Phoenician sites in Spain

Known for their commercial activity and their maritime spirit, the Phoenicians They were a fundamental people in the cultural exchange of the Mediterranean in the Ancient Age, collaborating in an outstanding way in the evolution of civilization through the development of the alphabet. Next, in this lesson from unPROFESOR.com, we are going to know the Phoenician sites in Spain and, also, we will take a tour through the history of this town and its mark on the Iberian Peninsula. We started!

The PhoeniciansThey are a Canaanite Semitic people whose origin is rather uncertain, situated around an area between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. In relation to them, we can highlight a series of facts:

• They settled on the Mediterranean coast around the III millennium BC. C.
• They took advantage of the decline of Egyptian civilization since the 18th dynasty and the power vacuum that Hittites and Mycenaeans left in the area from 1,200 BC. C.
• Its main ports, such as Byblos and Ugarit, maintained relations with Egypt.
• Its heyday occurred around the 11th and 8th centuries BC. C.

It should be noted that they never had a national government, each city having its own king, sometimes replaced by the mercantile aristocracies themselves. There were even important rivalries between its main cities, as is the case of Tire and Sidon, one dominating the north and the other the south of the coast. The most notable sovereign was Hiram of Tire, being a contemporary and friend of King Solomon of the Jews.

Unlike other peoples, such as Sumerians or Greeks and other Indo-European groups, the Phoenicians did not have a great civilizing contribution, being rather disseminators like most Semitic peoples. Studying their art, utensils, ceramics, etc., it can be seen that they do not have any original characteristics but rather reflect trends of the time. Nor is their religion especially original, taken in part from their Aramaic neighbors and of continental origin.

It should be noted in their historical contribution that they were the inventors and diffusers of the alphabet. From the XV century a. C., they had notion of an alphabetic writing that did not transcribe more than the consonants and that comprised only 20 or 30 signs.

It is also necessary to underline its Comercial activity, supplying the entire Mediterranean area with exotic goods from the Orient, exporting purple wool fabrics and staple products such as tin and founding a large number of cities and bases, especially in the Peninsula Iberian.

When analyzing the Phoenician sites in Spain, it is important to know a little about the history. It is necessary to underline the great interest of this society towards the sea throughout the first millennium BC. C., concretized in the creation of a large number of colonies and a great commercial activity.

The Phoenicians relied on a great development of the nautical knowledge, as well as in sophisticated navigation and shipbuilding techniques. His arrival in Spain took place around the year 1004 BC. C., being the first colony founded Gadir (Cádiz), later expanding to Malaga.

In the following years, they founded colonies dedicated to trade, with the aim of exchanging products for metals. Based on this commercial expansion, they will travel the Mediterranean coast to Catalonia, in direct competition with the Greeks, who had also initiated a policy of commercial expansion in the area.

During the VII century a. C., they expanded their presence both on the Atlantic coast and in the Mediterranean, from Murcia to the Gulf of León. In this expansion they sought silver from the mines of the area of ​​Huelva and the west of Seville and the tin from the north of Portugal.

In this other article we discover a summary of the history of the Phoenicians in Spain.

The Phoenicians located most of the settlements on islands near the coast, as they did in Gadir (Cádiz). They also took advantage of hills and promontories near the coast. Other important colonies were Sexi (Almuñecar), Toscanos (Vélez-Málaga), Malaka (Málaga) and Abdera (Adra).

These were mostly commercial settlements that they used for exchange with the metal production centers of the interior of the peninsula, also maintaining a self-sufficient agrarian economy. Therefore, although its occupation in the Peninsula was mainly coastal, its presence inland cannot be ruled out, although it was mainly focused on the commercial sphere.

The rise of these colonies occurs between the VIII and VI centuries a. C, beginning its decline on the 6th century BC. C. as the archaeological remains indicate. This decline could have occurred mainly for two reasons:

• The Carthaginians begin to act and close trade routes.
• The conquest of Tire by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.