Chronicle 8. “CARTHAGO DELENDA EST”

Chronicle 8. “CARTHAGO DELENDA EST”

/ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ/ Χρονικό 8. “CARTHAGO DELENDA EST”

● Asia Minor, Pontus Euxinus and Magna Graecia ● Tartessos: the Apple of Discord ● The Persian Expansion’s Impact on the Occident ● Differences Between Phoenicia and Carthage, and their Achilles’ Heel ● The Battles of Alalia and Salamis ● The Rise of Macedon and Rome

by Michales Loukovikas
 

Attican hydria (vessel to carry water); 6th century BCΕ

THE WESTWARD EXPANSION of the Hellenes ought to be gradual and cautious. Crossing the Aegean was no problem for it was a Greek sea. After Troy had been destroyed, there was no-one to block the entrance to the Black Sea – only nature. That is why it was euphemistically named Pontus Euxinus, ‘hospitable sea’, to placate Poseidon. The Hellenes became masters of that sea and spread all over. But they knew very well that in the Mediterranean there was fierce antagonism. The Canaanite Phoenicians, who avoided trespassing into the Aegean and the Black Seas,^(a) were found in all other places, having built up their trade web at a time when they were sailing almost alone. Their motive was profit out of exchange. Part of the gains, however, was spent as tribute to the succession of empires ruling Phoenicia.

• ^(a) Of course, I do not mean to say that the Canaanites did not sail in the Aegean; Hellenic ships voyaged to Canaan, as well. The Graeco-Phoenician relations were age-old and their exchanges done on an equal basis. What I mean to say is that the Aegean could never become Tartessos; that a Canaanite merchant voyaging to Hellas was just a trader; the same person in Iberia acted like a monopolist…

Phoenician ship, marble mosaic

The Greeks had more to motivate them: famine, wars and civil disorders drove many to other lands; migrations took place in order to avoid those ills. Population growth and cramped spaces at home, combined with a desire to expand their sphere of economical influence, were what motivated them and that is why they appeared in Italy ca 800 BCΕ. It was the next place to colonize and Hellenize after Asia Minor and the Black Sea. Within the next 150 years, several cities founded colonies along the coast of southern Italy and most of Sicily, controlling trade routes and dominating the Strait of Messina. This zone came to be known as Magna Graecia. The Phoenicians generally avoided military confrontations with the Greeks, unless a strategic land was at stake, e.g. Sicily. To the north, the Hellenes faced another adversary, the Etruscans, who had risen to the status of a regional power in the same period. The mining and commerce of metals led to their enrichment and expansion in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean. The Greek presence was in fact disturbing their interests, especially since the Phocaeans of Italy founded colonies along the coast of Corsica, Gaul, and Iberia. This led the Etruscans to ally themselves with the Carthaginian Punics,^(b) because their interests too collided with those of the Hellenes.

• ^(b) Especially in this Chronicle, a clear differentiation is necessary between the Canaanite Phoenicians and the Carthaginian Punics so as to avoid confusion: the term Canaanite refers to Phoenicia, Canaan; the term Punic to Carthage; while the term Phoenician covers both, the entire family.

Magna Graecia, Carthage and Etruria

A navigator in Zakantha (Sagunto)

The situation began to change dramatically sometime after 640 BCΕ, when the first Greek trader sailed to Tartessos. Probably it was the first arrival of a ‘historical’ Hellene at Iberia, after the voyages of the Mycenaeans and those of legendary heroes such as Heracles to the peninsula. This sailor was Colaeus (Κωλαῖος), a Samian silver explorer and trader who arrived at Tartessos ca 640 BCΕ, according to Herodotus. In an era when merchants were anonymous, the historian thought Colaeus was important enough to note. Since no other Greek trader had previously sailed to Tartessos, Colaeus was able to obtain a cargo of metal (150 kg of silver) and return it safely to his island, realizing one of the greatest trade profits at the time. The Phocaeans of Massalia followed Colaeus’ route many years later and dropped anchor at Tartessos. Herodotus says that the Phocaeans were the first Hellenes to make long sea-voyages, having discovered the coasts of the Adriatic, Tyrrhenia, Iberia, and Tartessos. He also notes that Arganthonios, the famous Tartessian king, welcomed the Greeks and urged them in vain to settle there. But why “in vain”? They finally settled there. And why was the king so eager to have them there? The answer to this question would be given by the historical developments.

Phocaean warrior (500-480 BCE)

Hearing that the Persians were becoming a dominant power in the area of their metropolis, Phocaea, he gave them 1500 kg of silver to build a defensive wall about their city. Despite this wall, however, Phocaea was conquered in 546 BCΕ. Rather than submit to Persian rule, most Phocaeans abandoned their city. Some of them fled to Chios, others to their colonies in Corsica and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with some eventually returning to Phocaea. Many became the founders of Elea ca 540 BCΕ. It is the period when Persia conquered the Hellenic cities on the coast of Asia Minor. Ironically, the Greeks were not alone in this misfortune; the Canaanites suffered even more: Tyre was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 572 BCΕ; then in 539, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Canaan; Phoenicia declined further and was obliged to pass the baton to Carthage; many Canaanites also moved to the new rising metropolis and other colonies. The consolidation of the great Empire of the Achaemenids would re-arrange the map of the entire Mediterranean, not only in the Orient but also in the Occident. The 6th century proved to be a great turning point…

The consolidation of the great Empire of the Achaemenids would re-arrange the map of the entire Mediterranean, not only in the Orient but also in the Occident. The 6th century proved to be a great turning point…

Prow of a ship on a Punic coin (replica)

If Plutarch‘s Lives were about peoples, one could very well parallel the Minoans to the Canaanites and the Mycenaeans to the Punics; a basic difference was that, unlike the Canaanites who lacked such potential, the Punics opted to expand by conquest. Generally speaking, there are two main differences between an ancient colony and one of our times: First of all, the former was a city founded by a metropolis, not a land conquered by another country; and, most important, the ancient colony was usually sovereign from its inception. Particularly in the Phoenician world, the colonies, although self-governing, had to pay tribute to the metropolis. Carthage e.g. was a dependency of Tyre. This was out of necessity: the Phoenicians lacked the population to establish large self-sustaining cities abroad and most of their colonial towns had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, with Carthage being one of the few exceptions. The settlements were made on the two paths to Iberia’s mineral wealth: a) along the North African coast, and b) on Sicily, Sardinia and the Balearics.^(c) They paid tribute to either Tyre or Sidon, but neither had actual control on them. This rule changed ca 650 BCΕ when Carthage gained independence from Tyre, establishing hegemony over other Phoenician colonies in the West. While some of them willingly submitted, paying tribute and giving up their foreign policy, others in Iberia and Sardinia resisted. Carthage sent troops there and appointed magistrates, retaining direct control over them. It was a policy rigidly enforced during the Punic Wars, when Carthage had become the undisputed ruler of all Phoenicians, and resulted in a number of Iberian towns siding with the Romans. If that was the treatment reserved for their own people, their kindred, one can easily imagine what would happen to all the rest.

• ^(c) What was the purpose of the Phoenician colonies on the ‘second path to Iberia’s mineral wealth’? The first one was the ‘natural’ seaway linking Phoenicia with Iberia sailing by the North African coast. The second path was the ‘natural’ seaway linking Greece with Iberia voyaging from island to island. Therefore, this was not a trade route for the Phoenicians. Its exclusive purpose was to block the Hellenes sailing west: it was of strategic importance.

