Ancient History in Spain
CELTS AND IBERIANS
In the Pre-Roman times, the Iberian Peninsula was inhabited by two groups of people: the Iberian and the Celts.
The Iberians were in the south and east of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Celts lived in the north and centre of the Iberian Peninsula.
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ART
In 1897, archaeologists uncovered a stunning artifact on a private estate at L'Alcúdia in Valencia, Spain. This find was a statue – a bust of a woman’s head. Believed to date back to the 4 th Century BC, the bust features a woman wearing an elaborate headdress. Now seen as one of Spain’s most famous icons, the bust is known as the Lady of Elche.
It is said that a young boy of fourteen had overturned a stone when he came across the bust. The bust shows the woman’s head, neck and shoulders, and extends down to her chest. However, it is possible that the bust was originally part of a larger, full-body statue.
The complex headdress features two large coils known as “rodetes” on either side of the head and face. It is thought that this was a ceremonial headdress, and that the woman may be a priestess. The headdress runs across the forehead, some pieces hang in front of the ears, and elaborate necklaces grace her chest. The woman’s face contains an expressionless gaze, and when it was found, contained traces of red, white, and blue decorative paint. The composition of the stone indicates that it was carved at L'Alcúdia.
The origin of the sculpture is puzzling, some suggest that the sculpture is Iberian, and may be associated with Tanit, the goddess of Carthage
CELTIBERIAN ART
The Bulls of Guisando are a set of celtiberian sculptures located on the hill of Guisando in the municipality of El Tiemblo, Ávila, Spain. The four sculptures, made of granite, represent quadrupeds identified as bulls.
The Bulls of Guisando are examples of a type of ancient sculpture. They are associated with the territory of a celtiberian tribe called the Vettones. The Bulls may have been made during the 2nd century BC.
GREEKS
The ancient Greek civilization began 3000 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
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PHOENICIANS AND THE CARTHAGINIANS
The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians also came to the Iberan Peninsula by way of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Phoenicians came from Asia about 26000 years ago to trade with the people of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Carthaginians came from the north of Africa to the Iberian Peninsula about 2300 years ago.
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ROMAN EMPIRE
CONQUEST: Roman armies invaded Hispania in 218 BC and used it as a training ground for officers and as a proving ground for tactics during campaigns against the Carthaginians, the Iberians, the Lusitanians, the Gallaecians and other Celts. The Punic Wars is the name for the wars in which Romans and the Carthaginians fought with each other.
It was not until 19 BC (almost 200 years) that the Roman emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC–AD 14) was able to complete the conquest (see Cantabrian Wars). Until then, much of Hispania remained autonomous.
ORGANIZATION OF HISPANIA: Hispania (/hɪˈspænjə, -eɪniə/; Latin: [hɪsˈpaːnia]) was the Roman and Greek name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Republic, Hispania was divided into five provinces: Baetica, Lusitania, Tarraconensis, Gallaecia and Carthaginensis. Each province was ruled by a governor. The Romans introduced the laws of the Roman empire and many of today's laws are based on Roman Law.
ECONOMY: Before the Punic Wars, Hispania was a land with much untapped mineral and agricultural wealth, limited by the primitive subsistence economies of her native peoples outside of a few trading ports along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Occupations by the Carthaginians and then by the Romans for her abundant silver deposits developed Hispania into a thriving multifaceted economy. Several metals, olives, oil from Baetica, salted fish and garum, and wines were some of the goods produced in Hispania and traded throughout the Empire. The gold mining was the most important activity in the NO of the peninsula. This activity is attested in archaeological sites as Las Médulas (Spain) and Casais (Ponte de Lima, Portugal).[14]
LANGUAGE: Latin was the official language of Hispania during the Rome's more than 600 years of rule, and by the empire's end in Hispania around 460 AD, all the original Iberian languages, except the ancestor of modern Basque, were extinct.
RELIGION: Christianity was introduced into Hispania in the 1st century and it became popular in the cities in the 2nd century. Little headway was made in the countryside, however, until the late 4th century, by which time Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire.
THE END: The North African Muslims, referred to as Moors, conquered Hispania (اسبانيا, Arabic: Isbānīya) (711–719), and called the area they controlled Al-Andalus (الأندلس).
In the last years of the 12th century the whole Iberian Peninsula, Muslim and Christian, became known as "Spain" (España, Espanya or Espanha)