09-01-2009, 07:39 PM
Did such a thing exist?
Recently I've been reading a lot of material on Phoenician/Punic colonies in North Africa and Spain, and thanks to archaeological research in the past century it is now possible to trace many of these settlements back to the year they were founded by Phoenician colonists, or at least to the century in which they were founded (Lixus, Mogador, Ibiza for example).
But I'm having trouble narrowing down the origins of Córdoba, the Spanish city in Andalusia. The only concrete dates I have found are 206 BC, when the Romans won the Battle of Ilipa, and 169 BC when they established a colony there.
Everything that I have read online has vague references to it being a Punic settlement before the Romans arrived, but no specific information.
In fact, it's usually so vague that I read about "Phoenician influences" arriving centuries earlier, which leads me to believe that maybe the traders from Gades and Malaga had found their way up the Guadalquivir river to trade with the locals, but I'm still having a hard time finding when Punic power and authority extended into the Guadalquivir River Valley, at least until the Barcids arrived in Spain.
And if you look at a map, the site of Córdoba doesn't really look like a cookie-cutter Phoenician trade settlement. With every other Phoenician settlement I've seen, the most striking thing is how close they built to the sea shore. For example, it could not have been possible to build Mogador, Ibiza and Gades any closer to the sea. Carthage itself is another example. But Córdoba is almost 100 miles inland, north of Malaga.
That said, the Guadalqivir was navigable all the way up to Córdoba during Punic times. So maybe they brought their boats up the river.
So does anyone know if there is archaeological or literary evidence of Punic power and authority in Córdoba before the Barcids arrived? Was it like a regular colony, where citizens were imported to live there and work the land year-round?
Or was it firmly under the control of some Iberian tribe, allowing the Phoenician traders access solely for commerce?
Recently I've been reading a lot of material on Phoenician/Punic colonies in North Africa and Spain, and thanks to archaeological research in the past century it is now possible to trace many of these settlements back to the year they were founded by Phoenician colonists, or at least to the century in which they were founded (Lixus, Mogador, Ibiza for example).
But I'm having trouble narrowing down the origins of Córdoba, the Spanish city in Andalusia. The only concrete dates I have found are 206 BC, when the Romans won the Battle of Ilipa, and 169 BC when they established a colony there.
Everything that I have read online has vague references to it being a Punic settlement before the Romans arrived, but no specific information.
In fact, it's usually so vague that I read about "Phoenician influences" arriving centuries earlier, which leads me to believe that maybe the traders from Gades and Malaga had found their way up the Guadalquivir river to trade with the locals, but I'm still having a hard time finding when Punic power and authority extended into the Guadalquivir River Valley, at least until the Barcids arrived in Spain.
And if you look at a map, the site of Córdoba doesn't really look like a cookie-cutter Phoenician trade settlement. With every other Phoenician settlement I've seen, the most striking thing is how close they built to the sea shore. For example, it could not have been possible to build Mogador, Ibiza and Gades any closer to the sea. Carthage itself is another example. But Córdoba is almost 100 miles inland, north of Malaga.
That said, the Guadalqivir was navigable all the way up to Córdoba during Punic times. So maybe they brought their boats up the river.
So does anyone know if there is archaeological or literary evidence of Punic power and authority in Córdoba before the Barcids arrived? Was it like a regular colony, where citizens were imported to live there and work the land year-round?
Or was it firmly under the control of some Iberian tribe, allowing the Phoenician traders access solely for commerce?