Tartessos is the name given by the Greek to the first civilization of which they were informed in Occident. Heiress of the Andalusian civilization of the Megalith S which developed in the triangle formed by the current cities of Huelva, Seville and San Fernando on the south-western coast of the Iberian peninsula, it had as an axis the Tartessos river, called Baetis by the Romans and Wedi el Kebir by the Arabs, (today, Guadalquivir). The inhabitants of Tartessos worked out a language and a writing different from those of the close people, and knew the cultural influence of the Phénicie NS and the Égyptiens by the means of the phenicians. They are perhaps related with the Berbères.

Situation

It is not certain that there was a town of this name since still currently one is unaware of the site of it, although other sites along Guadalquivir are documented perfectly, territory of the expansion of the civilization of Tartessos, of which the capital was probably Turpa, current Port of Santa Maria, with the mouth of the Guadalete; root “tr” of “Turpa” would come all the forms from the name Tartessos. Turdetana will be the Latin name of the Roman province of Andalusia. This city and its civilization probably existed as of before the year 1000 av. J. - C., living trade, metallurgy and fishing.

The successive arrival of the Phénicie NS and the establishment of their counter of Gadir (current the Cadiz), stimulated certainly its extension towards the interior and the intensification of the exploitation of the mines of Cuivre and money (Tartessos became the principal producer of Bronze and money of the the Mediterranean) just as navigation towards the islands Cassiterides (word coming from the Greek “kassiteros” tin), indicating British Isles or, more concretely, the Scillies, from where they imported the tin necessary to the manufacture of the Bronze, even if they obtained it already by washing of sands while containing.

History of the city

Tartésiens had a Monarchie and laws written on bronze tables, since unmemorable times since Hérodote speaks 6000 years. Habis was the civilizing king. Wire of Gargoris, founder of a dynasty which finishes with Argantoine, of, and whose territory extends all along the course from Guadalquivir, Habis is the king-founder, friend of the Greeks and guard of the Phocée NS. The legend of this last points out that of Géryon, Pasteur of bulls, died by the will of Héraclès. It there appears as inventor of the Agriculture, that which harnessed oxen with the plow, and organized the company by establishing the domination of an aristocracy.

With the Life century, Tartessos disappears abruptly from the History, certainly swept by Carthage which undoubtedly made him pay its alliance with the Greeks after the battle of Alalia. According to some, it was rebuilt, in rather obscure circumstances, under the name of Carpia. The Romains called all bay of Cadiz “ Tartessius Sinus ”, but the kingdom had already ceased existing.

When the traveller Pausanias visited Greece at the 2nd century (6, XIX, 2), he saw two rooms in the sanctuary of Olympie, that people of Élis affirmed realized with the bronze of Tartessos: They say that Tartessos is an Iberian ground river which is thrown in the sea by two mouths and which these two mouths is a city of the same name enters. The river, which is largest of Ibérie, and knows the tide, is more recently called Baetis, and that of aucuns think that Tartessos was the old name of Carpia, a city of the Ibères .

The disappeared city

The foundations of Tartessos were lost, and are probably hidden under moving sands which filled the old estuaries between the dunes close to the current mouth, single, of Guadalquivir. The delta of the river was gradually blocked by an immense sand language which extends from Rio Tinto, close to Palos of Frontera to bank opposed to Sanlucar de Barrameda. The site is now protected, forming the national park of Donana.

Some claim that the inhabitants of Tartessos traded with those of the Atlantis, and give a report on strange relationship with the discovery of the Dame of Elche.

The name of El Carpio survives in a place located in a meander of Guadalquivir. At all events, this name was associated with its most characteristic monument, a Moorish tower set up in 1325 by the manufacturer of the Alcázar of Seville.

In the Bible, Tartessos is evoked under the name of Tarsis (Tarshish). It is the only place of the Western Mediterranean to be evoked there, and it is off its coasts that would be located the episode of Jonas and a large fish, and not a Whale (Jonas chapter 2 verse 1).

Although there are many archaeological vestiges in the south of the Spain, like the treasure of the Carambol, that one considers to belong to the culture of Tartessos, the forever found city itself.

See too

• Tyrréniens
• Civilization of Hallstatt
• Andalusia

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