List of the Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula

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Ethnographic and Linguistic Map of the Iberian Peninsula at about 300 BCE.

This is a list of the paleohispanic ethnonyms. Until about the year 2001 they were most often considered to be pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula; that is, prior in date to the Roman occupation of the peninsula and vicinity. This article was written with the earlier definition in mind.

The definition, however, was contested by another school of thought, which proposed calling the ethnonyms paleohispanic without implication of date, time, or geopolitical state of affairs. The new definition avoided some major inconsistencies in the old. It was opposed at first but in 2001 with the first issue of the journal, Palaeohispanic, the opposition yielded. Subsequently the pre-Roman theory was obsolete.

The ethnonyms listed in the article, which were taken from various ancient sources, have no single definition. Most are exonyms assigned by the Romans, but in some cases the endonyms are known. An ethnonym may be as simple as a different place name, or it may imply a difference of language or government. In a certain number of cases the population referenced by the name remains unknown. The name is simply listed in a source.

The paleohispanic ethnonyms are pretty much beyond tribes, which belong to an earlier phase of classical antiquity. The polis, or independent city-state, also was in the past. Poleis had been reduced and subjected by Alexander the Great and the diadochi in favor of the imperial province. Socio-political organization under the Romans was entirely provincial, as it had been under the Carthaginians. Residents of a great city such as Valentia were not citizens of it. They were Roman citizens. If an individual changed address he did not move from tribe to tribe or from city to city but only from one locality to another. Wherever he went, his claim to Roman citizenship obtained an instant response from officials charged with insuring that he got his rights. "Civis Romanus sum" insured the place of even those who spoke only Iberian.

Paleohispanic versus pre-Roman[edit]

Main article: Northeastern Iberian script

This article was originally written to denote a phase of scholarly terminology in the study of the early cultures of Spain. The Roman Republic had taken the hegemony of Spain away from Carthage and had colonized and developed the east coast beginning at a good round date of 200 BC. They found there a variety of cultures and languages. By the time of Augustus (Augustan Spain) most of the Iberian Peninsula had become a Roman Province, Hispania Tarraconensis, and most (but not all) of the original native cultures now spoke Latin, from which came the future Spanish language.

Hispania Tarraconensis (Aragon) after a long struggle against invading peoples from the north including Vandals (Andalucia) and Goths (Catalonia) and from Africa (Moors) at about the time of Columbus staged a reconquest of the country, re-asserting Romance culture (which after the conversion of Rome was now Catholic), expelling muslims and jews, and building the Spanish Empire. Portugal, though now a Romance country, had never been in Tarraconensis. Nevertheless they succeeded in building a parallel Portuguese Empire.

Medal honoring the decipherer of paleohispanic scripts and discoverer of the Iberian language.

To the first Hispanic scholars the initial event of Spanish history seemed to be the conquest of the peninsula by the Romans. Hence anything to do with cultures prior to the conquest was classified as pre-Roman. This practice prevailed up until the end of the 20th century. Meanwhile Manuel Gómez-Moreno Martínez deciphered the paleohispanic scripts, discovering that one of them represents an unknown language, dubbed Iberian. It is also used to write Proto-Basque.

Martinez' view replaced the previous, that the scripts represented only one language, Basque. Also dissatisfaction with pre-Roman grew; there were a number of things wrong with it. First of all, the Northeastern Iberian script was being used in southern France, which was not the Iberian Peninsula. Second, other Indo-Europeans had already made inroads into Spain: Greeks and Celts. These were pre-Romans as well, but they had already replaced the culture of some of the the non-IE pre-Romans. Third, Basque, which is spoken yet, is both pre-Roman and post-Roman, Furthermore, Latin is pre-Basque and therefore Basque cannot be pre-Roman.

Throughout the latter 20th century two camps carried on a polite war of the words. One favored pre-Roman and the other proposed a new generalized word, paleo-hispanic, without reference to date or range. By the turn of the century Paleohispanic had won. It had been proposed as the new flag word in the first issue of a then new journal, ‘’Palaeohispanica’’. The new lead editor explained the platform as follows:[1]

The native cultures (las culturas autóctonas) … existed before the arrival of Rome. And in this sense one can speak … of pre-Roman languages. However, the vast majority of texts through which these languages are documented are not only Roman era, but often partly reflect Roman culture …. it is advisable to reserve the term pre-Roman to refer to Hispanic societies among the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE and use a more generic term to refer to them in general terms. … the hybrid neologism “Paleo-Hispanic” seems to us the most suitable due to its unequivocal character and use among researchers. In fact, it is not uncommon to refer the term Paleohispanistic to the set of philological and historical specialties that deal with ancient Hispanic peoples (los antiguos pueblos hispanos)—archaeology, epigraphy, linguistics, numismatics—, since multidisciplinarity is a characteristic feature of these studies.

Since 2001 palaeohispanic has replaced pre-Roman except in contexts where a time before 200 BC and no other is implied.

Other than Indo-Europeans[edit]

Aquitanians[edit]

Iberians[edit]

Indo-Europeans[edit]

Celts[edit]

Celts? Para-Celts, Pre-Celtic Indo-Europeans?[edit]

Lusitanians-Vettones[edit]

Turdetanians[edit]

Germanic peoples?[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Beltran Lloris, Francisco (2001). "Presentacion". Palaeohispanica (in Spanish). 1: 7–8.
  2. ^ Aguña, Julián Hurtado (2003). "Las gentilidades presentes en los testimonios epigráficos procedentes de la Meseta meridional". Boletín del Seminario de Estudios de Arte y Arqueología: Bsaa (69): 185–206.
  3. ^ a b c d e Jorge de Alarcão, “Novas perspectivas sobre os Lusitanos (e outros mundos)”, in Revista portuguesa de Arqueologia, vol. IV, n° 2, 2001, p. 312 e segs.
  4. ^ Ptolemy, Geographia, II, 5, 6
  5. ^ Mountain, Harry. (1997). The Celtic Encyclopedia p. 225 ISBN 1-58112-890-8 (v. 1)
  6. ^ Indoeuropeos y no Indoeuropeos en la Hispania Prerromana, Salamanca: Universidad, 2000
  7. ^ Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 198–200. ISBN 1-85109-440-7, ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0. ^ Jump up to: a b Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 224–225. ISBN 1-85109-440-7, ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Alberro, Manuel and Arnold, Bettina (eds.), e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, Volume 6: The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Center for Celtic Studies, 2005.
  • Guerra, Amilcar. (2005). Povos, cultura e língua no Ocidente Peninsular: uma perspectiva, a partir da toponomástica. Palaeohispánica: Revista sobre lenguas y culturas de la Hispania antigua, ISSN 1578-5386, Nº. 5, 2005 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Actas del IX coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas paleohispánicas (Barcelona, 20-24 de octubre de 2004)), pp. 793–822.
  • Haywood, John. (2001). Atlas of the Celtic World. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500051097 ISBN 978-0500051092
  • Kruta, Venceslas. (2000). Les Celtes, Histoire et Dictionnaire. Paris: Éditions Robert Laffont, coll. « Bouquins ». ISBN 2-7028-6261-6.
  • Luján Martinez, Eugenio R. (2006) "The Language(s) of the Callaeci," e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies: