In addition to agriculture, animal husbandry, and the exploitation of marine resources, there is evidence for the production of various manufactured goods, including ceramic, textiles, timber, and metals, as well as the artisanal production of specialized, high-value goods. Impressive bronze objects (Jiménez Ávila 2002; Treumann 2009), gold and silverwork, ivory furniture elements, perfumes, and cloth woven with purple fiber were also destined for the emerging local aristocracies in southern and eastern Iberia, known as Tartessic culture, and are indeed found in Tartessic graves (Celestino Pérez and López Ruíz 2016). These groups adopted social practices associated with Levantine royalty and aristocracy, practices which reinforced their dominant position among the local communities in Iberia during the ongoing process of social differentiation. In exchange, the Phoenicians obtained raw materials such as metals, while solidifying their claims to territory and cementing local alliances (López Castro 2013).
During the seventh century bce, there was an increase in the scale of production as the colonial population grew. Existing settlements expanded in size and new settlements were founded along the southern and Atlantic coasts of Iberia, Ibiza, and along the coast of Morocco (for Morocco and Algeria, see chapter 41, this volume). This situation stimulated overseas trade between settlements, the importance of which is clearly recognizable from the distribution of amphorae. An analysis of amphorae distribution from the eighth century bce shows the exchange routes between Phoenician colonies on the Iberian Peninsula and in the central Mediterranean. The local production of Phoenician amphorae on the southern Iberian Peninsula began around 760 bce. By the second half of the eighth century bce, the distribution of these containers extended throughout the Iberian and Moroccan coastlines, as well as to Carthage, Sardinia, and Pithekoussai (Ramon Torres 2006). In addition to the imports from Sardinia and the eastern Mediterranean, already documented in the previous period, Carthaginian amphorae began to appear in Iberia. During the seventh century bce and in the first decades of the sixth century bce, western Phoenician T 10 type amphorae were widely distributed on a regional scale in Iberia, and were traded as far as the central Mediterranean. In the Iberian Peninsula, there was also a corresponding increase in the importation of Carthaginian, Etruscan, Ionian Greek, Attic Greek, and Corinthian amphorae, along with fine ware from these locales (Docter 1999; Cabrera Bonet 2000; Domínguez Monedero and Sánchez 2001; Botto and Vives-Ferrándiz 2006; Pardo Barrionuevo 2015: 206–10).
One good example of the types of products that were shipped during this period can be seen in the cargo of the Bajo de la Campana shipwreck, which sank off the southeast coast of Iberia at the end of the seventh century bce. This boat was transporting a cargo of raw materials: tin, copper, and lead ingots; elephant tusks for making ivory objects; and amber and plant resins. Along with these raw goods, the shipwreck contained western Phoenician and Sardinian amphorae, as well as ceramic vessels for the consumption of wine. Finally, a number of luxury items were recovered: bottles of perfume; ostrich eggs; daggers with ivory inlays; fragments of alabaster vases; pieces of furniture made of bronze and worked ivory; bronze ritual objects such as incense burners and a cauldron; and, lastly, a stone altar (Roldán Bernal et al. 1995; Polzer 2014; for shipwreck archaeology, see also chapter 27, this volume).
The Phoenician population had a diverse social composition during this period. In the upper echelon were groups of aristocrats of Tyrian origin, who can be distinguished by their particular funerary practices. They were buried in a reduced number of chamber tombs designated for families or in chambers at the end of shafts, as can be seen at Trayamar or Seks. They occasionally employed Egyptian or Egyptian-style alabaster vases as cinerary urns, some of which had been royal gifts in the east (López Castro 2006a). Those of a lower social status include both free and not free peoples of Phoenician origin, who dedicated themselves to various kinds of production. There is, as of yet, no known necropolis in which this social group was buried on the Iberian Peninsula. However, the necropoleis of Rachgoun in Algeria and Can Partit in Ibiza, which date to the second half of the seventh century bce (Vuillemot 1955; Costa Ribas et al. 1991; Gómez Bellard 1990), seem to show a different social reality from the aristocratic burials described here. Both cemeteries have a large number of burials—around 100 each—and these all are simple in comparison to the lavish chamber tombs of southern Iberia. These burials are generally simple interments of the ashes of the deceased with a few objects as grave goods. Other burials include cinerary urns deposited in small pits, which include jewelry made from precious metals only in exceptional cases or, more commonly, bronze adornments.