Dido building Carthage (The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire), by J.M.W. Turner, 1815

According to Greek historians, Elissa, renamed as Dido in Virgil‘s Aeneid, was the founder of Carthage. The city was built on a promontory – a location that made it master of maritime trade in the Mediterranean. All ships crossing the sea had to sail between Tunisia and Sicily, affording the city great power and influence. Founded in 814 BCΕ, it was one of the largest cities in Hellenistic times (by some estimates, only Alexandria was larger). The Punics, unlike other Phoenicians, had a landowning aristocracy who established a rule of the hinterland in Northern Africa and trans-Saharan trade routes. In addition, unlike the Romans, and despite the lack of manpower, Punic citizenship was exclusive, and the goal of the state was more focused on protecting commerce. The citizens were exempt from taxation and were primarily involved in this domain as traders or workers. As a result, Carthage could not afford to wage long wars, as commercial activities slowed down.^(d) The war machine, however, was very efficient. Its navy was one of the largest in the Mediterranean, using serial production to maintain high numbers at low cost, while the army included the now extinct North African elephants trained for war. The city turned west and became the ‘middleman’ between mineral resource-rich Iberia and the East. The eastward expansion along the African coast (through Libya) was blocked by the Greek colony of Cyrene, established in 630 BCΕ. The wars against the Hellenes were due to the vulnerability of the Punic economy to Greek competition, as the products ‘Made in Carthage’ were inferior to Hellenic goods. The Greek colonists posed a twofold threat: a) undercutting the Phoenicians by offering better products; and b) taking over the distribution network.

Dido and the walled city of Carthage, medal, ca 1550 CE

• ^(d) This contradiction is the superpowers’ Achilles’ heel. Carthage, as a commercial empire, would prefer peace, but as a commercial empire, had to conduct wars continuously – and this is what happened in fact, first against the Hellenes and then against the Romans. Moreover, the Punic citizens remained a small, privileged but vulnerable minority until the end because of their refusal to grant privileges to their neighbours in order to integrate them into their society; this in addition obliged them to rely more and more on mercenaries during the wars. This would prove fatal for Carthage

The wars against the Hellenes were due to the vulnerability of the Punic economy to Greek competition, as the products ‘Made in Carthage’ were inferior to Hellenic goods. The Greek colonists posed a twofold threat:
a) undercutting the Phoenicians by offering better products; and
b) taking over the distribution network.

Punic gold coin with a horse

The empire depended heavily on its trade with Tartessos and Iberia in general, from which it obtained vast quantities of silver, lead, copper and, even more importantly, tin ore, which was essential for the manufacture of bronze. Carthage’s trade relations with the Iberians and the naval might that enforced its monopoly on this trade and with tin-rich Britain allowed it to be the sole significant broker of tin and maker of bronze. This monopoly, one of the major sources of power and prosperity for Carthage, should be maintained at any cost; a Punic sea merchant would rather crash his ship upon the rocky shores of Britain than reveal to any antagonist how it could be safely approached. In addition to being the sole significant distributor of tin, its central location in the Mediterranean and control of the waters between Sicily and Tunisia allowed it to check the eastern nations’ supply of tin, as well. Carthage was also the largest producer of silver, mined in Iberia and North Africa, and, after the tin monopoly, this was one of its most profitable trades. The purple dye was also one of the most highly valued commodities, being worth 15-20 times its weight in gold. Ancient sources concur that Carthage via its trade had become perhaps the wealthiest city in the world. However, without the monopoly on trade with Tartessos and Iberia at large, the Punic Empire was inconceivable. The leaders of Carthage should have been conscious of that when they replaced the Canaanites as overlords of Iberia ca 575 BCΕ. The voyage of the Massaliote Phocaeans to Tartessos might have taken place sometime afterwards. The friendship between king Arganthonios and the Greeks must have greatly annoyed Carthage that felt its monopoly was at stake. It was urgent to take some action against the ‘intruders’, in order to establish itself as the greatest economic and military power in the western Mediterranean.

Without the monopoly on trade with Tartessos and Iberia at large,
the Punic Empire was inconceivable.

Trireme, a mosaic from Carthage

This ‘action’ took place in the Tyrrhenian Sea ca 537 BCΕ. It was the historic Battle of Alalia. When the metropolis Phocaea fell to Persia, most citizens chose to move to Alalia (Aléria since Roman times), their colony in Corsica. This resulted to a decline of Punic and Etruscan trade there and led Carthage and Etruria to become allies. Their joint fleet of 120 ships, disguised as a pirate force, was defeated by just 60 Phocaean ships carrying migrants to the colony. It would have been a great victory in tactics for the Hellenic side, which destroyed an enemy force twice as large; but the Greeks lost almost two-thirds of their own fleet. Herodotus commented that it was a Cadmean victory – what would soon be also described as a Pyrrhic victory.^(e) Realizing that they could not withstand another attack, the Hellenes evacuated Corsica, and sought refuge in Rhegion. According to a legend, Greek prisoners were stoned to death by the Etruscans, while the (more practical) Punics sold them into slavery. Etruria got hold of Corsica, and Carthage kept Sardinia. The Punics would fight two more major naval battles with Massalia, losing both, but still managing to safeguard Iberia and close the Pillars of Heracles, the Straits of Gibraltar, to Hellenic shipping, thus containing the Greek expansion in Iberia by 480 BCΕ; the Massaliotes, nevertheless, made no gains and just kept control of their Iberian colonies. It seemed as if the status quo remained in place. But in reality, in southern Iberia a great tragedy had just unfolded with the collapse of the Tartessian civilization.

King Pyrrhus of Epirus

• ^(e) Cadmean is a victory involving one’s own ruin; from Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes, who required water from a spring guarded by a water-dragon and all his companions perished. Herodotus could not know the subsequent similar phrase Pyrrhic victory, i.e. one achieved at such a devastating cost that it is a prelude to defeat. It is named after Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans twice in 280-279 BCΕ during the Pyrrhic War. The Romans suffered even greater casualties but had a much larger supply of men. Pyrrhus is reported as saying: “Another such victory and I come back to Epirus alone”.

Some authors consider that this victory/defeat of the Phocaeans in Alalia and the lack of Greek traders in Tartessos led to the collapse… Here we go again! During all those centuries of development, these authors saw only Phoenicians trading there. But, all of a sudden, the Hellenic commerce became so vital for the Tartessians’ survival that they died out when the Punics cut the “oxygen” off! Some other scholars offer the alternative of an “armed conflict”, but in general terms, for they avoid being precise as to who was fighting whom. There are also versions of the Tartessian tragedy that specify both the perpetrators and time: “The Punics brought about the collapse by 530 BC”. Carthage must have put Tartessos in ‘quarantine’ sometime after the death of Arganthonios in 550 BCΕ. This is the reason why ten years later, with the Punics and Etruscans allied against the Greeks, the Tartessians did not remain ‘prudently neutral’: they stood by the Hellenes – and paid dearly for that. The situation did not allow ‘luxuries’ such as neutralities.

Gadir > Gadeira > Gades > Cádiz: a map of a much later period where the three old islets (Erytheia, Kotinoussa, Antipolis)
have become one.

