190 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"<» S. VII. Mar. 6. '59. 



jealous and exclusive dominion of tlie Phoenicians. 

 Appian, Hisp. 2., likewise describes Arganthonius 

 as a native Iberian prince, and supposes some 

 Greeks to have settled in his territory. It may 

 be added that Diodorus represents Hamilcar as 

 attacking and defeating the Iberians and Tartes- 

 sians (xxv. 14.) ; which implies that the latter 

 were not Phcenicians. Arrian indeed speaks of 

 Tartessus as a Phoenician settlement, and of a 

 temple of the Tyrian Hefcules at Tartessus 

 {Anab. ii. 16. 4.) ; but this must be a confusion 

 with Gadeira. In like manner, Valerius Maxi- 

 mus calls Arganthonius king of Gades (viii. 13. 

 ext. 4.) Pliny makes him king both of Tartessus 

 and Gades in the same chapter (vii. 49.) ; and 

 Cicere denominates him the king of the Tartes- 

 sians, but makes him live at Gades {De Sen. 19.). 

 Tartessus and Gades are likewise identified by the 

 ignorant Avienus {Ora Marit. 85. 269.). 



In the Greek mythology, Tartessus was the 

 shore opposite the island of Erytheia, where Her- 

 cules landed with the oxen of Geryones in the cup 

 given him by the sun. (ApoUod. ii. 5. 10.) It 

 was likewise said to have been the scene of the 

 battle of the Giants or Titans against the gods 

 (Schol. Horn. II. viii. 479. ; Justin, xliv. 4.). The 

 name is used in a fluctuating sense, sometimes to 

 designate a district, sometimes a river, and some- 

 times a town. (See Paus. vi. 1 9. 3.) Stesichorus, 

 the early lyric poet, makes it a river, as does Aris- 

 totle. In the latter sense it is identical with the 

 Bsetis or Guadalquivir. Dionys. Perieg. 337. 

 describes Tartessus, a country of wealthy men, as 

 situated below Alybe, one of the columns of Her- 

 cules, at the western extremity of Spain. Eustath. 

 ad he. says that the river Bajtis was anciently 

 called Tartessus, and that it carried down tin : he 

 states likewise that the delta intercepted between 

 its two mouths was named Tartessus. According to 

 the Ora Maritima of Avienus (a medley so confused 

 as to.be nearly unintelligible), the Tartessians dwell 

 in the western part of Spain (v. 113.) : their terri- 

 tory adjoins that of the Cynetes, which is traversed 

 by the river Anas (Guadiana) (v. 223.), and it 

 reaches as far as the Sinus Calacticus (v. 424.) ; by 

 which he appears to mean the country of the Cal- 

 laici, the modern Gallicia. According to Apol- 

 lodorus, in his Geography, the Cynetes dwelt at 

 the western extremity of Spain, beyond the Straits, 

 then to the north the Gletes, and after them the 

 Tartessii. (^Ap. Constantin. de Adm. Imp. c. 23.) 



The name Tapr-ncrahs is a Greek form from some 

 native name, which the Romans converted into 

 Tyrtitania, or Turdetania. (See Movers, vol. ii. 

 p. 612.) It was nearly equivalent to the Koman 

 Bcetica, and designated the country adjoining the 

 Baetis or Guadalquivir.. Hence Tartessus and 

 Gades were naturally confounded. Erytheia was 

 at first a merely poetical place, which was after- 

 wards localised in Spain ; but Tartessus was from 



the beginning a geographical name ; though the 

 remoteness of the country which it designated 

 caused its use to be vague and indefinite. (See 

 Ukert, ii. 1. p. 242.) It may be remarked that 

 the Turdetani were the most civilised of the Ibe- 

 rian tribes (Strab. iii. 1. 6.), — an advantage which 

 they probably owed to their early intercourse with 

 the Greeks. 



Strabo dwells upon the natural advantages pos- , 

 sessed by Baetica. It yields gold, silver, copper, 

 and iron ; the country is productive of corn, wine, 

 and oil ; and its means of export are multiplied 

 by its navigable river and its excellent port. Be- 

 sides which, it supplies wax, honey, pitch, much 

 coccus tinctorius, and good red ochre ; wood for 

 shipbuilding, and mineral salt ; fleeces, and abun- 

 dance of fish, with establishments for salting them. 

 There are no destructive animals, except rabbits, 

 which ruin plants with their teeth. It was doubt- 

 less the metallic wealth which gave Tartessus its 

 early fame. Strabo speaks of nuggets of gold 

 being found there weighing half a litra (or pound), 

 and requiring little purification. It was regarded 

 as a sort of Peru. (Strab. iii. 2. § 3—8.) Scym- 

 nus (v. 162.) describes Tartessus as two days' sail 

 west of Gadeira, and as receiving river-tin from 

 Celtica, as well as gold and copper. Steplianus of 

 Byzantium, in Taprri'a-ahs, says that Tartessus, a 

 city of Iberia, takes its name from a river flow- 

 ing ffom Mount Argyrus, which river brings 

 down tin to Tartessus. By this river the Btetis 

 is meant (see Strab. iii. 2. § 11. ; Avien., Ora 

 Marit. 291.). 



Strabo enlarges on the multitude of fish found 

 in the sea near the shores of Baetica, and particu- 

 larly the murajna or sea eel, and the thunny. 

 The muraena, though not, as it appears, now es- 

 teemed, was regarded as a great delicacy by the 

 ancients. The muraena of Tartessus became pro- 

 verbial among the Greeks; and the liomans 

 turned to account its peculiarity of living artifi- 

 cially in fresh water. It was kept in ponds for 

 the use of gourmands. The muraena eats flesh, 

 including human flesh : there is a well-known 

 story of Vedius PoUio throwing the bodies of 

 slaves in a pond as food to his murasnas. (See 

 Plin., N. Hs ix. 39. ; Seneca, de Ira, iii. 40. ; Die 

 Cass. liv. 23.) It is in allusion to this habit that 

 Aristophanes in the Frogs (v. 475.) represents 

 -SJacus as enumerating the Tartessian murrena 

 among the monsters who will tear the entrails of 

 the wicked in hell. The muraena had become 

 proverbial to signify a voracious animal in the 

 time of iEschylus. He couples it with the viper. 

 (Choeph. 981., and Blomfield in Gloss.) That the 

 murffina is carnivorous is stated by Aristotle, 

 Hist. An. viii. 2. Its formidable teeth are com- 

 memorated by u3?^lian, N. A. ix. 40. Photius, in 

 TapTTja-ia fivpaiva, and Apostol. xvi. 15., state that 

 the Tartessian muraenas were the largest. Pollux 



