The Phoeniciansand Tartessos¡

Ju.B. TsIRKIN

Oneof themajorfactorsdeterminingthe life anddevelopmentof Spainprior to the Romaninvasionwas the Phoenicianpresenceon the IberianPeninsula.In the courseof the eighth to sixth centuriesB.C., that ist,during the yearswhenmost of Phoeniciansettlementsappearedin SouthSpaintherewas theTartessianPowerin thisregion.ThePhoeniciansmain-tainedfairly closeties with the Tartessians,becauseboth the partiescon-cernedneededeach other, were interestedin each other: the former gotfrom the Tartessiansthe necessaryproductswhich later they more oftenthannot exportedfurther to the East.With the aid of the PhoenicianstheTartessiansobtainedan accessto the practically inexhaustibleOrientalmarket that guarantedthe Tartessianaristocracyfabulousprofits, to judgeby the gorgeoustreasure-trovesfrom this region 2, This interdependenceandmutualattractionresultedin their mutuallyadvantageousco-existence.

An exampleof the co-existence,in our opinion, is the settlementofCastillo de DoñaBlancasituatedon the othersideof the GaditaniancoveoppositeGades.The settlementmusthaveappearedin the ninth centuryB.C. and reachedits hey-dayin the next century~. Evidently it was the

Transíatedfrom tlie Russianby L. Chistonogova2 J.M. BLÁZQUEZ, Tar¡essos, Salamanca,1975, p. 115-143,272-283;R. MÉLIDA, «El

tesorode Aliseda»,Boletín de la Sociedad Española de E.rcu,-siones, 28,1921,p. 110-123; E. KUKAHN, A. BLANCO, «El tesorode «El Caramboío»a>,AEArq, 32, 1959,p. 38-49; C. BLANcO DE TORRECILLAS, «El tesorodecortijo de Evora»,AEArq. 32, 1959,p. 50-57; M.E. AUBET, «Zur Problematikder orientalisierendenHorizontesauf derIberischenHalbinsel», in Phonisier in Westen, Mainz, ¡982, p. 32 1-324.

‘~ D. RUIZ MATA y CJ. PÉREZ,El pobladofenicio de Castillo de Doña Blanca, Puertode SantaMaría, 1985, Pp.51-2; 5. MoscAn, Ti-a Tiro e Cadice, Roma, 1989, pp. 13-15.

Gerián, o.0 15, 1997,Serviciode Publicaciones,UniversidadComplutense.Madrid.

244 fu. B. Tsirkin

terminalstopof the traderoute startingin the UpperRiotinto, going viaSanBartoloméde Almonte andTejadala Vieja to Gades‘k D. Ruiz Mata,who excavatedthis settlement,hasrecently put forward an ideathaI itwasactuallya Phoeniciancolony~, but most likely it wasonly aPhoeni-cian quarterwithin the nativecity 6, verymuch like «theTyrian camp»inMemphis(Her 11,112).The Phoeniciansthemselveswereratherwaryofforeigners.Arrianus (Anab 11,16,7) and Curtius Rufus (IV,2,4) narratethat the Tyriansrefusedpointblank to let Alexanderin to the city, whenhe intendedto makesacrificiesin thetempleof Herakles,thatis, Melqart.Of course,the refusalwas largely promptedby political reasons,but reli-gious considerationsshould not be excludedeither. Avienus (Or mor356-369)quotingEuktemon,statesthat it was regardedas impiety for aforeignerto stay long in the sanctuaryof Hercules,that is, of the selfsa-me Melqart. The principal templeof Melqart in Spain was that in Gadesandit playeda rathersignificantrole in both religiousandeconomiclifeof the Phoenicians7. Consequentlyit maybe assumedthata foreignstaywas limited not onty in the temple, but also in the city itself. However,commercedemandedconstantcontacts.Hence, it seems,the importanceof Castillo de DoñaBlancasituatedin closevicinity to Gades.