Emboldened by the outcome of the Battle of Alalia, the Punics unleashed such a ‘reign of terror’ that even their own kindred in Gadir turned against them. The Punics besieged promptly the fraternal Canaanite city and captured it. The Gaditans suffered so much and for so long that in 206 BCΕ, during the second Punic War, they rebelled against Carthage and, when their city fell to the Romans, they welcomed the victors. Of course, the new overlords were no better: in just one year the Romans’ presence was shaken by a mutiny and an Iberian uprising against them… There was at least one aspect where the Canaanites proved to be greater than the Punics: Some time after the latter had taken over Gadir, the Persian king Cambyses became master of Egypt and Cyrene in 525 BCΕ. Carthage was then spared a trial of arms against the Persian Empire, since the Canaanites refused to lend ships to the Persians for an African expedition against their own kindred. It seems that at least for the Canaanites, unlike the Punics, blood ties were still important. However, even without losing a war, the Punic Empire may have paid tribute irregularly to the Great King of Kings.

Carthage was spared a trial of arms against the Persian Empire,
since the Canaanites refused to lend ships to the Persians
for an African expedition against their own kindred.

Bronce Carriazo: a Tartessian bronze plaque found near Seville representing a local goddess of the marshes and assimilated to Astarte and Hathor

Carthage proceeded to destroy Tartessos and drive the Greeks away from southern Iberia, defending its trade monopoly in the western Mediterranean vigilantly, with attacks on the merchant ships of its rivals. Historical reports indicate that Tartessos had little military defense as its success was always based on trade and friendly relations with its neighbours. This is hard to believe, however, for the kingdom was so wealthy that many Iberian tribes would covet this land. There should have been defensive walls and deterrent land and sea forces, that is, army and navy. As for the date of the catastrophe, in several historical texts we can find one that sets the date as 533 BCΕ that is consistent with what was cited above (“by 530 BC”), and another one sometime later, around 500 BCΕ. We cannot be sure if the two dates refer to the same event or if there was an “armed conflict” between the Tartessians and the Punics that lasted about thirty years. “It is reported”, we can read in one of those texts, “that around 500 BC Tartessos was attacked by the Carthaginians, who destroyed the capital and left it without protection from the sea”. It makes sense if we remember those accounts that Tartessos had a sophisticated system to regulate the river flow, and also its supposed similarity to Atlantis.

Auletris (aulos playing woman), Iberian high-relief of the Osuna sculptures (Seville province, end of 3rd or beginning of 2nd century BCE)

The abrupt disappearance, and the fact that its capital has never been found, led to lots of speculation: how could such an important civilization disappear without leaving traces? If the capital eludes us, there are other Tartessian cities that can ‘speak’ the truth. Balsa and Tavira in the Algarve were violently destroyed in the end of the 6th century, probably together with the capital and other sites, when the Punics proceeded to impose their iron will. It is claimed that Mainake, the Hellenic colony founded near Málaga under the aegis of Tartessos, was destroyed at the same time, too. We also know that during that century many Canaanite colonies were deserted. We cannot be sure if this was connected with Phoenicia’s decline, or Carthage’s ‘ethnic cleansing’ operations, or both. It is a pity that, despite the numerous excavations, it has not been possible to locate with certainty either Mainake or Akra Leuké in Alicante, or even Tartessos, of course. Whatever the result of these efforts, the ancient texts that mention these cities cannot be ignored; otherwise, the story of Tartessos and its demise should be treated as fiction, as well…

“Tartessos was attacked by the Carthaginians, who destroyed the capital and left it without protection from the sea”. (“Tartesso delenda est”)

King Arganthonios of Tartessos

There is a tendency to present the Canaanites as “peaceful colonists”, while the Punics as “warlike colonialists”. We have seen the Phoenicians acting in a manner anything but peaceful whenever they could “manage” the adversary.^(f) In a text about the History of old Onuba (Huelva), apart from numerous open questions and hypotheses,^(g) we have certain interesting data presented. It seems that Tartessos began gradually sinking into crisis and decline in the 8th century BCΕ at a time when there was a co-existence of Phoenician and Hellenic colonies like Gadir and Portus Menesthei, which is identified as a Phocaean site.^(h) The author is impressed by the closeness of the Greek site to the Tartessian capital and notes that the archaeologists in Huelva have observed a decrease in Phoenician pottery, in parallel with an increase in Hellenic ceramics of far better quality. The worsening of the situation in the next century is manifested by the almost total disappearance of open settlements together with the walling of cities. In the 6th century we notice the outbreak of another crisis evidenced by the decrease of mineral exports. Its tragic climax is attested with the destruction of Tartessos by the Punics because it sided with the Hellenes. It is worth noting that the conquerors had no intention to eliminate just the identity features of the conquered, indicating how merciless this confrontation had been, equal to what we now describe as ‘genocide’. The descendant culture of the Turdetani in southern Andalusia marks a return to the socio-economic features of the late Atlantic Bronze Age within the Iron Age conditions of the 5th century BCΕ, which is translated as a regression of at least three centuries.

The map shows only one Greek colony in Iberia: Emporion. The other settlements are all local or Phoenician. So, by what magic wand did the blue of the Hellenic cultural influence spread and how could it penetrate the Phoenician sphere of influence?

• ^(f) Certainly, this mentality has not been a Phoenician peculiarity but a human characteristic: virtually everyone acts likewise. The Hellenes e.g. very often acted as the “bullies” of antiquity (although this feature sometimes saved them, as it happened during the Persian Wars). As regards the Canaanites, let’s go back to Chronicle 5 on the Sea Peoples. We have seen that one of them, “the Tjeker, moving to Canaan, captured the city-state of Dor and turned it into a large, well-fortified capital of their kingdom. Dor was violently destroyed in the mid-11th century BCΕ by the expanding Phoenicians, who were checked by the Philistines, and then by the Hebrews.” And, of course, except these minor local powers that blocked Phoenician expansion, there were also superpowers, such as the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians. Conclusion: There was absolutely no room for Phoenician expansion in the Levant.

Hellenic helmet, Asta Regia (Jerez de la Frontera), close to Portus Menesthei

• ^(g) The author seems to be obsessed with the Greeks, presenting them as a destabilizing factor, allegedly terrorizing the countryside and promoting their goods by force! He admits, however, that these goods were better in quality (in such cases, the ones who resort to violence are the monopolists with less attractive products in order to avoid free competition). He also makes clear that all his hypotheses are not based on archaeological finds.

• ^(h) Amid all this speculation and conjecture, he claims that the 8th century BC was “a time when Phoenician and Greek colonies, such as Gadir and Portus Menesthei, coexisted”. When did this actually happen? Was it in the 8th or in the 6th century? In the previous Chronicle both versions were presented:

…“the Greek cities on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia probably appeared on the map after the foundation of Massalia ca 600 BCΕ”. However, “the Greeks of the Homeric era – or their products at least – arrived at Iberian ports in the 8th century BCΕ. Those that transported the Hellenic ware and other goods might very well have been the Phoenicians… What the Phoenician ships could not transport and, therefore, made the Greek presence absolutely necessary in Iberia, was Hellenic culture, art, ideas, architectural models, burial habits, and so on.”