Finally, the colonial societies must have included individuals from local communities employed in the labor force and women with whom Phoenicians formed mixed families. Their presence can be recognized through the incorporation of local handmade ceramics into everyday activities such as cooking. Nevertheless, these people were not fully integrated into the colonial society, as they seem to have been excluded from funerary rituals. Their contributions to colonization must have been important, however, both for the transmission of local knowledge about the landscape and for establishing alliances with local societies (Delgado Hervás and Ferrer 2007).
The Urban Phase: Cities and Their Mediterranean Reach in the Sixth–Third Centuries bce
The colonial population began to grow considerably during the seventh century bce, as new settlements were founded and existing settlements swelled in size. For instance, Toscanos expanded until it reached 15 hectares (Niemeyer 1986), while La Fonteta grew to 14 hectares (González Prats 2011). At the end of the seventh century bce and the beginning of the sixth, various settlements founded in the eighth century bce constructed defensive walls to limit their urban perimeters, including Carteia, Malaka, and Abdera, as well as Toscanos—possibly the ancient Mainoba—and La Fonteta. These new constructions were motivated by various external factors, including conflicts with Iberian rulers and both Etruscan and Phocaean piracy in the central and western Mediterranean, which are documented in the written sources (López Castro 2003).
At the same time, expansive necropoleis became widespread in these cities, consisting of hundreds of individual tombs containing a diverse array of grave goods. These burials attest to a corresponding socioeconomic diversity in the populations of these settlements. The walls and the necropoleis are significant for social and political reasons, as they can be considered physical expressions of the collective efforts of members of the colonial society. The construction of the perimeter walls, for instance, shows the cooperation of free individuals to create a defensive system for the city. At the same time, participation in the army might have been one way to obtain citizenship, a phenomenon which happened in other Mediterranean societies (López Castro 2003). The necropoleis endured until the Roman period as sacred spaces that formed an integral part of these urban landscapes, where free individuals had the right to be interred in spaces that were at once shared, civic areas as well as religious places where the memory of ancestors as preserved. This is consistent with our general understanding of the Phoenician anthroponymic system, in which free individuals were identified by means of their patronymic. For instance, “Gerashtart, son of Baalpiles” is one man identified by his father’s name on a fifth-century bce funerary stele from Villaricos (Guzzo Amadasi 1967).
In colonial society, temples played an important economic role and also served an ideological function as protectors of commerce and craft production. It is worth adding that, as the locations of urban cult activity, they must have brought an element of cohesion to cities. There is archaeological, numismatic, and epigraphic evidence from various periods for the existence of these sanctuaries in the principal Phoenician cities in the west. In addition to the famous temple of Melqart at Gadir, the cult to this same deity is documented at Seks and Abdera. Other known temples include those dedicated to Reshef-Melqart and Shamash in Malaka. Likewise, there are references to temples and cults to Astarte in Gad
ir, Seks, and Baria (López Castro 2003).
Little is understood about the political organization of these cities. We can surmise that institutions and magistracies were created with the formation of each city, but the only existing literary and epigraphic evidence naming any of these institutions is from later periods. We know that at least in Gadir, in addition to the assembly of citizens, ‘m, and the Council, there were supreme magistrates such as suffetes. In addition, we know about the assembly in Seks and it is possible that this basic institutional scheme was adopted for the other contemporary cities (López Castro 2003; López Castro 2017).
From around the end of the seventh century bce, the western Phoenician population underwent a restructuring. As people became increasingly concentrated in the cities, many settlements were abandoned before the sixth century bce, while others remained inhabited but as rural sites. In some areas, fortifications were raised for the control of territory, which is the case with Altos de Reveque (Almería), a 5 hectare-long casemate fortification wall reinforced with towers and angular bastions. This was perhaps constructed in the mid-sixth century bce by the city of Abdera in order to maintain territorial control over its mineral and agricultural resources, and was used until the beginning of the fourth century bce (López Castro et al. 2010).
