Venerable historical traditions recount the Phoenician voyages to found new cities.Utica, on the Tunisian coast of NorthAfrica, was reputedly founded in 1178bce, and by 1100bce the Phoenician city of Tyre supposedly had a Spanishcolony atGadir (Cádiz). Although intriguing, such historical traditions are unsupported by evidence. Excavations confirm that the Phoenicians settled in southern Spain after 800bce, shortly after the traditional founding of the greatest Phoenician colony,Carthage (now in Tunisia). Their search for newcommodities led them ever farther westward and was the reason for their interest in southern Spain’s mineral wealth. The untapped lodes of silver and alluvial deposits of tin andgold provided essential raw materials with which to meet the increasing Assyrian demands for tribute. By 700bce silver exported from the Río Tinto mines had become so abundant that it depressed the value of silver bullion in the Assyrian world. That is the background for Phoenician interest in the far west.

Phoenician commerce was conducted by family firms of shipowners and manufacturers who had their base in Tyre or Byblos and placed their representatives abroad. That accounts for the rich tombs of Phoenician pattern found at Almuñécar, Trayamar, andVillaricos, equipped with metropolitan goods such as alabasterwine jars, importedGreek pottery, and delicate gold jewelry.Maritime bases from theBalearic Islands toCádiz on the Atlantic were set up to sustain commerce in salted fish, dyes, and textiles. Early Phoenician settlements are known from Morro de Mezquitilla, Toscanos, and Guadalhorce and shrines from Gorham’s Cave inGibraltar and the Temple of Melqart on the island of Sancti Petri near Cádiz. After the fall of Tyre to the Babylonians in 573bce and the subjugation ofPhoenicia, the early prosperity faded until the 4th century. Many colonies survived, however, and Abdera (Adra), Baria (Villaricos),Carmona (Carmo), Gadir (Cádiz), Malaca (Málaga), and Sexi (Almuñécar) thrived under the trading system established byCarthage for the central and western Mediterranean. Eivissa (Ibiza) became a major Carthaginian colony, and the island produced dye, salt,fish sauce, andwool. A shrine with offerings to the goddess Tanit was established in the cave at Es Cuyram, and the Balearic Islands entered Eivissa’s commercial orbit after 400bce. In 237bce, shortly after its defeat in theFirst Punic War, Carthage launched itsconquest of southern Spain underHamilcar Barca,Hannibal’s father, and founded a new capital at Cartago Nova (Cartagena) in 228bce. After the death of Hamilcar, Hannibal continued Carthaginian expansion in Spain, reaching the Ebro River—the limit imposed by Rome in the settlement of the First Punic War. A diplomatic dispute over Seguntum, a Roman ally in Carthaginian Spain, led to the outbreak of theSecond Punic War in 218bce. Despite Hannibal’s invasion ofItaly and near victory there, Carthage suffered a crushing defeat in Spain in 206bce at the hands ofPublius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus the Elder) and ultimately lost the war.

Greeks

Greeks from Phocaea reached Spain’s shores, but by 575bce they had established only two small colonies as offshoots of Massilia (Marseille) in the extreme northeast, atEmporion (Ampurias) and Rhode (Rosas). There was, however, an olderArchaic Greek commerce inolive oil, perfumes, fine pottery, bronze jugs, armor, and figurines carried past theStrait of Gibraltar by the Phoenicians. It developed between 800 and 550bce, peaking sharply from 600 to 550, and was directed along the southern coast in precisely the areas of most-intense Phoenician influence and settlement.

Connected with that early commerce in the late 7th century are the stories collected byHerodotus about the kingdom of Tartessos (Tartessus) and its ruler, King Arganthonios, who befriended the Greek captain Kolaios after hisvessel was blown off course. Tartessos was portrayed as a mineral emporium where Kolaios exchanged his merchandise for a fortune in silver bullion. The Greeks remembered that kingdom as a legendary world beyond their reach. Tartessos, in fact, was the lateBronze Age society in southwestern Spain that included the mines of the Tinto River in its territory; it flourished between 800 and 550bce.

After 450bce there was renewed Greek interest in Spain, although directed to the eastern peninsula rather than to the west and south. Greek objects were widely traded by Carthaginian middlemen, as the shipwreck at El Sec (Palma de Mallorca) suggests. The vessel sank with a mixedcargo that included millstones, ingots, and decorated Greek pottery, some scratched with personal Punic names such as “Slave of Melqart” (MLQRT’BD) or “Baal Is Merciful” (B’HLM).