The Phoenicians’influenceled to the emergenceof the TartessianOrientalizing civilisation. The profundity andvariety of this influencecannotpossiblybe explainedby exclusivelytheir brisk trade.We deemitobviousthat the Phoenicianscultivatedfar morecloseandintimate linkswith theTartessians.It doesnot at ah seemimprobablethat somepart ofthe Oriental new-comerscould havesettled directly amongthe Tartes-sians in the nativeneighbourhood,particularly in the Baetisvalley in theCruz de Negro area~. Such Phoenicianenclavescould have existedinotherregionsof Tartessis,too %

Onthis route andthesettlementsalongit seeJ.M. BLÁZQUEZ, «Panoramahistóricode la culturatartésicadesdefinalesde la edaddel bronce,s.vti¡ a.C.,hastalos orígenesde la culturatartésica»,RSE, 19.1,1991,p. 4-48;C. GARCfA SANZ, 1’. RUFETE TOMICO, Laciudad de Tejada la Vieja, Huelva, 1995; M.E AUBET, Tiro y las colonias fenicias deOccidente, Barcelona,1994,p. 244; E.G. WAGNER, Fenicios y cartagineses en la pen¡n-sula Ibérica, Madrid, 1983, p. 60.

D. RUIZ MATA, CJ. PÉREZ,Op.cit., p. 53.<‘ME. AURET, «Cádizy el comercioatlántico»,PaperreadduringtheIV Internatio-

nal Congressof PhoenicianandPunic lnvestigations,Cádiz, 1995, p. 9.Eadem,Tiro..., p. 239-241.E.G. WAGNER, Op.cit., p.43-46;E.G. WAGNER, J. ALVAR, «Fenicios en Occidente:

la colonizaciónagraria»,RSE, 17.1, 1989, p. 92-95.E.G. WAGNER, Op.cit., p. 4647.

The Phoenicians and Tartessos 245

And yet relations betweenthe two forces were far from idyllic.Mutual benefit, interdependenceandco-existencedid not precludecon-frontation. Oppositionandcounterstandaccompaniedthe birth of Gadeswhich was foundedonly at a third attempt.At first the coloniststried tosettle down in the place where Sexi was later founded: then they weredrawn to the areaof the would-beOnoba(Strabo111,5,5),which meansthat the choiceof a placeto takeroots into wasby no meansaccidental.The first two failuresmaybe reasonablyaccountedfor by noneotherthanthe aborigines’ counteractiony”.

We believethatGadeswas foundedduringthe first stageof thePho-eniciancolonisation,beforethe TartessianPowercameintobeing ‘~, Theconfrontation, though,did not disappearevenduring the secondstage,as is plainly seenon the geographicalmap.No matterwhatkind of colo-nisation the Phoeniciancolonisationmaybe consideredto be —com-mercial or agrarian—it is evident that the colonists were aboye alídrawn by the advantageouscondtitionsof the Baetisvalley, the oceancoastof this region and the Riotinto estuary.In this region were con-centratedthe silver andcopperore mines so covetedby the Orientalstrangers,andthe approachesto themwerefairly easy.Numerousfirthsmadeit easyfor the boatsto comeup inland, the Baetisriver was navi-gable as far as Cordubaandeven up beyond,so that the river was themain arteryof communicationwith the innerareasof Tartessis(Strabo111,1,9-2,3).The Baetisvalley wasremarkablyfertile, and later the Ita-hancolonistsmadethemostof it. For alí that, therewas only onePho-eniciancolony in the whole of this region - Gades,founded,as statedaboye, wetl before the formation of the TartessianPower. The greatbulk of the colonies,though, was situatedto the eastof the Pillars ofHerakles.Some new archaeologicalfinds in the future may bring tolight certaintracesof someother PhoeniciansettlementsbetweenthePillars andGadesbut theyarehardly hikely to radically alter the currentgeneralview 12,

The areawheremost of the Phoeniciancolonieswerefounded,wasless convenientandworse by fas Although the littoral valley was rat-her fertile, the mountainsencoachingupon the sea coastreducedtheopportunitiesof farming. The mountainsare passablealí right but the

lO 1.ScH. SCHIFFMANN, TheOrigin of the Carthaginian Power. Moscow-Leningrad,193, p. 24-25(in Russian).