The Battle of Salamis, by Wilhelm von Kaulbach

After imposing ‘Pax Punica’ in southern Iberia, Carthage turned its attention to another land of strategic importance mostly controlled by the Hellenes: Sicily. The Punics planned the largest overseas expedition thus far: after three years of preparations, they sailed for Sicily. It was the outbreak of the first Sicilian War,⁽ⁱ⁾ which coincided with Xerxes’ expedition against Greece in 480 BCΕ, prompting speculation about a possible alliance between Carthage and Persia. But even without an official pact, Carthage should have timed its expedition with that of the Achaemenids to exclude the possibility of any aid sent from Hellas to Sicily. The outcome of both expeditions was disastrous for the invaders. For the Phoenicians it was a double defeat: not only of the Punics in Sicily, but also of the Canaanites fighting in the naval Battle of Salamis under Persian orders. The repercussions brought sweeping changes in Carthage: an oligarchic Republic was then established, and also an isolationist policy was followed for the next 70 years when Carthage took no action against the Greeks, nor even aided any of their rivals. Economically, sea-borne trade with the East was cut off by the Greeks in Hellas, while the cities of Magna Graecia boycotted Punic merchants. This led to the development of trade with the West and of caravan-borne trade with the East. Focus was shifted on the exploration and expansion in Africa and Europe. This isolationism explains why the two great maritime empires in the 5th century BCΕ, Carthage and Athens, were not engaged in war. In this period Athens began massive exports of pottery to Iberia, especially in the southeast. But again, as in the previous Canaanite era of Iberia, the archaeologists do not know yet what ships transported the ware, Punic or Athenian.

• ⁽ⁱ⁾ Essentially, the three Sicilian Wars or, more properly, the Greek-Punic Wars, were a lamentable continuation of the relentless ‘tradition’ of civil war between Hellenic cities, with Carthage being always involved, changing sides, and finally winning the lion’s share. These wars, the longest lasting conflicts of classical antiquity (600-265 BCΕ), would culminate in the Punic Wars and end with Carthage being razed to the ground by the Romans.

Alexander with Heracles’ lion sculp, cast stone plaque, 1st-4th century CE

While Carthage was engaged in another Sicilian War, the rise of Macedon under Philip II and Alexander the Great saw the defeat of the city-states in Greece and the fall of the Achaemenid Empire. All the Phoenician cities in Canaan had submitted except Tyre that was besieged and sacked in 332 BCΕ. The rise of Hellenistic Greece gradually ousted the last remnants of Phoenicia’s former dominance over the trade routes of the eastern Mediterranean, and its culture disappeared entirely in the motherland. The Punics were the last of the Phoenicians. Alexander was raising a fleet in Cilicia for the invasion of Carthage, Italy and Iberia when he died in 323 BCΕ, sparing Carthage a perilous ordeal. Battles of the Diadochi and the three-way struggle among Antigonid Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria were again good news for Carthage avoiding conflicts with the successors. Trade relations were reinstated with Egypt, together with sea-borne access to the eastern markets for the first time since 480 BCΕ. It seemed as if Carthage had also inherited the Phoenicians’ good fortune, since two superpowers, the Persian and Macedonian, could not realize their plans to campaign against its domain. The confrontation with Rome, however, would prove to be inevitable. The Punic Wars were a series of three wars that lasted from 264 to 146 BCΕ. The first one was fought for the control of Sicily. Finally, Carthage evacuated it and paid a large war indemnity. The end of the war found Rome with a large navy able to prevent sea-borne invasion of Italy, control sea trade routes, and invade foreign shores. Sardinia and Corsica were also seized, while Carthage had plunged into another war with its mercenaries. Rome finally emerged as the most powerful state in the western Mediterranean.

The rise of Hellenistic Greece ousted the remnants of Phoenicia’s former dominance over trade routes and its culture disappeared in the motherland. The Punics were the last of the Phoenicians. Alexander was raising a fleet
for the invasion of Carthage, Italy and Iberia when he died…

Hannibal’s feat in crossing the Alps with elephants, though many did not survive,
passed into European legend: detail of a fresco by Jacopo Ripanda, ca 1510

Carthage spent the years after the war improving its finances and expanding its empire in Hispania (Iberia), preparing for the next war that is most remembered for Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps with elephants. He resoundingly defeated the Romans in several battles, but was not able to cause a break between Rome and its allies. Far more important, despite his many pleas, he never received sufficient reinforcements, as Carthage opted to send extra forces only to its source of wealth, Iberia. Thus Hannibal was unable to achieve his goal of ultimately conquering Rome and winning the war. This gave self-confidence to the Romans, while they were fighting simultaneously in Italy, Iberia, Sicily, and also against Carthage’s ally, Macedon. Finally, the war was taken to Africa, where Carthage was defeated and its control reduced to only the city itself. The resurgence of hostilities fifty years later was linked with anti-Roman agitations in Iberia and Hellas, and the recovery of Punic wealth and power. Cato the Elder gave the motto for the annihilation of Carthage ending all his speeches, no matter what the topic, by saying: “Carthago delenda est” – “Carthage must be destroyed”. Rome presented a series of unacceptable demands, finally claiming that Carthage be demolished and rebuilt away from the coast, deep into Africa. In 146 BCΕ, after a three-year siege, it was systematically sacked and burned to the ground, with the fields salted to make the land completely infertile and useless for future generations.^(j) No Punic war records exist, since the books of Carthage’s library were distributed among the African tribes and none remain on Punic history: Elissa-Dido was finally deprived of her immortal fame…

• ^(j) Ares Alexandrou, Ascent:

…“remain there and look on to the end
look at them, those with keys and others with handcuffs
who’ll be demolishing \ as allies
roofs bridges wells
look at them
while they’ll be levelling down the town you’ve built
and sowing it with salt.”

“Ceterum censeo, Carthago delenda est”. (Cato the Elder)

• >> Chronicle 9. IBERIA IMPARTIALLY VIEWED
• << Chronicle 7a. “We Don’t Need No Thought Control”

Elissa-Dido was finally deprived of her immortal fame…

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Chronicle 7. AN IBERIAN PERIPLUS REVIVAL

Chronicle 7. AN IBERIAN PERIPLUS REVIVAL

/ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ/ Χρονικό 7. ΑΝΑΒΙΩΣΗ ΠΕΡΙΠΛΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΙΒΗΡΙΑΣ

● Tartessos ● Colonies in Iberia, Maurusia and Provence ● Tin and Silver Routes Through Gaul and Iberia ● Abdera, Democritus, Plato ● Hellenic Awakening from the Lethargic “Dark Ages”

by Michales Loukovikas

 
THE PHOENICIANS started building their trading monopoly in the 11th century BCE, after the Sea Peoples‘ raids and the Bronze Age collapse, enjoying a free hand while their antagonists were passing through a “Dark Age”. Arriving at the other side of the Mediterranean, they became trading ‘partners’ with the ‘silver’ Tartessians. Profiting from the wealth of the region and also from the hospitality of the locals, a few Phoenicians settled in their cities. This was implied by Strabo when he wrote that “the best cities of Tartessos were inhabited by the Phoenicians”.

