INTERESTING BIOGRAPHIES RELATED

WITH THE ANCIENT ERA IN SPAIN

In this presentation we are going to learn the stories of Gargoris, Habis, Arganthonios and Hamilcar Barca.

Salvador Fuentes Lucas-Torres. Second of Bachillerato, group B.

CONII PEOPLE• Gargoris, Habis and Arganthonios belonged to this people.• The origin of Conii people is unknown (Celts or pre-Celts). The legend says

that their capital city was Conistorgis, which was destroyed by the Lusitanians because the Conii were an ally of the Romans. This hasn’t been proved.

• The Conii were a people of Tartessos (later included in the Turdetani). What we know about this territory comes from Greek and Eastern sources. It was

supposed to be a very rich kingdom. Its wealth was based on agriculture, stockbreeding, fishing and the rich mines of copper in Huelva and the control of tin trade from the Atlantic. Archaeologists haven’t found any remains of cities of this legendary kingdom yet, but they have found treasures in Carambolo (Seville), Aliseda (Cáceres), etc.

GARGORIS AND HABISAccording to the legend, Gargoris was the king of the Conii. He invented apiculture. He had sexual relations with his daughter and she got pregnant. Gargoris, dishonored, locked his daughter up and abandoned the baby in the forest.

The legend was spread by Roman historian Justin.

Instead of devouring him, animals fed him. Gargoris discovered that the baby wasn’t dead and threw the baby to a crew of sows and female dogs, but the animals looked after the baby again. Gargoris tried to get rid off the baby again, leaving him in a basket on the sea. Gods took care of the baby and he arrived to the seashore, where he was picked up and looked after by a doe.

GARGORIS AND HABISThe baby grew and was reared as a savage. One day he fell into a trap of Gargoris’ soldiers and was carried to him. Gargoris recognized him and understood that he was protected by Gods. Gargoris named him Habis and proclaimed him as his successor.

Tartessos people occupied the South West part of the Iberian Peninsula from 2000 BC to the 6th century BC.

According to other sources, the baby was picked up by a woman who reared him. The baby became an educated and hard-working boy and when he grew up, he became a bandit who stole things to rich people to give them to poor people.

The invention of agriculture with plough is attributed to Habis, as well as Tartessos laws and division of society into seven classes, that forbade servants’ tasks to the elite. He was a generous and intelligent king.

GARGORIS AND HABISAccording to the veracity of the facts related by the legend, it’s evident that the story has a lot of things in common with other myths. For example Moses or Romulus and Remus survived thanks to gods or animals’ help. It is an example of cultural and religious influence of Phoenician traders.

ARGANTHONIOSArganthonios was Habis’ son. His reign corresponds to the period of maximum splendor of Tartessos civilization. He lived for 120 years (670-550 BC), so many historians say that maybe he wasn’t a king but a dynasty. Others say that he lived for three hundred years.

Greek sources say that his kingdom was rich in precious metals (his name means Silver Man). With these metals he helped the Phocaeans to resist the Persian invasion. He helped them with 1.5 tones of silver to his allies in total.

Phocaea

15 years after his death, the decline of Tartessos civilization started.

ARGANTHONIOS

Commercial relations between the Tartessos and the Phocaeans and other Greek peoples finished, so Tartessos civilization was forgotten little by little since that moment.

The Carthaginians allied with the Etruscan people because they wanted to expell the Greeks from their area of influence.

Around 120 Carthaginian ships faced the 60 Phocaeans ships in the naval battle of Alaia. The Phocaeans won, but they lost more than half of their ships, so that battle supposed the end of Phocaean expansion.

BATTLE OF ALAIA (535

BC)

HAMILCAR BARCAHamilcar Barca (290-229 BC) was an important Carthaginian general. • He commanded the Carthaginian

troops from 247 to 241 BC in the First Punic War (264-241 BC). He was defeated in 241 BC in the naval battle of Egadi Islands, in which Cartago lost Sicily.

• Then, he had to face the uprising of his own mercenaries between 241 and 238 BC and he lost Sardinia.

• Peoples of the Iberian Peninsula took advantage of Carthage’s weakness and fought for their freedom, but Hamilcar directed the troops to the Iberian Peninsula to get resources in order to start a campaign against Rome.

Territories owned by Carthage and Rome at the

beginning of the First Punic War.

HAMILCAR BARCAHe founded Akra Leuke (present Benacantil, in Alicante). He advanced even across areas of Roman influence and, in order to calm down the Romans, he said that Carthage needed resources because it was in crisis due to territorial losses.

He died in combat during the siege of Heliké, against the Oretani. Other sources say that Hamilcar died drowned.

His son-in-law, Hasdrubal the Fair, continued with the mission until 221 BC and later his son, Hannibal, until 183 BC. Hannibal fought against the Romans again in the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), where he was defeated in the battle of Zama in 202 BC .

SOURCES• Blog Las leyendas de tartesos on the Internet. Mario Cayetano. Published on the

December 2010. http://lasleyendasdetartesos.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/gargoris-y-habis-mitos-ii.html

• Planeta Sapiens on the Internet. Javier García Blanco. Published on the September 2009. http://www.planetasapiens.com/?p=1719

• Wikipedia on the Internet. Created in 2004. Last modification on the March 2003. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habis

• Wikipedia on the Internet. Created in 2006. Last modification on the September 2014. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conios

• Wikipedia on the Internet. Created in 2004. Last modification on the August 2014. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argantonio

• Andalupedia on the Internet. http://www.andalupedia.es/p_termino_detalle.php?id_ter=20350

• El Mundo, sección Suplementos, on the Internet. Juan Antonio Cebrián. Published on the January 2006. http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/magazine/2006/329/1137177199.html

• Wikipedia on the Internet. Created in 2005. Last modification on the July 2014. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_de_Alalia

• Biografías y vidas on the Internet. http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/a/amilcar.htm

• Artehistoria on the Internet. http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/v2/personajes/4431.htm• Wikipedia on the Internet. Created in 2003. Last modification on the August 2014.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segunda_Guerra_P%C3%BAnica

PRESENTATION MADE BY

SALVADOR FUENTES LUCAS-TORRES

of Bachillerato, group B

September 2014