Sphere of influence of Tartessos, ca. 600 BC.
Tartessos (also Tartessus) was a harbor city on the south coast of the Iberian Peninsula (in modern Andalucia, Spain). The exact site of the city is lost but it is thought to have been situated on an island at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. The city at least dates from 1000 BC, about the time when the Phoenicians made contact with its people, but the city likely began at an unknown, earlier date. The Tartessians were traders, who may have discovered the route to the British isles and its areas rich with tin. Trade in tin was very lucrative since it was necessary for the production of bronze. Metals may also have been found in alluvial ores carried down by their own river. The people of Tartessia became important trading partners of the Phoenicians, who nearby built a harbor of their own, Gades (current-day Cádiz). The Tartessian realm probably embraced the whole southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Unlike their related Celtiberian tribes further north, Tartessia was a well developed monarchy governed by kings, some of whose names are known, such as Habis who is said to have taught agriculture and promulgated laws, before converting himself into a god, and Gargoris, mentioned in the myth of Habis. Other legends, such as the references to the cattle of Gerion and the wealth in gold and silver of his father, clearly show the two axes of the economy of Tartessos: metals and cattle. With trade the Tartessian culture was influenced with that of Etruria, Greece and Phoenicia, and a syllabic writing with Greek vowels was developed ca. 700 B.C. Many poems and laws, claimed to be 6000 years old, were written in verse. Tartessian culture disappeared in the beginning of the 5th c. B.C. with the downfall of the Tartessian nation. In a battle with no official name, before the death of Argantonio 550 B.C., the Greeks, the Tartessians ally, and a fleet of Etruscan and Carthaginian ships fought off the coast of Alalia (present day Aléria, Corsica). The Greeks with 90 ships and the Etruscans and Carthaginians with 120. The Greeks won the battle but lost 40 ships and without them the possibility to dominate the western Mediterranean. By 500 B.C., Tartessia would have already suffered from Carthaginian attacks. The capital was surrounded and its walls demolished. When the capital fell, and the empire with it, the city is believed to have sunk into the swampy Guadalquivir river. Both the ancient Greeks and many people of present day compare Tartessia with the legendary Atlantis.
Argantino
Argantonio (or Arganthonios) was the most important king of ancient Tartessos. “Argan” means silver, and the name is interpreted as “king (or man) of silver” or “the silver one”. Tartessia was legendary rich with this precious metal (and other metals as well) and perhaps was Argantonio more of a title than his real name.
According to Herodotus, King Argantonio ruled Tartessia for 80 years, from 630 BC to 550 BC. He is said to have lived for 120 years or more. Much of this Tartessian dynasty is told in legends, so no one knows what part is actually historical. There could have been a confusion of several kings with the same title.
The Greek historian Strabo wrote of the wealth and great generosity of Argantonio in the story of a Greek sailor named Koliaos whose ship was blown off course and landed in Tartessos. After being regally entertained for some months, his ship was loaded up with silver and he was sent home. The story also tells how Argantonio gave the Greeks 1 1/2 tons of silver to build defensive walls to protect themselves from the the Persians. Herodotus records Argantonios death after a naval battle won by the Greeks over a united fleet of Etruscans and Carthaginians. The Greeks lost a vast part of their fleet in the battle and after that the Greeks stopped challenging military dominance in the area, and Tartessia, without an ally, became exposed to Carthaginian expansion.
