PILAR QUIRÓS INIESTA

It was a mythological king of Conios, a pre-Roman town inthe Iberian Peninsula, it was a Tartessos’ town. According tothe legend, Gargoris was the inventor of apiculture.

He had incestuous relationships with his daughter. When shebecame pregnant, as he was embarrassed, he ordered to lockher, and he also ordered to kill the baby, who was Habis.

Gargoris Statue, the apiculture’s founder.

He was the son of Gargoris and one of his daughters.

He was a mythical Tartessos’ king. He was abandoned at birth on ahill full of beasts, who breastfed and protected him.

When Gargoris knew that Habis had not died, he ordered to captureand kill him. They tried to kill him in many ways, for example, beingdevoured by hungry dogs and pigs or throwing him to the sea.

He was bred by a hind. When he grew up, he became a skilful manand he was captured by some peasants, but the king recognized himas his grandson, because he had overcome many dangers andproblems, and he admired him. So, Gargoris forgave Habis andHabis became the king.

Habis was the inventor of plow, agriculture and Tartessos’ law.

He divided Tartessos society into seven classes as well.

Habis was the inventor of plow and agriculture. Picture that represents Tartessos people

Habis’ son (670 BC - 550 BC.) and the lastTartessian king. He was the only king from whichwe have historical references. His name,Arganthonius, means “Silver man”.

He appeared in the Greek sources related with themineral wealth of his kingdom (brass and silver).Arganthonius helped the Phocaeans to finance thefortification of their city, Phocaea, (a Greek city inAsia Minor, now located in Turkey) against thePersians’ threat.

He sent 1500 Kg of silver to his allies. But hedidn´t stop the establishment of Phocaeancolonies in his kingdom.

Picture that shows how Arganthonius could be.

According to Greek historian Herodotus, King Arganthoniosruled Tartessos for 80 years (from about 625 BC to 545 BC) andlived until 120 years old.

This idea of great age and length of reign may result from asuccession of kings using the same name or title. This confirmsthe idea that he enjoyed longevity and he had a long reign.

15 years after his dead, Tartessos suffered (had) a greatdecline.

It's probable that Arganthonios died from natural death,because there isn’t any document about his death.

Arganthonius’ mask

Map in which we can see the main area where the Tartessos developed their kingdom.

He was a Carthaginian general,statesman and leader of the Barcidfamily. He was born in Carthage,first of the strong Barcid clanwhich dominated the Carthaginianpolitics during the second part ofthe 3rd century BC.

In 247 BC, when he was 33 yearsold, he led the Carthaginiantroops in Sicily during the FirstPunic War against Rome.

Hamilcar Barca Statue

From his bases in Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, he launched attacksagainst the Italian coasts, until he was defeated in the naval battle ofEgatas Islands (241 B.C). As a result of this defeat, he lost Sicily andhe retired to Africa.

In Africa the mercenaries revolted because of there weren'tresources to pay them (Mercenary War, 241-238 BC). Hamilcar Barcaplayed an important role in the suffocation of this rebellion and hebecame very popular and he was appointed commander in chief ofthe army.

Silver Carthaginian Dishekelwith the picture of HamilcarBarca in Carthage.

After the defeat in the 1st Punic War and the loss of Sardinia,Sicily and Corsica, Carthage’s weakness was used by thetowns of Libya and the Iberian Peninsula to get their liberty. In237 BC Hamilcar decided to intervene and he recoveredterritories in the Iberian Peninsula, with the idea of attackingRome again and taking advantage of the abundant wealth ofthe Peninsula as the base of the counteroffensive.

Accompanied by his son Hannibal and his son in lawHasdrubal, Hamilcar landed in Gades (the only city that theCarthaginians had in the Iberian Peninsula) and controlled theGuadalquivir valley, fighting against the Tartessians, Iberiansand Celts. He conquered Levant and founded Akra Leuke(present Alicante). He died fighting against the Oretani duringthe siege of Helike (Elche). Hasdrubal and Hannibal continuedhis work.

AkraLeuke

Hannibal

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%ADlcar_Barca

http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/253349/Hamilcar-Barca

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Hamilcar_Barca.aspx

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/An%C3%ADbal

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A1rgoris

http://tartessos2.blogspot.com.es/p/mito-de-gargoris-y-habir.html

https://www.tartessos.info/html/gargoris.htm

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habis

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argantonio

http://www.andalucia.cc/adarve/ARGANTONIO.htm