Phoenician gold ring with two dolphins, one of the symbols of Gadir

Later they obtained a harbour of their own nearby. It was Gadir, the ‘walled city’, called Gadeira by the Greeks and Gades by the Romans (modern Cádiz).^(a) Its founding is dated traditionally to 1104 BCE although no archaeological strata there can be dated earlier than the 9th century. Thus we assume that in its earliest days it was merely a small seasonal trading post. According to Hellenic legend, the city was founded by Heracles on Erytheia, Geryon‘s island, after killing him. One of its notable features in antiquity was the temple dedicated to the Phoenician god Melqart, associated with Heracles by the Greeks. It was still standing during the 1st century, and some historians, based in part on this information, believe that the columns of this temple were the origin of the myth of the Pillars of Heracles.

• ^(a) Gadir means wall, fort, and this in turn means that the walls were the distinctive feature of the city in an area and era when cities were probably not walled. It also implies that the Phoenicians felt the need of such protective walls. Consequently, their relations with the locals were based on anything but in good faith since the beginning.

Soon the entire coastline around this strategic area on both seas, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, as well as on both continents, Europe and Africa, was full of Phoenician settlements. However, they were more densely concentrated there in the south than further up the coast. Thus the Hellenes, when they finally re-appeared on the scene, were able to establish their own trading emporia along the northeastern coast before venturing into the Phoenician zone. Encouraged by the Tartessians, who probably desired to end the Phoenician economic monopoly, the Greeks founded Mainake (or Maenaca), very close to the Phoenician Malaca, on the coast of Málaga. The Massaliote Periplus, which gives an account of a sea voyage in the 6th century BCE, places Mainake under the aegis and in the dominion of Tartessos: Iberia was far too important for anyone to ignore…

Tartessos, with Phoenician and Greek colonies: its core area is shown in green, with its sphere of influence spreading in the entire southern Iberia.

Regarding the uncertainty on the whereabouts of Mainake, Strabo in his Geographica pointed out that its ruins, close to Malaca, could still be seen in his time (64 BCE – 24 CE); and collated the regular Greek urban plan versus the haphazard Semitic layout of the Phoenician site, whose location suggests it was a more dense and irregular urban cluster than neighbouring Mainake.^(b) However, even if we are still puzzled about the latter’s exact site and life span, the Hellenic cities on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia probably appeared on the map after the foundation of Massalia (modern Marseille) ca 600 BCE by Phocaeans from Ionia in Asia Minor – something that the Punics had tried but failed to prevent. Massalia became a thriving trading centre and a major rival of Carthage for the Iberian markets and especially the tin trade through Gaul.

• ^(b) The ‘father’ of urban planning was Hippodamus (Ἱππόδαμος, 498-408 BCE), an urban planner, architect, mathematician, physician, meteorologist and philosopher from Miletus, hence the Hippodamian plan of city layouts. What is most impressive in his plan is a wide central area that was kept unsettled and in time evolved to the ‘agora’, the centre of both the city and the citizens.

The Greek Colony of Marseille, by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1869)

The Phocaeans then founded Alalia in Corsica ca 566 BCE, and later moved towards Iberia. There are certain popular theories that at least one of their settlements, Rhode (today’s Roses) at the northeastern tip of Iberia, goes back to the 8th century BCE, and that the colonists were from the Aegean island of Rhodes; but it seems more probable that it was founded in the 5th century BCE by Massaliotes, perhaps with an admixture of colonists from nearby Emporion (modern Empúries). Maybe, as in the case of the Phoenician settlement in Gadir, Rhode was nothing more than a small seasonal trading post in the 8th century; or perhaps the colonists that settled there three centuries later were mainly Rhodians serving in the Massaliote army, along with Cretans, in a special force charged with surveying the Carthaginian movements in southern Iberia.

Hellenic colonies in Provence and Corsica

Popular theories should not be discredited without serious thought and research just because they are ‘popular’; those about Rhode certainly were not born without a reason. Sailing towards Provence, we learn that traders from Rhodes were visiting the coast in the 7th century BCE. Rhodian pottery from that century has been found in the area of Marseille, near Istres and Martigues, and at Évenos, near Toulon. The Rhône (Greek Rhodanós), the main river of Provence, and the ancient town of Rhodanousia were named after the island of Rhodes. There is still a problem of a time gap of one century with the supposed Iberian settlement of Rhode; but at any rate the Rhodian traces in Provence precede those of the Phocaeans, the founders of Massalia. Hellenes from other cities of Ionia also traded in the western Mediterranean as far as Iberia, but very little remains from that period. It is obvious that the Phocaeans had arrived there not just to trade but also to settle. A foundation myth reported by Aristotle in the 4th century BCE as well as by Latin authors symbolizes the intermarriage between Hellenes and locals, recounting how a Phocaean named Protis (or Euxenus) married a local princess called Gyptis (or Petta), thus giving him the right to receive a piece of land where he could found a city. Contacts developed undisputedly from 600 BCE onwards between Celts, Ligures and Greeks in Massalia and other colonies such as Agde, Nice, Antibes, Monaco, Emporion and Rhode.

The Vix Krater, an imported Greek wine-mixing metal vessel, the largest known from antiquity (1.63 m in height), found in the famous grave of the Celt “Lady of Vix”;
ca 500 BCE

According to Charles Ebel writing in the 1960s, “Massalia was not an isolated Greek city, but had developed an Empire of its own along the coast of southern Gaul by the 4th century”. This idea of a Massalian Empire, nevertheless, is no longer accepted by several skeptical scholars in the light of recent archaeological evidence, which shows that Massalia’s chora (agricultural territory under its direct control) was never large enough. The same skeptics also dispute the idea of a Hellenization of southern France due to Massalia. However, its influence was felt all through France to Brittany because of the Massaliotes’ trade relations with the Celts, especially for the transport of tin from Brittany and even Cornwall. It seems that a Tin Route, indispensable for the manufacture of bronze, was established at that time from Cornwall, through the Channel, along the Seine valley, Burgundy and the Rhône-Saône valleys to Massalia. During his conquest of Gaul, Caesar reported that the Helvetii were in possession of documents in Hellenic, and all Gaulish coins used the Greek script until about 50 BCE. By that time the Massaliote coinage circulated freely in Gaul, influencing coinage as far afield as Britain. Hellenic Marseille eventually became a centre of culture which drew several Roman parents to send their children there to be educated.

A Tin Route, indispensable for the manufacture of bronze, was established from Cornwall through the Channel, along the Seine valley, Burgundy and the Rhône-Saône valleys to Massalia.

In memory of the Zákantha citizens who determined to die rather than fall into Punic hands in 218-19 BCE, by Agustín Querol

In our Massaliote Periplus revival, we set sail from Massalia, leaving Rhode and Emporion behind, and drop anchor between Barcinón and Callípolis. Legends say that Barcinón, modern Barcelona, was founded either by Heracles in the middle of the 12th century BCE,^(c) or Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal’s father, in the second half of the 3rd century BCE. At the same time, the Laietani, a Thracian–Iberian people, settled in the area where since the 6th century there had already been the small Greek colony of Callípolis, referred to by Avienus in his Ora maritima, and sometimes identified with Barcinón. However, Callípolis should have been at some distance off, between Tàrraco (Tarragona) and the Hellenic port of Salauris (Salou), in the Costa Daurada (Golden Coast) of Catalonia.

Sailing on while keeping a steady southwestward course, we arrive at Zákantha or Arse, founded by Greeks from the island of Zákynthos in the 7th century BCE. It was captured and destroyed by Hannibal in 219 BCE during the Second Punic War after eight months of heroic resistance related by Livy, and was rebuilt by the Romans who transcribed it as Saguntum, hence its current name of Sagunto.

