Tartessos (also Tartessus) was a harbor city on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula (in modern Andalusia, Spain), at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. It was mentioned by Herodotus,^[1] Strabo^[2] in Pliny's Natural History.^[3] and in the fourth-century Avienus's literary travel itinerary Ora Maritima, long after Tartessos had disappeared. Velleius Paterculus' date for the founding of Tartessos about eighty years after the Trojan War, before the time when the Phoenicians made contact with an existing city, has not received archaeological confirmation: the bulk of finds date from Punic occupation, after ca 500 BCE.^[4] The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation). ... The Guadalquivir is the second longest river in Spain (after the Tagus). ... Herodotus of Halicarnassus (Greek: Hērodotos Halikarnāsseus) was a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (ca. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Avienus was a Latin writer of the 4th century. ... Marcus Velleius Paterculus (c. ... The fall of Troy, by Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769). ... Phoenicia (or Phenicia ,[1] from Biblical Phenice [1]) was an ancient civilization centered in the north of ancient Canaan, with its heartland along the coast of modern day Lebanon and Syria. ...

The Tartessians were traders, who may have discovered the route to the Tin Islands (Britain, or more specifically Cornwall) or the tin may have been found in alluvial ores carried down by their own river: the pseudonymous geographical versifier, Pseudo-Scymnus (ca 90 BCE), was surely imitating some older source when he wrote, "the renowned Tartessos, famous town, receives tin carried by the river from Celtica, as well as gold and bronze in great quantity" (Peregesis, 164, noted by Gamito). Trade in tin was very lucrative from the Bronze Age onwards, since it was necessary for the production of bronze. For other uses, see Cornwall (disambiguation). ... Pseudo-Scymnus is the name given by Augustus Meineke to the unknown author of a classical work on geography, The Circumnavigation of the Earth, an anonymous verse periegesis first published at Augsburg in 1600. ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ... The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ... Assorted ancient Bronze castings found as part of a cache, probably intended for recycling. ...

The people from Tartessos became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, whose presence in Iberia dates from the eighth century BCE, and who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gades (current-day Cádiz). Ancient Greek texts refer to a legendary king of Tartessos, Arganthonios, known (and presumably named) for his wealth in silver and minerals. According to Greek texts, Arganthonios lived many years beyond the normal human lifespan, but Arganthonios may have been the name of several Tartessian kings or their title, giving rise to legends of a single man's longevity. Location Location of Cádiz Coordinates : Time Zone : General information Native name Cádiz (Spanish) Spanish name Cádiz Postal code – Website http://www. ... // Background and Origin Arganthonios (Argantonio in Spanish) was king the most important king of ancient Tartessia (southern Spain). ...

"Tartessic occupation sites of the Late Bronze Age that were not particularly complex, in which a domestic mode of production seems to have predominated" is one mainstream assessment.^[5] The Bronze Age is a period in a civilizations development when the most advanced metalworking has developed the techniques of smelting copper from natural outcroppings and alloys it to cast bronze. ...

Lost civilization

In the 6th century BC, Tartessos disappeared rather suddenly from history. The Romans called the wide bay the Tartessius Sinus though the city as such no longer existed. One theory is that the city had been destroyed by the Carthaginians who wanted to take over the Tartessans' trading routes. Another is that it had been refounded, under obscure conditions, as Carpia. When the traveller Pausanias visited Greece in the 2nd century AD (Pausanias Description of Greece 6.XIX.3) he saw two bronze chambers in one of the sanctuaries at Olympia, which the people of Elis claimed was Tartessian bronze: (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... Roman Carthage with former military harbor Carthage (Greek: , Latin: , from the Phoenician meaning new town; Arabic: ) refers both to an ancient city in Tunisia and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... Carpia was an Iberian city which is said to be the site of the ancient city Tartessos, or the refoundation of the sunken city. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Elis, or Eleia (Greek, Modern: Ήλιδα Ilida, Ancient/Katharevousa: Ήλις, also Ilis, Doric: Άλις) is an ancient district within the modern prefecture of Ilia. ...

