call it
indifferently Iberia or Hispania; others have
restricted Iberia to the country on this side the
Ebro. (…) The Romans call the whole indifferently
Iberia and Hispania, but designate one portion of it
Ulterior, and the other Citerior. However, at
different periods they have divided it differently,
according to its political aspect at various times.
Strabo, Geography, 3.4.19
Pre-Roman cultures in the Iberian Peninsula
- Tribal organisation: each region was controlled by a tribe
- Dispersed population: no urbanised cities, except among the Iberians
- Local oligarchic government: - reduced warrior aristocracy
- hierarchic societies
- Agricultural and livestock economy: society entirely rural
- Polytheistic religions: worshiped a great many of local deities
- Situation of permanent hostility caused by the absence of a state structure and
the spread and diversity of the local powers
Greek and Phoenician Colonies and Trade (X-VI centuries BC)
Greek colonies in the Iberian Peninsula

• Tartessos Gades: first known Phoenician

settlement in the IP
• Celtiberians
8th century BCE
• Phoenician Gadir
• Greek Ampurias

Ampurias: first known Greek

settlement in the IP
575 BCE
Greek colonies in the Iberian Peninsula

• Origins: first Greek metropolis in present Greece and west coast of Turkey (VIII BC).
• Mediterranean colonisation: founding of commercial establishments along the
northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea (VII-VI century BC).
• Economy: similar to the Phoenician one;
• produced manufactures,
• trade with the native people to obtain natural resources
• Farming of the nearby lands.
• Colonies in Hispania: mainly Emporion and Rhode (north-east of Ib. Penin.) founded by
the Greek city of Massalia.
Phoenician influence in the Iberian Peninsula

Gadir: first known Phoenician

settlement in the IP
8th century BCE
Melkart Temple (Hercules)
Phoenician influence in the Iberian Peninsula

Gadir: first known Phoenician

settlement in the IP
8th century BCE
Melkart Temple (Hercules)
Phoenician influence in the Iberian Peninsula

• New kinds and techniques for cultivation: olive, cords, basketry, clothes
• Improvements in pottery: wheel-turned, Greek and Phoenicians motifs
• First examples of an urban organization: their urban system was imitated by the nearest
Iberian peoples, producing in consequence social changes
• Manufactured coins for commercial relationships
• New motifs and metal smithing techniques: sculpture, silver-smithing
• Some native centres grew; built walls around their cities, built palaces in the oriental
ways and also constructed funerary monuments quite remarkable.
• Introduction of writing to administrative and economic purposes
Tartessos:
Iberian culture influenced by
Phoenicians
1200 BCE – 500 BCE
Cancho Roano (Badajoz)

• Tartessian sanctuary
• Built during 5th Century BC → destroyed in
the beginning of 4th Century BC
• Divinity unknown
• Gold and tin trade with Phoenician and
Etruscans
Cancho Roano (Badajoz)

• Tartessian sanctuary
• Built during 5th Century BC → destroyed in
the beginning of 4th Century BC
• Divinity unknown
• Gold and tin trade with Phoenician and
Etruscans
Pre-Roman cultures in the Iberian Peninsula

Lead tablets
from Pico de los
Ajos (Valencia)
Pre-Roman cultures in the Iberian Peninsula

Toros de Guisando
Dama de Baza Dama de Elche (Ávila)
(Granada) (Alicante) 4th-1st cent. BC
4th cent. BC 5th-4th cent. BC
Pre-Roman cultures in the Iberian Peninsula

Pozo Moro Bicha de Balazote Estela de Barros

(Albacete) (Albacete) (Cantabria)
4th cent. BC 4th cent. BC 3rd cent. BC