The Argonauts’ route according to Apollonius: they never got close to Iberia…

• ^(c) The legend about Heracles founding Barcelona is not linked to his colonizing effort in Andalusia that followed two of his labours there (the 10th and 11th: Geryon and the Hesperides). His passage from Catalonia is linked to a different version of the myth of the Argonauts in which Jason’s expedition involved not only the Argo but nine ships in all. One of them was lost during a storm off the Catalan coast, and Heracles eventually found it wrecked by a small hill, but with the crew saved. These Argonauts were so taken by the beauty of the place that they founded the city of Barca Nona (“Ninth Boat”). Well, it is not only that the city’s name resembles that of Barcelona only in Latin; one also needs to remember that Heracles deserted the Argonauts (or else… they deserted him) while he was searching for his companion, Hylas, in the beginning of the expedition, when the Argo was still in the Sea of Marmara. Others say that Heracles went as far as Colchis with the Argonauts, got the Girdle of the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta, and then slew the Stymphalian Birds (his 9th and 6th labours, respectively, organized not in a chronological order). Whatever the case, he could not build Barcelona because he was not among the Argonauts when they fled from Colchis wandering afterwards in the Mediterranean.^(*)

• ^(*) There have been several versions of the Argonaut’s expedition – about their route, even the crew. There is unanimity on the way they voyaged to Colchis; but colossal differences about their way back. Pindar (c. 522 – c. 443 BCE) e.g., the celebrated lyric poet, wrote in his 4th Pythian ode that Jason went eastwards (not westwards) and, through the Phasis and Cyrus rivers (Rioni and Kura), sailed out to the Caspian Sea and, based on the geographic knowledge of the time, to the Oceanus River encircling the earth. Then he turned south and west, voyaging as far as the Red Sea and thus returning to the Mediterranean. Herodorus of Heraclea (between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE) adopted a more realistic approach that the Argonauts used the same route back home. The historian Timaeus of Tauromenium (modern Taormina in Sicily, c. 345 – c. 250 BCE), maybe inspired by the great European periplus of his contemporary Pytheas of Massalia (c. 350 – c. 285 BCE, see Chronicle 1. Sailing Around / Periplus), gave a wider scope to the Argonautic nostos. Through the Maeotis lake and Tanais river (Azov and Don), he claimed, Jason found his way up to the Baltic Sea and then, sailing by Europe, he returned to Iolcus. The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BCE), the only surviving Hellenistic epic, is far more detailed and adventurous (see the map above), but never goes beyond Italy. Finally, the Argonautica Orphica, written several centuries later (5th–6th centuries CE) but in the name of Orpheus who was one of the Argonauts (ca 1300 BCE), borrows from all the above, but emphasizes the role of the Thracian musician, poet, and prophet. The narration is more mythological, probably because of the unknown author’s everyday life in a hostile Christian environment, after the old gods were violently thrown out (see our next additional Chronicle). In the beginning he adopts the Pindaric version, but as soon as he finds himself in the Caspian waters, he follows in Timaeus’ steps and turns north, not south: the river now is not Don but the even longer Volga, and the result, of course, is another periplus of Europe.
  

The secret of the Orphic song was not loudness: just one male voice against so many Sirens could never prevail. The secret was its quality, a kind of music they had never listened before,
that drowned out their song and eventually the Sirens themselves.

Back from the European to our Iberian periplus. After Valentia (Valencia), our course turns to the Southeast due to a land projection along the coast of Iberia. Sailing past this peninsula formed by Montgó Massif, we visit the first port marked on the map of Tartessos, Hēmeroskopeion, located in modern Dénia, in the Valencian province of Alicante. Its name means Watchtower in Hellenic and it reflects the first use of the lofty promontory as such. According to Strabo, the town was also called Artemisium, from the cape where it was situated, together with a temple of Artemis. It was another colony of the Massaliote Greeks along with two more small settlements in the area, the names of which have not survived. The Romans called it Dianium, whence the modern name, from Diana, as Artemis was called in Latin. Apart from its strategic location, the city was equally important for some iron mines nearby. Next stop is Akra Leuké, also founded by the Massaliotes ca 325 BCE on a White Promontory or Acropolis as its name indicates. The city passed to the Carthaginians who used it as a military base and trade post. Its Punic name is not known, but the Romans called it Castrum Album, which means almost the same. Most archaeologists agree that the Roman Lucentum (Luminous city) is Akra Leuké and also the modern city of Alicante.

Lady of Elche

Helice, modern Elche (Elx in Valencian), was founded around 600 BCE near Akra Leuké to the South. The Achaean settlers named it after their native city.^(d) Destroyed by Hannibal, it was rebuilt by the Romans as Ilici. A small walled coastal settlement, the Roman Portus Ilicitanus, or Harbour of Elche, cited by Claudius Ptolemy in his Geography, is today’s Santa Pola. It was constructed with a regular layout in the Greek tradition near the Vinalopó River in the 4th century BCE, and served as an emporion oriented to Greek-Iberian exchange. But it had a brief life (around 80 years), which is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the Massaliote colony Alonai or Alonis was there. So, despite Ptolemy’s mention that creates more confusion, attention was recently turned to the nearby town of La Vila Joiosa as a possible location of this colony. Anyway, the increasing amount of archaeological evidence for a Greek presence in Santa Pola, combined with the Graeco-Iberian script used in Alicante and Murcia, confirm the long direct contact between Greeks and Iberians in the region. The celebrated Lady of Elche, a once polychrome stone bust of a woman, is the most important find. It is considered as an example of Iberian sculpture with strong Hellenic influences.

Bronze coin with the patron Poseidon and the inscription ELIK(e), and a trident flanked by dolphins on the reverse

• ^(d) Helice or Helike (Ἑλίκη) was an ancient Greek city in Achaea, in the north of the Peloponnese, which disappeared a winter night in 373 BCE. It was thought to be a legend like Tartessos until 2001, when it was rediscovered in the Helice delta. The catastrophe is attributed to an earthquake and accompanying tsunami, causing the area to sink into the earth and be covered by the sea. All the inhabitants perished without a trace, despite a search and rescue effort involving 2000 men. The only thing that was left there were a few building tops projecting from the sea. Around 174 CE Pausanias reported that the walls of the ancient city were still visible under the water. Others said that Roman ‘tourists’ frequently sailed over the site, admiring the city’s statuary. As time passed the site silted over and the location sank into oblivion. Modern scholars argue that the submergence of Helice might have inspired Plato to write his story about Atlantis.

Mastia > Qart Hadasht > Cartago Nova > Cartagena

The trading contacts of southeastern Iberia with Tartessos, Hellas, Magna Graecia and Phoenicia, with the influences absorbed, gave rise to an Iberian culture called the Contestani by Pliny and Strabo. Cartagena, originally named Mastia or Massia, was in this territory. Mastia (or Massia) was also the name of an Iberian tribe allied to the Tartessian confederation. The first description of the city of Mastia with high walls appears in the Massaliote Periplus and then in Avienus’ Ora maritima. There is also a reference to Mastia in a treaty between Rome and Carthage in 348 BCE, marking the boundary between them in Iberia. Its mineral wealth, fisheries, agriculture, and harbour, one of the best in the Western Mediterranean, attracted the Punics who re-founded it in 228 BCE as Qart Hadasht (‘New City’), identically named to its metropolis. The Romans renamed it as Carthago Nova in order to distinguish it from the mother city. The importance the Punics attached to this “new city” to serve as their Iberian capital and a springboard for the conquest of the peninsula proves that Gadir could not serve this purpose, also because of their antagonism with the Phoenician Gaditanian aristocracy that would explode later in open hostility.

