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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Ancient visitors: Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians
Phoenician traders fromTyre (modern day Lebanon)
landed on Spain’s southern shores at the start of the
first millennium BC and found an Iberian population
willing to do business. In Andalusia they introduced the
locals to coinage, olives, grapes and even donkeys,
taking home minerals in return.The visitors built cities
on Spanish soil, Cadiz (which now trumpets its ‘oldest
city in Europe’ credentials) and Huelva among them.
When Iberians absorbed the Semitic sophistication of
the Phoenicians, the fabled civilisation ofTartessos may
have been one happy result – a paucity of evidence has
led to protracted chin-stroking about this wealthy but
short-lived society. Later, around 600 BC, Greek traders
sailed south from Marseilles and established towns
like Empúries in northern Catalonia and Dénia on the
Costa Blanca. Meanwhile Carthage (in modern day
Tunisia), capital of the western Phoenician lands,
began to outshine empire HQ inTyre. By 250 BC the
Carthaginians were flexing their muscles in southern
Spain, sinkingTartessos and any Greek aspirations in
the region, but also allowing a native Iberian culture
to develop.
Watch and learn
Michelangelo
The richly coloured
paintings of bison and
deer on the cave walls of
Altamira were preserved
from the rigours of fresh
air by a landslide that
entombed the site.
Tourist patter refers to
the caves, rediscovered
in 1879 but now closed
to the public (a replica
has been built next door),
as the ‘Sistine Chapel of
Quaternary art’, with the
best of the images
daubed large on a low
cave ceiling. The artists
even used the contours
of the rock to add depth
to their work.
The Villena Treasure,
discovered near Alicante
in 1963, comprises
more than 60 pieces of
decorated gold, from
bowls to bracelets, dating
from around 1000 BC.
La Dama de Elche, an
ornate bust, also found
near Alicante, hints at
the Greek-influenced
sophistication of the
Iberian culture whence
it probably came in
the fourth century BC.
At present the sculpture
is in Madrid but Elche
wants it back.
Treasure of El
Carambolo. This hoard
of gold regalia found near
Seville has been offered
as evidence of a wealthy
civilisation at Tartessos
from around 800 BC.
Treasures of
ancient Spain
