Tartessos

Greek sources indicate that Tartessos was the oldest kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula. Its main nucleus was located in the Guadalquivir Valley, but its influence was extended throughout the peninsular Southwest. It lived its period of greatest splendour from the end of the 8th century BC until the 6th century BC.

Its economy was based on agriculture, livestock and especially in mining and metallurgy. The Tartessians extracted copper, silver and tin from the mines in the region. This wealth of metals attracted the Phoenicians and the Greeks, with whom they maintained intense commercial relations.

The Phoenician influence on Tartessos was very important. From them they took agricultural techniques as goldsmithing and the cult of some gods, like Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of nature and fertility.

Tartessos was ruled by a king. The most famous of them was Argantonio, even this king appears in Greek Mythological stories related with Hercules.

Tartessos - Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)