They say that Tartessus is a river in the land of the Iberians, running down into the sea by two mouths, and that between these two mouths lies a city of the same name. The river, which is the largest in Iberia, and tidal, those of a later day called Baetis, and there are some who think that Tartessus was the ancient name of Carpia, a city of the Iberians. Guadalquivir is one of the major rivers of Spain. ... The Lady of Baza, made by Iberians The Iberians were an ancient, Pre-Indo-European people who inhabited the east and southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in prehistoric and historic times. ...

Flavius Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana (book v.1) observes of this southernmost part of Hispania: "the promontory of Europe, known as Calpis, stretches along the inlet of the Ocean and right hand side a distance of six hundred stadia, and terminates in the ancient city of Gadeira." Philostratus, was the name of several, three (or four), Greek sophists of the Roman imperial period: Philostratus the Athenian (c. ... Apollonius of Tyana (Greek: ; 16—ca. ...

The name "Carpia" possibly survives as El Carpio, a site in a bend of the Guadalquivir, but the origin of its name has been associated with its imposing oldest feature, a Moorish tower erected in 1325 by the engineer responsible for the alcázar of Seville. For other uses, see moor. ... Events January 7:Alfonso IV becomes the King of Portugal. ... An alcázar is a Spanish castle, from the Arabic word القصر al qasr meaning palace or fortress, from the Latin castellum fortress (ultimately from castrum watchpost). Many cities in Spain have an alcázar. ... For other uses, see Seville (disambiguation). ...

The site of Tartessos has been considered irretrievably lost—buried, Schulten thought, under the shifting wetlands that have replaced former estuaries behind dunes at the modern single mouth of the Guadalquivir, where the river delta has gradually been blocked off by a huge sandbar that stretches from the mouth of the Rio Tinto, near Palos de la Frontera, to the riverbank opposite Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The area is now protected as the Parque Nacional de Doñana. (see link) One of the very best investigators on ancient Cantabria. ... Photograph of Tinto River. ... Location of Palos de la Frontera Municipality Huelva Government  - Mayor Carmelo Romero Hernández Area  - City 50 km²  (19. ... Sanlúcar de Barrameda from the mouth of the Guadalquivir river Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a Spanish city in the northwestern part of the Cádiz province. ... Doñana National Park (Parque Nacional de Doñana), also called Coto de Doñana, is a national park and wildlife refuge in southwestern Spain. ...

Tartessic sites and archaeology

Since the discovery in September 1958 of a rich gold treasure at El Carambolo, 3 km west of Seville, archaeological surveys have joined the previously purely philological and literary ones to provide a more informed view of Tartessic culture on the ground, concentrated in western Andalusia, Extremadura and in southern Portugal from the Algarve to the Vinalopó River in Alicante.^[6] For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation). ... Capital Mérida Official language(s) Spanish; Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 5th  41,634 km²  8. ... Algarve NUTS II region, and the district of Faro in Portugal. ... Location Coordinates : Time zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer : CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Alacant (Catalan) Spanish name Alicante Postal code 03000 - 03016 Website www. ...

Alluvial tin was panned in Tartessian streams from an early date. The spread of a silver standard in Assyria by which the worth of tribute from the Phoenician cities was assessed, and the invention of coinage in the seventh century BC spurred the search for and accumulation of bronze and silver as well. Henceforth trade connections, formerly largely in elite goods, assumed an increasingly economic role. By the Late Bronze Age, silver extraction in Huelva Province reached industrial proportions. Pre-Roman silver slag has been encountered in the Tartessian cities of Huelva Province. Cypriot and Phoenician metalworkers produced an estimated 15 million tons of pyrometallurgical residues at the vast dumps of Riotinto. Mining and smelting preceded the arrival, from the eighth century onwards, of Phoenicians^[7] and then Greeks, who provided a stimulating wider market and who influence sparked an Orientalizing phase in Tartessian material culture (ca.750-550 BC) before Tartessian culture was superseded by the Classic Iberian culture. For other uses, see Assyria (disambiguation). ... Huelva province Huelva is a province of southern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. ...

