The Iberian Peninsula in Ancient Times
1. The Iberians and the Celts Pre-Roman people in the Iberian Peninsula were divided in two great societies: the Iberians and the Celts
Iberians were in East and South and Celts in North, West and Centre of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Iberians lived in settlements with defensive walls. They were organised in tribes.
They grew cereals, vines and olives. They had currency and traded precious metals.
They created sculptures like the Lady of Elche and the Lady of Baza.
The Celts arrived on the Iberian Peninsula from central Europe.
They lived in settlements with defensive walls called castros. They were organised in clans and tribes.
The Celts were self-sufficient (they consumed what they produced). They did not trade and they did not have a currency.
The Celtic priests were called druids. They did not have writing and they had little contact with the Mediterranean cultures. They made large sculptures of Bulls called verracos.
2. The colonisers and Tartessos In the first millenium BC, three Mediterranean peoples established colonies in the south and east of the Iberian Peninsula: the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians
Both Phoenicians and Greeks came from the East. They looked for trade opportunities and raw materials. They founded colonies in the Ibarian Peninsula.
The Phoenicians founded Gadir (Cรกdiz) and Malaka (Mรกlaga) in the South of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Greeks founded colonies like Hemeroscopeion (Denia) and Emporion (Empuries).
The Carthaginians were the successors of the Phoenicians. They were not interested just in trade and they conquered the South of the Iberian Peninsula.
They founded Carthago Nova (Cartagena) and Ebyssos (Ibiza).
Tartessos was the first State in the Iberian Peninsula (6th Century BC). It was based on the south-west of the Peninsula.
Tartessians traded with the Phoenicians and Greeks. They exchanged copper, silver and tin. Argantonio is the most well-known Tartessian King.
What was the influence of the Colonisers? They introduced new crops: olive tree, vine and wheat.
They introduced mining techniques.
They introduced writing and the alphabet.
They introduced the use of coins as currency.
3. Roman Hispania In the 3rd Century BC, the Romans and the Carthaginians reached an agreement about their borders on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Carthaginian general Hannibal broke this agreement and he conquered Saguntum, a city allied to Rome.
Rome declared war on Carthage (Second Punic War) and started to invade the Iberian Peninsula. In 218 BC, the Romans arrived in Emporion.
The Romans defeated the Carthaginians and then, they took control of the East and South of the Iberian Peninsula.
After that, the Romans occupied the Central Plateau. Lusitanians and Celtiberians fought braverly against them.
The Celtiberian town of Numantia fell after a long siege in 133 BC.
The Romans conquered the North of Hispania during the reign of Augustus (19 BC). The first emperor came to the Iberian Peninsula to fight against the Asturian and Cantabrian peoples.
The Romans needed 200 hundred years to control the whole Hispania.
The Romans called Hispania to the Iberian Peninsula and divided it in different provinces of their empire.
They founded new cities such as Tarraco (Tarragona), Caesaraugusta (Zaragoza), Barcino (Barcelona)‌
Asturica Augusta (Astorga), Legio (LeĂłn), Lucus Augusti (Lugo) and Emerita Augusta (MĂŠrida).
They built bridges like this in Alcantara (Cรกceres)
They built roads such as “Vía Augusta” and “Vía de la Plata”
The Roman cities had high walls like these in Lugo.
They also built theatres like the Merida’s Theatre
And Segovia’s Acueduct is one of the most beautiful Roman monuments in the World.
The Romans spoke Latin which spread across Hispania. Our language, Spanish, comes from ancient Latin.