Ju.B. TsíRiclN, «Primera etapade la colonización fenicia» (in print).12 0. BUNNENS, «Le róle de Gadesdans l’implantation phentc¡enneen Espagne»,in

Losfenicios en la Península Ibérica, Barcelona, 1986, t. II, p. 190.

246 Ju. fi. Tsirkin

pathalong the Baetisvalley and the plain is much easierandnicer. Itlooks as if the Tyrian colonistshad beencompelledto settle down inthis area.Qn the westemcoastof the Iberian Peninsulatherewas alsoa Phoeniciansettlement-Abul 13 The time of its foundation is notknown, but morelikely than not, it was not foundedduring the initialstageof the colonisation14,

Thus, the very location of the colonies founded in the eighth toseventhcenturies(and, perhaps,in the ninth to seventhcenturies)B.C.indicatesthat thePhoeniciansstrove,as it were,to encirclethe bulk ofthe Tartessiantei-ritory in thesouth-eastandthewest.As we seeit, theTartessianswould not allow their eastempartnersto avail themselvesof the accessto the key sourcesof their wealth 15• Hencethe ensuingconflicts.

An oblique indication of suchaconfrontationmaybe found in theprophecyof Isaiah (23,10): «Overflow thy Iand, as the river, o daut-her of Tarshish: there is no girdle any more». Ihe girdie (mezah)standsfor a girdle of the Tyrian coloniesencircling the landof Tars-hish-Tartessos16, The liquidation of this girdle is rankedby theprop-het with the Assyrian invasion which will destroyTyre, too (23.13):«they razedher palaces,they madeher a ruin». Chapter23 of theprophecybelongs to Protoisaiahand was written at the close of theeighthcenturyB.C. 17, This prophecyfailed to cometrue either in theEastor in the West: Tyre was not ruined and the Phoeniciancoloniesin SouthSpainkepton existingandevengrewin number.But it mustbe stressedthatrumours—howeverexaggerated—abouttheconflictsin the West must havereachedthe Eastand Isaiah’s prophecyrecor-dedthem 18

In this respectanew interpretationof theNorastoneinscription (CIS144) is noteworthy.This most ancient of the Phoenicianinscriptionsinthe Westwas discoveredin 1773 andsincethen it hasbeenthe objectof

~ME. AUBET, Tiro.... p.25’t.14 According to ME. AIJRET, Abul wasfoundedby theGaditanians,andnot by the

Tyrians in the seventhcenturyB.C.,ME. AUBET, Cádiz....p. 7.15 Qnthe role of the indigenousfactor andthe geographyof the Phoen¡ciancolonis

(although ata different angle)see:J. GASUL, «Problemática en tomo a la ubicación de losasentamientosfenicios en el sur de la Península» in Los fenicios..., tíl, p. 195.

16 I.SCH. SCHIFFMANN, Op.cit., p.50, 54.17 Q, EISSFELDT, Einleirung in das Alte Tes¡ament, Tubingen,1956, p. 375, 388-389.IR Por details see:Ju.B. TSIRKIN, «The Hebrew Bible and de Origin of Tartessian

Power»,in: Losfenicios.., tíl, p. 179-185.

The Phoenicians and Tarressos 247

innumerablestudies and diverse interpretationsí9. Recently,upon bisgrammaticalandstructuralanalysisof the inscription,A.J. Prendohasoffered its new transíation,unambiguouslyconnectingits contentswithTarshish:a) He was indeedexpelledfrom Tarshish.b) in Sardiniahe is(now) safe, safe is his army (too). c) Milkaton, son of Shabon,the pre-viouscommander2”