Serapis or Asclepius, Hellenistic sculpture found in a temple of Emporion.

Entering the Punic sphere, we come to realize the way the Phoenician colonial network was created: through infiltration of already existing settlements that soon passed under their full control – without excluding the use of violence in case the locals resisted. By contrast, the Hellenes, especially the Ionians such as the Phocaeans and the Massaliotes, contrary to the tactics of the Dorians, had a quite different approach. Referring to the foundation of Emporion, Strabo wrote:

“The Emporians lived before on an islet off the coast that now is called Palaiápolis [old city], for they live now on the mainland. Emporion is a double city, being divided by a wall, having before, as neighbours, some Indigetes [an indigenous tribe]… For they became united after some time in a single state, consisting of barbarian and Hellenic laws, as it also happened in many other cities.”

Therefore, there were three phases of colonization: a) a separate settlement; b) peaceful coexistence as neighbours after a spirit of mutual trust had been established through cooperation; c) a commonwealth.

The Greeks and the natives “became united after some time in a single state, consisting of barbarian and Hellenic laws, as it also happened in many other cities.” (Strabo)

The Contestani’s neighbours to the Southwest were the Bastetani or Bastuli. Their main towns, Baria, Abdera, Sexi, Malaca, Carteia, and Bailo, are mostly mentioned as Phoenician colonies. Baria, the present-day fishing village of Villaricos, is said to have financed Hannibal’s campaigns from the local silver mines. As for Abdera (today’s Adra), it was a seaport town used by the Carthaginians as an emporium. Very few present it as a former Greek colony.^(e) Ex or Sexi is modern Almuñécar; some of its inhabitants still call themselves sexitanos. The Phoenician colony was planted there in about 800 BCE.

Diomedes Devoured by His Horses, by Gustave Moreau

• ^(e) It is not the first time that places allegedly connected with Phoenicians or Punics are known by Hellenic names. We can see that in the case of Abdera in either Thrace or Andalusia. According to myth, both cities were founded by Heracles in memory of his companion, Abderus, who was devoured by either Diomedes’ mares or Geryon’s cattle during the 8th or 10th Heraclean labours respectively. Historically, Abdera (Ἄβδηρα), a city-state on the coast of Thrace, 17 km northeast of the mouth of the Nestos River and almost opposite Thasos, in the present-day region of Xanthe, was founded as a colony of Clazomenae in 654 BCE. Its prosperity, however, dates from 544 BCE, when most of the people of Teos (including the poet Anacreon) migrated to Abdera to escape the Persian yoke. Clazomenae and Teos were Ionian cities in Asia Minor in the Smyrna area. Abdera became a wealthy city, the second richest among the allies of Athens, due to its status as a prime port for trade with the interior of Thrace. A valuable prize, the city was repeatedly sacked by Thracians, Macedonians (of different areas: Macedon, Thrace, Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor) and Romans. The result was a decline after the middle of the 4th century BCE. The air of Abdera, Cicero wrote, was proverbial in Athens as causing stupidity. However, among its citizens we find philosophers such as Democritus, Protagoras, Anaxarchus, and Hecataeus of Abdera, who was also a historian. Anacreon stayed there for some time and yet showed no signs of idiocy…

Democritus, the “father of modern science”, was ignored in Athens; Plato, though he never mentioned him, is said to have disliked Democritus so much that he asked from his pupils to burn all his books!

Democritus on an old Greek banknote of 100 drachmas

• Democritus (Δημόκριτος, “chosen of the people”, ca 460-ca 370 BCE), the “father of modern science”, was ignored in Athens; Plato, though he never mentioned him (on the contrary, he devoted a dialogue on Protagoras), is said to have disliked Democritus so much that he asked from his pupils to burn all his books! They proved to be effective: we know just citations of his works, since most of them did not survive the Dark Middle Ages.⁽*⁾ Democritus and his master, Leucippus, from Miletus or from Abdera, were those that formulated an atomic theory of the universe – the idea that everything is composed of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms. He travelled extensively spending the money his rich father left him. He praised the Egyptian mathematicians and became acquainted with the Chaldean magi. He was cheerful, and always ready to see the comical side of life, which later writers took to mean that he laughed at the foolishness of men. The popularly known terms the laughing philosopher, Abderitan (i.e. incessant) laughter, and Abderite, meaning a scoffer, or mocker, are derived from him. Even the Athenian stupidity about the Abderitan air must have jumped from Plato’s mind into Cicero’s writings because of Democritus.
  The scientist philosopher was a determinist and materialist, believing everything to be the result of natural laws. Unlike Aristotle or Plato, he tried to explain the world without reasoning to a purpose, or final cause. The idealists became pre-occupied for centuries with the teleological question that hindered progress. Democritus, together with Leucippus and Epicurus, proposed the earliest views on the shapes and connectivity of atoms. Therefore, their theories appear to be more aligned with those of modern science than any other theories of antiquity. However, the so-called “exile of atomism”, after its rejection by authorities such as Aristotle and Plato, lasted too long, until the 17th century when it was resurrected by Gassendi and Descartes. In the meantime, all the writings by Leucippus and Democritus, and most of Epicurus, were “lost”. The loss is irreplaceable if we take into account the vast scope of the Democritean work dealing with ethics, natural science, nature, mathematics, technical works, literature, and commentaries. Suffice it to say that among the works of this traveller scientist philosopher there was one entitled Periplus of the Ocean… Other titles we will never read: Pythagoras, The Horn of Amalthea, On the Planets, On Nature, On the Mind, Planispheres, On the Rhythms and Harmony, On Poetry, On Homer, On Song, On Painting, On History, On the Sacred Writings of Babylon, Chaldaean Account, Phrygian Account…

Book burning: the favourite “sport” of the Christian Church…

• ⁽*⁾ No wonder that Plato, who rejected Athenian democracy as prone to anarchy, is included among the leading advocates of anti-democratic thought, along with: Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher who discarded “the democratic movement [as] Christianity’s heir”), Charles Maurras (French writer, monarchist and fascist, who went so far as to ask for the assassination of his opponents – so, Democritus was rather lucky!), Hubert Lagardelle (French syndicalist who moved from Proudhon to fascism), Robert Michels (German-Italian sociologist who also passed from socialism and revolutionary syndicalism to fascism), Oswald Spengler (German historian, critical supporter of Hitler, although he considered him vulgar), Carl Schmitt and Martin Heidegger (German Nazi philosophers), Elazar Shach (Israeli fundamentalist Rabbi, who championed Judaic law and condemned democracy). Within this framework and “company”, what is the real meaning and worth of the Platonic Republic?

• See the next additional Chronicle We Don’t Need No Thought [or Speech] Control on the crucial fight for Freedom of Thought and Speech.

The Rock of Gibraltar at sunset

The Bay of Gibraltar: Algeciras (W), Calpe (E)
and Carteia (in the middle?)