During the fifth through the third centuries bce, some new rural settlements were established of different sizes, and other sites with an agricultural function that had been inhabited in the colonial period continued to be used. Small towns, agricultural villas, and farms were present throughout the territory of the Phoenician cities, which were all associated with the increasingly intense exploitation of agricultural resources (map 38.2). Above all, they contributed to the production of wine and olive oil, which is demonstrated by the discovery of wine presses, cisterns, and basins for holding liquids. This is the case for Las Cumbres and Cerro Naranja in the territory of Gadir, and Cerro del Pajarraco in the territory of ancient Baria, as well as for the later phase of Morro de Mezquitilla (López Castro 2008). Archaeobotanical evidence available from these centuries, although it is not exhaustive, does suggest the cultivation of vineyards and olive trees, as well as grains including wheat, barley, and oats. There were also fruits and nuts including figs and almonds, as well as legumes such as broad beans, lentils, peas, and garbanzo beans. This evidence comes primarily from Castillo de Doña Blanca, Abdera, and Baria (Pardo Barrionuevo 2015: 120–35). While the types of animal husbandry did not differ much from the previous colonial period, the exploitation of marine resources flourished and expanded with the rise of the salted fish industry. Fish salting complexes have been excavated in Gadir, Mainoba, Seks, and Baria. The Classical sources also mention that western Phoenician salted fish were shipped to Greece between the fifth and third centuries bce. Likewise, amphorae from Gadir that are associated with the distribution of salted fish have been documented in Athens, Corinth, and Olympia (López Castro 1997; Moya Cobos 2016: 191–98).
Map 38.2 Western Phoenician and Carthaginian cities in Iberia: ● Western Phoenician cities; ■ Carthaginian foundations of the last third of third century bce.
Source: J. L. López Castro.
Just as before, the geographic distribution of amphorae is one of the principal indicators of the commercial ties of the western Phoenician cities. T 11 and T 12 amphorae for salted fish (Ramon Torres 1995) have been found in North Africa, Sardinia, Sicily, Carthage, southern Italy, and mainland Greece, and amphorae produced in Baria reached ports across the central Mediterranean during these centuries as well (López Castro 2000, 2014). On the Iberian side, archaeological evidence from the Phoenician cities in the south of the peninsula shows that Greek amphorae were imported from Athens, Corinth, Mende, Kios, and Samos. The most abundant types, however, came from the central Mediterranean: Carthaginian, Sardinian, and Sicilian Phoenician forms, as well as amphorae from Magna Graecia, Etruria, and Massalia (Domínguez Monedero and Sánchez 2001; López Castro 2000; López Castro 2006b). The cargo of the shipwreck El Sec (Arribas et al. 1987), which sunk in the mid-fourth century bce near Mallorca, well illustrates the trade of Greek products at this time, which—in addition to amphorae—included Attic fine ware with figural decoration and black gloss. These ceramics were distributed from the Phoenician ports to the native Iberian populations on the south and east of the peninsula.
The most important city during this period was Gadir, which had a notable economic reach up the Atlantic coast, as well as to northern Morocco. The ancient sources mention very little historical information about Gadir and the other cities, though Polybius’s account (III.24) of the second treaty between Carthage and Rome does make reference to the Iberian Peninsula. His text mentions Mastia and Tarsis, where Rome and its allies were prohibited from sailing, trading, and practicing piracy by Carthage. This can be interpreted as one consequence of Carthage’s interest in the far west, and the result of an alliance between Carthage and the Phoenician cities of southern Iberia (López Castro 1991), or at least with Gadir, which sources (Liv. XXVIII.31.2) indicate was allied with the African city during the third century bce.