As early as the secondmillennium B.C. SardiniahadcontactswithSpain and,most probably,it was the chief mediatorbetweenSpain andthe EasternMediterranean2l~ The Hispano-Sardinianties persistedwellduring the first millennium B.C., as well 22 Pausanias(X,17,5)andSoli-nus (IV,l) describethe foundationof Noraby the Tartessianking Norax.Accordingto Pausanias,he is the sonof Erytheia,daughterof Geryon,byHermes.Solinus,too, calíshim the sonof Mercury. Thenameof Norax,though,is not to be foundelsewherein Greekmythology32, On the otherhand,in Spanishonomasticonthereis the nameNon (Norissi) thatis sup-posedto be derivedfrom Norax24, Quite aplausiblesuppositionsuggestsitself that Norax belongsto the mythological Tartessiankings andwaslater associatedwith the Hellenic mythological figures. In the myth ofNorax, as it hascomedown to us, we mustmostprobablyseethe reflec-tion of Nora’srole as the centrallink betweenSardiniaandTartessos.Inthis caseit is not at alí surprising that after having sufferedsomefailurein Tartessos-Tarshish,the Phoeniciancommandertook his soldiers toNora.

Judgingfrom palaeographicdata,the inscriptionmust be datedin alíprobability from the ninth centuryB.C. 25, That was the period immedia-tely prior fo the time when the greatbulk of Phoeniciancolonies werefoundedin Spain.That seemsto be the reasonwhy Milkaton wasobligedto leavefor Sardinia.We cannotat presentsay what preventedhim from

‘> J.B. PEKHAM, «The Nora Inscription»,in Orientalia, 41, 1972,p .459; G. BUN-NEN5, Lexpansionphénicienne en Mediterranée, Bruxelles-Rome,1974,p. 30-41;J.C.L.GIBSON, Texbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions, t. III, Owford, 1982, p. 25-27;0. NEoat,«EarlyPhoenicianpresencein the MediterraneanIsland»,in AJA, 96, 1992, p. 609-610;A.J. PRENDO. «The ParticlesBETH andWAW andthe PeriodicStmctureof Ihe NoraStoneInscription»,in Palestina Exploration Journal, 1996, p. 8-II.

20 A.J. FRENDO, Op.cit., p. 921 M.E. Aunnr, Cádiz..., p. 4-5.22 Ibid., p. 5; F. PRESEDO, «La realeza tartésica», in Tartessos (Revista de Arqueolo-

gía,N. extra),p. 48.23 R. HANSLIK, «Norax>’, in Kleine Pauly, IV, 156.24 M. PÉREZROJAS,«Epigrafíatartesia»,in Tarressos..., p. 80.25 G. BUNNENS, Lexpansion..., p. 40.

248 ,Ju. fi. Tsirkin

finding refuge at Gades,then alreadyin existence.Anyway we think theNora inscription reflects a complicatedsituation in South Spain on theeve of the massivePhoeniciancolonisation; it plainly hints at conflictsandstrife betweenPhoeniciansandTartessians,sothat the foundationofcolonieswas accompaniedby military actionsbetweenthe nativesandnew-comers.Both this inscriptionandthe geographyof the coloniesruleout anychancefor theTyriansto strike roots into the territory of the Tar-tessiansnext to them.

Somemilitary conflicts betweenthe Tartessiansandthe Phoeniciansmust have taken place at later epocs too. According to Macrobius(Saturn.1,20,12),the king of Near Spain Thero attackedGades,but hisattackwasmiraculouslyrepulsedby the Gaditanianfleet with the aid ofgodwho burnedthe king’s boatswith sunlikebeamsandwith the assis-tanceof somelions that on asuddenappearedon the prowsof the Gadi-tanianwarshipsandscaredawaythe attackers.A. Schultenonceconvin-cingly provedthatthe NearSpain of the legendunderstudy is the Neigh-bouringIberiaof the Greekswhosenamewasmisunderstoodby Macro-bius or his source26The direct targetof Therosattackwas the templeofHercules:besides,Macrobiuswovehis accountinto the sectiondevotedto Hercules.It follows that the god-saviourof GadeswasdoubtlessMel-qart.Thecountryof Therois viewedasif from insideGadesandthe verynarrativeis highly favourableto the Gaditaniansand inimical to Thero.AII this plainly betraysthe Phoenicianorigin of the legend27,