Sailing past the Greek Mainake and the Phoenician Malaca, we arrive at the Bay of Gibraltar. Carteia was established at the most northerly point of the bay, about halfway between the modern cities of Algeciras and Gibraltar, overlooking the sea on elevated ground at the confluence of two rivers. According to Strabo, the colony was founded ca 940 BCE as the trading settlement of K’rt, meaning ‘City’ in Phoenician (compare Qart Hadasht, that is, Carthage, ‘New City’). The area had much to offer a trader; the hinterland behind Carteia was rich in wood, agricultural products, lead, iron, copper, and silver. Dyes were another much sought-after commodity, especially those from the murex shellfish, used to make the prized Tyrian purple. Due to its strategic location, the city played a significant role in the Punic Wars. In the Battle of Carteia in 206 BCE, the Punic fleet was defeated by the Romans, who captured the colony ca 190.

Gulf of Gadir > Gades > Cádiz; all three ancient islets bear Greek (not Phoenician) names: Erytheia, Kotinoussa, Antípolis

Sailing through the Straits into the Atlantic, we are surprised to hear that the town of Bailo was none other than Gadir. The report, however, cannot be verified, and the closest to the name ‘Bailo’ one can find is Baelo, near the present-day village of Bolonia, in the area of Tarifa, the southernmost point of Europe, which is rather far from Gadir. The town served as a trade link with northern Africa (Strabo: “hence the crossings to Tingis of Maurusia”), but was finally abandoned because of earthquakes.

Then we realize we are sailing in an area colonized by Heracles: not only Abdera (or Abderos) and Carteia (Carpeia, Carpaea or Carthaea), but also Bailo-Baelo or Belón seems to be linked to Heracles and, therefore, to the Mycenaeans. Carteia, says Strabo citing Timosthenes of Rhodes, was previously called Heraclea, after its founder. Some identify it with Algeciras, Paco de Lucía’s hometown, on the west side of the bay, others say on the contrary it was located on the east side, on Calpe, that is, the Rock of Gibraltar, while some connect it to Tartessos, noting that once the latter disappeared, many confused it with Carteia. Other settlements associated with the Herculean colonizing “labours” were Mellaria or Melouria (modern Tarifa) and, as we have seen, Gadir, while sometimes even Tartessos is included in the list.

The Strait of Gibraltar with the Pillars of Heracles

As for the Pillars of Heracles, the northern one on European soil is Calpe or Alybe (Gibraltar), small in size but rising sharply to a great height and looking like an island from afar, while the southern one, Abyle (Ceuta), is rather low. Their peculiarity is that nowadays their sovereignty is exercised by foreign powers: Gibraltar, on Spanish territory, is controlled by Britain, while Ceuta, on Moroccan soil, by Spain. The Phoenician Abyla, founded there in the 7th century BCE, passed under the control of the Phocaeans who renamed it as Hepta Adelphoi (‘Seven Brothers’). As usual, the Romans transcribed the Greek toponym into Latin as Septa, hence the current name, and used Ceuta almost exclusively as a military post. The strategic importance of the Straits was obvious to everyone.

Outside the Pillars there is another settlement, presented as a Punic colony of the early 5th century BCE, possibly with a prior Phoenician presence, called Tingis (or Tingenis, today’s Tangier). Taking advantage of Carthage’s crashing defeat in Sicily in 480 BCE, the Phocaeans should have taken control of this city, as well, dominating entirely in this area of strategic importance during the Punics’ long isolationist period after their defeat, before they recovered and imposed a blockade on the Straits. Like so many other settlements, Tingis was neither Phoenician, nor Greek, but, in this particular case, Berber. According to a Graeco-Roman mythological tradition, cited by Plutarch, Tingis was the wife of the giant Antaeus, king of Libya and son of Poseidon and Gaea, who was killed by Heracles. In Berber mythology, the founder of the city was Syfax, son of Tingis and Heracles. The tomb of Antaeus with his giant skeleton was discovered in Tangiers by the Roman Quintus Sertorius in the 1st century BCE, while the “cave of Heracles”, where the hero supposedly slept before he stole the apples of the Hesperides, is located 14 kilometers far from the city to the west.

Main Hellenic colonies before Punic conquests (c. 300 BCE): Rhode, Emporion,
Callípolis, Salauris, Hēmeroskopeion, Alonis, Akra Leuké, La Picola (Portus Ilicitanus),
Abdera (presented as a former Greek colony), Mainake, Portus Menesthei, and Kalathousa.

Proto-Aeolic or Proto-Ionic capital with oriental influences from the Santuary of Baal Hamón in Gadir (7th century BCE)

The colonizing activity apparently continued even after the Trojan War, since we are informed that, despite the many reports to the contrary, there were Hellenic (later Roman) settlements even beyond the Pillars of Heracles. One of them was between Gadir and the city of Tartessos, at the mouth of the Río Guadalete: it was Portus Menesthei (ὁ Μενεσθέως Λιμήν) and is probably the present-day Puerto de Santa María.^(f) According to Strabo, even the Phoenician Gaditans offered sacrifices in the oracle of Menestheus, one of the suitors of Helen who fought in the Trojan War. Afterwards, according to Homer’s Odyssey, he was expelled from Athens by Theseus’ descendants and found refuge with his entourage in Iberia. Another settlement was next to Huelva to the West: it was Kalathousa, today’s Aljaraque.

• ^(f) The word “port” is preserved in the toponym throughout its history: in 711 CE the Arabs (Moors) invaded Iberia and renamed the port to Alcante or Alcanatif, meaning Port of Salt, due to the local salt production since the time of the Phoenicians. Finally in 1260, the Castilians, who occupied the city, renamed it to Santa María del Puerto.

Portus Menesthei, in “historical terms”, may not be that old, because the Greeks of the Homeric era – or their products at least – arrived at Iberian ports in the 8th century BCE. Those that transported the Hellenic ware and other goods might very well have been the Phoenicians and the reason was their artistic quality that the Canaanites were unable to achieve. One such excellent ceramic, an Attic kylix, a type of wine-drinking vessel, was found in Medellin of Badajoz, in Spanish Extremadura. The presence of this beautiful cup so far from the coastline is explained by the so-called Silver Route that most probably crossed western Iberia from north to south to facilitate the transport of the mineral wealth from Galicia to Tartessian harbours.

The Lioness of Baena (Córdoba) with Greek and oriental influences (6th century BCE)

What the Phoenician ships could not transport and, therefore, made the Greek presence absolutely necessary in Iberia, was Hellenic culture, art, ideas, architectural models, burial habits, and so on. Taking into account that the Minoans were probably not Greeks, it seems that the first period Iberia received Hellenic influences was during the time of the Mycenaeans. This, however, is half-true and therefore (at least) half a lie, given that the Mycenaeans were civilized thanks to the Minoans. Thus the Minoan and the Mycenaean influences on Iberian cultures were very similar, if not identical. At that time, of course, there was no Tartessos. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans inseminated the local cultures they found there and the Tartessian civilization germinated some time later, when there were no Greeks around anymore. It took them at least half a millennium to wake up from their lethargic “Dark Ages” and reappear in the peninsula. The rich rewards were in the meantime reaped by the Phoenicians…

What the Phoenician ships could not transport and, therefore, made the Greek presence absolutely necessary in Iberia, was Hellenic culture, art, ideas, architectural models, burial habits, and so on…

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Phoenician bireme