The Age of Empires: The Western Phoenicians Between Carthage and Rome (237–45 bce)
In 237 bce, Gadir served as the initial base for Hamilcar Barca, from which the Carthaginians took control of the southern and eastern Iberia. During the Second Punic War, the western Phoenician cities provided financial help and possibly ships to the Carthaginian side (López Castro 1995). We know that there were Carthaginian garrisons in Gadir and Baria, the only city that put up an armed resistance to Publius Cornelius Scipio. Gadir surrendered to the Roman general at the end of the war, offering a deditio in fidem. It is very probable that the other cities of Phoenician foundation also surrendered (save Iboshim—i.e., Ibiza, which formed a separate alliance with Rome: García Riaza 1999; see also chapter 37, this volume), becoming civitates stipendariae and paying a tribute to Rome.
During the years between 206 and 49 bce, there were significant political, social, and economic transformations in the Phoenician cities. In the conflict of 197 bce, some subjugated groups in Iberia tried to shake Rome from power by force of arms; among these allied forces were the cities of Malaka and Seks. On the other side, Gadir established a more amiable relationship with Rome, making an alliance in the form of a foedus, and, in 197 bce, reaching an agreement for the Roman garrison to be removed from the city. Their treaty was legally formalized in 78 bce, and the city served as a base of operations for successive governors of the province of Hispania Ulterior on their various campaigns of conquest (López Castro 1995). One exceptional case is that of Carteia, a Phoenician city that obtained the status of Latin colony by orders of the Roman senate in 171 bce (map 38.3), perhaps because it was a place where thousands of children of Roman soldiers and local women resided (Liv. XLIII.11–12; López Castro 1995: 110–11, 249–59).
Map 38.3 The Romanized western Phoenician and Carthaginian cities: ★ Latin colonies (second–first centuries bce); ▲ Roman municipium by Caesar (49 bce); ■ Latin municipium by Caesar (49 bce); ● Latin municipium under the Flavian dynasty; ♦ Latin municipium by Claudius.
Source: J. L. López Castro.
From an economic point of view, the cities intensified their production of both agricultural goods and salted fish during this period, and especially from the last quarter of the second century bce onward. This process is best understood in the region of Gadir, where the Latin sources refer to a territory belonging to the city (Liv. XXVIII.35.2–3) that was devastated by the Romans during the war against Carthage, and to an ager Gaditano (Cic. Balb. 39). Archaeological investigation in the territory of the Bay of Cádiz has uncovered an increase in rural settlements, potters’ workshops, and kilns from the end of the second century bce and during the first century bce. These workshops produced the amphorae for holding agricultural products and salted fish that were shipped widely throughout the western Mediterranean (López Castro 2012).
Some of these rural s
ettlements have been identified as parts of agricultural villae. Epigraphy from Gadir from the first century bce does record the existence of villici, and we should not forget the fact that L. Moderatus Columella—a native of the region of Gadir—is one of the principal sources for our understanding of the system of slave labor at Roman villae. This model for a slave mode of production at villae appears to extend throughout the territory of Gadir during a period in which Phoenician identity and its political features began to disappear as the region was integrated definitively into the Roman Empire (López Castro 1995: 160–71). The protagonists in this process were the elite from Gadir, who—through patron–client ties with the Roman senatorial nobility—had played an active role in the civil wars of the first century bce. Some of the citizens of Gadir obtained Roman citizenship from Pompey, as L. Cornelius Balbus did for his help in the Sertorian Wars. Julius Caesar, after serving as governor of the province of Hispania Ulterior, obtained the help of the people from Gadir in his Lusitanian campaigns. He then gained clients in Gadir and perhaps other cities of Phoenician origin, as they had been allied with him in the war against Pompey. As compensation, Julius Caesar granted Roman rights to Gadir and Latin rights to Seks in 49–45 bce. The other cities did not gain municipal status until the Flavian period, which happened with Malaka, Abdera, Baria and others (map 38.3). This was a time when the final traces of Phoenician identity included bilingual coins minted with inscriptions in neo-Punic and Latin in Abdera (López Castro 1995). Such objects are the last official Phoenician expression of local elites who had already become highly Romanized.
The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean Page 86