The «Iberianext to Gades»and its templecould be noneother butTartessis.Mythological detailsof the sagaarebut a slim groundbr ques-tioning te eventitseltt In antiquity frequentare accountshow god hel-pedthis or that partyandtheir historicity is aboyesuspicion.Even if theauthenticityof Thero’s attack is suspiciouswe must admit that such astory could haveemergedonly if similar attackshad indeedoccurredinreality. Unfortunately it is not possibleto date this event. We can onlymaintainthatan armedconflict (or armedconflicts) betweenthe Tartes-siansandPhoeniciancolonistsdid takeplace.

Interesting is the information of Justinus(XLIV,5,2-3) who writesthat te peoptesof Spain living nearGades(i.e., no doubt, theTartes-sians) were very jealous of the rising new town (seeaboyethepassa-ge about the foundation of Gadesand the transferenceof Melqart’ssacramentsto the town), thereforetheyattackedtheGaditanianswho

2<, A. SCRULTEN, Tartessos, Hamburg, 1950, p. 38.27 I.SCH.SCI-IIFFMANN, Op.cit., p. 50.

The Phoenicians and Tar¡essos 249

appealedto the Carthaginiansfor assistance,and the latter rescuedtheresidentsof Gadesand,moreover,conqueredthe larger part of Spain.This short passageis inwardly discrepant.The Gaditanianscould notpossiblyhaveasked the Carthaginiansfor help shortly after the townhadbeenfounded,becauseGadeswasbuilt almostthreehundredyears

earlier thanCarthage.And evenif we admit (the way mostof thearcha-eologistsof todaydo) thatGadeswasnot foundeduntil the eighthcen-tury B.C., it lookshighly improbablethat theCarthaginianscould havetnterferedin the affairs of the IberianPeninsula,let alonecapturedmostof its territory, becausefor many a long yearafter its foundationCart-hagewas not strongenoughto ventureon such an undertaking.

Thereforethe following threepossibilitiesmaybe deduced:1) Justi-nus cuttingdown the textof PompeiusTrogus,squeezedinto aphraseortwo arelatively Iengthy story of the Spanishevents,the wars of the Tar-tessianswith the Gaditaniansamongthem,havingcombinedthe accountsof the warsshortly afterGades birth with the descriptionof the last warinto which the Carthaginiansactively interfered;2) Trogus or his first-handsourcemisinterpretedsorneepisodesof thearmedconflicts in SouthSpainandconspicuouslybroughttogetherin timethe eventsthat actuallyhappenedin considerablyremoteepochs;3) theaccountof frogus-Justi-nus can be tracedback in the final analysis to the Carthaginiansourcewho primarily dwelt at length on the two facts only —the foundationofGadesandof its celebratedtemple,first, andthe assistancerenderedbyCarthageto the Gaditaniansand the conquestin later yearsof a largeregionof Spain,second.

The storiesof Macrobius andJustinusdescribesomewars batweenTartessosandthePhoenicians,especiallythe Gaditanians.ObviouslytheTartessiankings were reluctantto abandontheir hopesof expellingthePhoeniciansfrom the indigenousTartessianterritory wheretheyhadgotsettledwelt beforethe riseof the TartessianPower.

The causesof theconfrontationareplain andunderstandable:the par-ties concemedwere bitter rivais on the Atlantic traderoutes.Still moreímportant,it seems,wasthedeterminationof theTartessianrulerstobarthePhoeniciansaway from the metal depositsthat brought in very goodretums:therulersfavouredtheir lucrativeserviceas mediators.Hencetheirattemptseither to oust—with luck— thenew-comersawayfrom thesouth-westemcoastof the empireor at Ieastto checkthe Phoenicianexpansionin the region.The situationon the Mediterraneancoastwassomewhatdif-ferent.Thereon theterritoryof othertribes, theTartessiankings authoritywas perhapsweaker than it was in their native area. Besidesthe river

250 Ju. fi. Tsirkin

valleys,good for passingthe mountainsandreachingthe fertile valteyandmineralwealthof the UpperBaetis,wererathernarrowandeasyto control.AII this doesnot meanthat therewere no Phoeniciansoutsidetheir colo-nies.In Castillo deDoña Blancatheyevidentlyoccupiedonly aquarterofthe town (like in MemPhis).ThosePhoenicianswho settledin the ruralarea,foundthemselvesamongtheTartessians,thusforming still othercate-gory of the Tartessiankings’ subjects.

