What was Tartessos, the kingdom of silver in Andalusia?

Tartessos, the kingdom of silver

Tartessos, el reino de la plata

c. 8th century BC–550 BC. Greek writers told of a fabulously rich kingdom in the far west called Tartessos, ruled, said Herodotus, by a long-lived king.

Where: Spain, Huelva, Seville, Andalusia

What happened

Greek writers told of a fabulously rich kingdom in the far west called Tartessos, ruled, said Herodotus, by a long-lived king. Archaeology has found the reality behind the legend: a culture of the lower Guadalquivir and the Huelva coast, roughly from the ninth to the sixth century BC, that grew rich mining and smelting the silver and copper of the Río Tinto belt and trading it to the Phoenicians of Gadir. Its people mixed local traditions with eastern fashions, buried their leaders with gold hoards such as those of Aliseda and El Carambolo, and left the oldest writing in the peninsula, still only partly understood. Around the sixth century BC the mines closed and the sites were abandoned; why is debated, and Tartessos became a legend.

Say it

Tartessos era famoso por su plata.

Tartessos was famous for its silver.

Why it matters

Tartessos was the first complex society in the peninsula and its silver is why outsiders came; its name still stands for a lost golden age in Andalusian culture.

Connected

• The Phoenicians found Gadir (c. 8th century BC)
• Iberians, Celts and Celtiberians (c. 5th century BC)
• Iberians, Celts and Celtiberians (c. 5th century BC)

• Before: The Phoenicians found Gadir
• After: Greeks settle at Emporion

Sources

1. Tartessos — World History Encyclopedia
2. Protohistory – chronological catalogue — Museo Arqueológico Nacional