"Tartessic" artifacts linked with the Tartessos culture have been found, and many archaeologists now associate the "lost" city with Huelva. In excavations on spatially restricted sites in the center of modern Huelva, sherds of elite painted Greek ceramics of the first half of the sixth century have been recovered. Huelva contains the largest accumulation of imported elite goods and must have been an important Tartessian center. Medellín, on the Guadiana River, revealed an important necropolis. Huelva is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous region of Andalusia. ... Medellíns coat of arms. ...

Elements specific to Tartessian culture are the Late Bronze Age fully-evolved pattern-burnished wares and geometrically banded and patterns "Carambolo" wares, from the ninth to the sixth centuries; an "Early Orientalizing" phase with the first Eastern imports, beginning about 750 BC; a "Late Orientalizing" phase with the finest bronzecasting and goldsmiths' work; gray ware turned on the fast potter's wheel, local imitations of imported Phoenician red-slip wares. Classic potters kick-wheel at Erfurt, Germany The potters wheel is a machine used in the shaping of round ceramic wares. ...

Characteristic Tartessian bronzes include pear-shaped jugs, often associated in burials with shallow dish-shaped braziers with loop handles, incense-burners with floral motifs, fibulas, both elbowed and double-spring types, and belt buckles. For other uses see fibula (disambiguation) The fibula or calf bone is a bone placed on the lateral side of the tibia, with which it is connected above and below. ...

No pre-Colonial necropolis sites have been identified. The change from a late Bronze Age pattern of circular or oval huts scattered on a village site to rectangular houses with dry stone foundations and plastered wattle walls took place during the seventh and sixth centuries BC, in settlements with planned layouts that succeeded one another on the same site. At Cástulo (Jaén), a mosaic of river pebbles from the end of the sixth century is the earliest mosaic found in Western Europe. Most sites were inexplicably abandoned in the fifth century. This article is about a decorative art. ...

Tartessian language

Main article: Tartessian language

The Tartessian language is an extinct pre-Roman language once spoken in southern Iberia. It is seemingly unrelated to any other languages. The oldest known indigenous texts of Iberia, dated from the 7th to 6th centuries BC, are written in Tartessian. The inscriptions are written in a semi-syllabic writing system and were found in the general area in which Tartessos is supposed to have been located, also in surrounding areas of influence. Tartessian language texts have been found in parts of Southwestern Spain and Southern Portugal (namely in the Conii areas of the Algarve and southern Alentejo. This variety is often referred as Southwest script). The Tartessian language is seemingly unrelated to all other languages, including Indo-European or Iberian language families, and is therefore considered a language isolate. ... An extinct language is a language which no longer has any native speakers, in contrast to a dead language, which is is a language which has stopped changing in grammar, vocabulary, and the complete meaning of a sentence. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. ... A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 7th century BC started on January 1, 700 BC and ended on December 31, 601 BC. // Overview Events Ashurbanipal, king of Assyria who created the the first systematically collected library at Nineveh A 16th century depiction of the Hanging Gardens of... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... Syllabaries often begin as simplified logograms, as shown here with the Japanese Katakana writing system. ... For other uses, see Andalusia (disambiguation). ... Ancient map of the Golf of Cadis, showing part of the Roman Provinces of Lusitania and Betica. ... Algarve NUTS II region, and the district of Faro in Portugal. ... NUTS II Alentejo region. ... Southwest script is the name given to the form of Pre-Roman writing present in a group of tablets found in the south of Portugal. ...