The confrontation,andevenopenwarsat times,on no accountruledout cooperationand interdependence.The seventhcentury B.C. saw thezenith of the developmentof the Phoeniciancolonies and the peak oftheir influenceuponTartessíans.

At the endof the seventhcenturyB.C. to Tartessoscamethe Greeksfrom Phocaeawhom king Arganthoniosreceivedin a friendly manner(Her. 1,153). Sornetime lateron the Tartessianterritory thereappearedPhocaeancolonies(or factories)—MainakaandPort of Menestheus28

The emergenceof theGreekcolonieschangedthe correlationof forcesatthe extremewesternpoint of the Mediterranean.We do not know whatpart—if atah—the SpanishPhoeniciansandTartesslanstook in the warbetweenMassaliaandCarthagethatbroke out during the constructionofthe Greektown (Thuc. 1,13,6; Paus.X,8,6; Just.XLIII,5,2). At anyrate,the Greekimport in Tartessis,at Onobatoo, grewsizably29, which bearswitness to theHellenes’successin their competitionwith PhoeniciansfortheTartessianmarket.On theotherhand, the Hispano-Phoeniciansettle-mentswereexperiencingat thattimeaseverecrisisin consequenceof thedeclineof the Tyrian Powerwhoseintegralpart theywere, the economicandpohiticalchangesin TartessisandlasÉ but not leastof the rivalry withthe Hellenes30

Theupshotof it alt cameaboutearlyin the fifth centuryB.C. Betwe-en MassaliansandSpaniardsan alliancewasconcluded(Just.XLIII,5,3).AlthoughJustinusdoes not specifywho thoseSpaniardswere, we maypresumethem to be the Tartessians—suifice it to recalí the Massalians’particularinterestsin the Southof Spain. In alí appearancesthe Tartes-sianswhosepowerwas thenin astateof crisis,tried to overcomethecri-sisby meansof pushingthe Phoeniciansfrom the Spanishlittoral or at

211 For detajísseeJU.B.TSIRKIN, «TheGreeksandTartessos»,Oikumene, 5,1986,p.

163-171.29 Nl. FERNÁNDEZ-MIRANDA, «Huelva,ciudad de los tartessios»,in Los fenicios...,

t.Il, p. 256.30 Wc investigatethis problem in anotherarticlestill in print.

The Phoenicians and Taríessos 25 1

least from theirown indigenousterritory 31, That is why they undertookto storm Gadesandthe storm wasso powerfull thatthe Gaditanianshadto beg the Carthaginiansto help (Just.XLIV,5,2-3). The latter, to quoteJustinus,not only protectedthe townsfolk of Gadesfrom wreck andruinbut alsosubjecteda largepart of Spain to their rule. True, theGadita-nians,on repulsingthe Tartessianattac,closedthe city gatesbefore their«saviours»faces, so that the latter capturedGadesby storm (Vitr.X,13,l-2: Ath.Pol. 9). This fact is scarcelysurprising: in Sardinia theCarthaginiansdid not stop at destroyingor driving away their consan-guineousbrotherseither32, Anyhow afteralí theseeventsthe TartessianPowerceasedto be (at least in its formerproportions)andthe Phoeniciansettlementspassedinto the Carthaginians’hands.

JI Cr. J.L. LÓPEZCAsTRo,Hispania Poena, Barcelona,1995, p. 10.32 5, MoscATI, Op.cit., p. 32-37.