The Iberians arrived in Basel

29 November 2023

Celts, Etruscans and German tribes have long been the focus of public and scholarly interest. However, little has been known outside Spain about the Iberians, although these people were an important cultural and economic regional power until Roman rule in 206 BC.

The Celts are an interpretation for a multitude of tribes. This is also the case with the Iberians. Ancient authors mention the Cessetani, Ilercavones, Sedetani, Edetani, Ilergetes, Bastetani and Contestani, among others. The area stretched from the Pyrenees east to southern Spain along the Mediterranean.

Pictures: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The Iberians came from North Africa and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar after 1,000 BC. They developed a highly developed culture with relatively many cities and settlements with stone houses, gods, religious art and rituals, coins, textiles, coins, writing, sculpture, (ivory) jewellery, arable farming, animal husbandry, international trade and shipping.

The area was rich in minerals, silver, gold and iron. That was also the reason for other people’s interest in the Mediterranean countries, first the Phoenicians, then the Greeks, Punics and finally the Romans. The heyday of their culture lasted from the sixth to the first century BC.

Several towns and settlements have been archaeologically investigated and documented, including Ullastret (Ullastret), Puig Castellar (Santa Coloma de Gramanet), Burriac (Cabrera de Mar) and Masies de Sant Miquel (Banyeres del Penédes) in the north, Sagunt (Sagunt), Punta del Llops (Olocau) and Castellet de Bernabé (Llíria) in the centre and Baza (Baza), La Picola (Santa Pola) and Puente Tablas (Jaén) in the south. Several smaller and larger settlements have been located but have not yet been archaeologically investigated.

Overview of the exhibition ‘Iberer’, © Ruedi Habegger, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

Picture: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The towns are characterised by the presence of city walls and other fortifications, economic centres for the storage of goods, grain, wine, olives and other foodstuffs, artisan sites, temples and other shrines, cemeteries with monumental Necropolises for the elite.

These urbanised areas were the economic and power centres of local princes and tribes. There were also many agricultural settlements and buildings. Like the Teutons and Celts, it was a hierarchical culture with a monarch and nobles/warriors at the top.

Since the nineteenth century, numerous archaeological discoveries have been made, put on display in various (especially Spanish) museums, and documented in many (especially Spanish) publications. It is not only Iberian culture, society, and art that fascinates me but also its early relations with other Mediterranean regions.

Picture: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The Phoenicians (roughly inhabitants of present-day Lebanon) settled in the region as early as the ninth century BC. Cadiz, La Rebanadilla, Cerro del Villar, Toscanos and Huelva are some examples. The Greeks followed in the following centuries, including with the foundation of Empúries (Empórion).

These settlements were primarily trading places (factories) for storing and trading across the Mediterranean in, among other things, ivory, textiles and ceramics from the East and raw materials, especially iron and wood and agricultural products and foodstuffs from Iberia.

However, Iberian culture soon adopted Greek and Phoenician cultural features, as the exhibition shows through various objects. Ivory, glass, technological innovations and, among others, the Phoenician alphabet appeared among the Iberian tribes through these contacts.

Stele von Palermo (Teruel), 2nd/1th century BC. Museu d´Arqueologia de Catalunya

Although the Strait of Gibraltar was seen as the world’s end in this period, this region was the hub of Mediterranean trade, between east and west, until the sixth century BC. In the sixth century, however, a new superpower appeared: Carthage and the Punic culture.

Carthage was founded in 814 BC by Phoenicians as an important trading post on the Mediterranean. The city became a powerful city-state, and by the sixth century, it played a dominant role in the cities also founded by Phoenicians on the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

When the capital of the Phoenicians, Tyros, in present-day Lebanon 573 BC, was conquered by the Babylonian King Nebudkadnessar, Carthage seized its chance. Carthage then dominated the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Iberian territories.

Picture: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

However, another superpower joined the scene in the following centuries: Rome. Rome and Carthage disputed power in the Mediterranean and also in Spain. Three Punic Wars resulted from this: 264-241, 218-206 (and Hannibal’s campaign) and the last 149-146 B.C. The Romans eventually won and, from 206 B.C. onwards, occupied the territory of the Iberian tribes. Rapid Romanisation put an end to Iberian culture. Emperor Augustus conquered the other territories of Spain (and Portugal) only in 19 BC, but that is another story.

Coins, writing and the language

The Iberian language was distinct from the other languages on the Peninsula. The other main languages were the Celtic-Iberian language, the Lusitanian language (Portugal), the Turdetanian language and the Vascoaquitanian language (today’s Basque Country and areas in south-western France). The Iberian language has three variants according to the region: northeastern, southeastern and the Greco-Iberian variant near Alicante. The written Iberian language already disappeared in the 1st century BC due to Romanisation.

Pictures: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig

The most important information about the Iberian script comes from about 2,500 inscriptions. Although still undeciphered, it has been confirmed that the alphabet of the Phoenicians is the basis. There also seem to be similarities with the Basque language. After Roman times (5th century AD), the Iberian languages had completely disappeared as a spoken language, a parallel with Celtic.

The high development of the region is also evident in the coinage system. Currency played an important role in trade in the Mediterranean region. From an archaeological and cultural-historical point of view, this source is important because of its images and inscriptions.

Stele with inscriptions, 2nd century BC. Museu d´Arqueologia de Catalunya

Conclusion

The exhibition ´Iberer´ is presented in five languages (English, German, French, Catalan and Castilian). It is an eye-opener with many objects leaving Spain for the first time. For the first time? The silver treasure of Tivissa from the Castellet de Banyoles settlement had already stayed in Geneva during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).

Almost forgotten in northern countries, this culture of the Iberians and their relations with the Mediterranean’s oldest civilisations is a successful follow-up to previous exhibitions and fits seamlessly into the museum’s permanent collection.

(Source and further information: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig; Museu d´Arqueologia de Catalunya).

Impressions of the exhibition ‘Iberer’.