Traditional religious Legends and religious connections

Adolf Schulten gave currency to a view of Tartessos that made it the Western, and wholly European source of the legend of Atlantis.^[8] A more serious review, by W.A. Oldfather, appeared in The American Journal of Philology.^[9] Both Atlantis and Tartessos were believed to have been advanced societies which collapsed when their cities were lost beneath the waves; supposed further similarities with the legendary society make a connection seem feasible, though virtually nothing is known of Tartessos, not even its precise site. Other Tartessian enthusiasts imagine it as a contemporary of Atlantis, with which it might have traded. For other uses, see Atlantis (disambiguation). ...

The enigmatic Lady of Elx, an ancient bust, of a high artistic quality, of a woman found in southeastern Spain, has been tied with both Atlantis and Tartessos, even though the statue displays clear signs of having been manufactured by late Iberian cultures.^{[citation needed]} La Dama dElx The famous but controversial Lady of Elx (Dama dElx in Catalan, Dama de Elche in Spanish) (the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid calls her enigmática), is a polychrome stone bust that was revealed as found by chance in 1897 at LAlcúdia, an...

In the Bible, the word Tarshish was connected to Tartessos by some early twentieth-century Classicists, though a few connect to Tarsus in Turkey . (See further the entry for Jonah in the Jewish Encyclopedia.) Tarshish, like Tartessos, is associated with extensive mineral wealth. This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Tarshish occurs in the Hebrew Bible with these meanings: One of the sons of Javan. ... 68. ... The Prophet Jonah, as depicted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel Jonah (Hebrew: , Standard  Tiberian  ; Arabic: يونس, Yunus or يونان, Yunaan ; Latin Ionas ; Dove) was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) and Quran who was swallowed by a great fish. ...

See also

• Colaeus
• Atlantic Bronze Age
• Prehistoric Iberia
• Spanish mythology
• Turdetani
• Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula

Colaeus (Greek: Κωλαίος) was an ancient explorer, who according to Herodotus (Hdt. ... The so called Atlantic Bronze Age is a cultural complex of the approx. ... This article describes the prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula from the appearance of the first human populations until the arrival of the Phoenicians and the first recorded contacts with other European cultures. ... Spanish mythology would encompass all the sacred myths of the cultures in the region of Spain. ... The Turdetani were an ancient (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania), living in what was to become the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica (modern Andalusia in todays Spain). ... Main language areas in Iberia circa 250 BC. This is a list of the Pre-Roman people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania - modern Andorra, Portugal and Spain). ...

Notes

This article is about the Spanish city. ... Málaga, a port town in the province of Málaga in Andalusia, Southern Spain Malaga, a fortified wine originating in Málaga. ... For other uses, see Granada (disambiguation). ... Ameria is a city of Umbria, situated about 65 miles north of Rome on the Via Amerina (which approached it from the South starting from Falerii and passing through Castellum Amerinum, probably mod. ...

Further reading

• J. M. A. Blazquez, Tartessos y Los Origines de la Colonizacion Fenicia en Occidente (University of Salamanca) 1968. Assembles Punic materials found in Spain.
• Jaime Alvar and José María Blázquez, Los enigmas de Tartessos (Madrid:Catedra) 1993. Papers following a 1991 conference.

External links

• Doñana
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Tarshish, a distant maritime district famed for its metalwork, considered by the contributors in 1901-1906 to be legendary; Old Testament references.
• Detailed map of the Pre-Roman Peoples of Iberia (around 200 BC)
• (e-Keltoi 6) Teresa Júdice Gamito, The Celts in Portugal
• Spaniards search for legendary Tartessos in a marsh
• Almagro-Gorbea. La literatura tartésica fuentes históricas e iconográficas

External links for the Atlantis connection

The possible discovery of Atlantis-Tartessos has been widely reported. The following list gives the main links.

• original article in Antiquity
• report by BBC
• report by ABC
• report by National Geographic
• report by Time magazine
• report by Scientific American
• report by (Daily) Telegraph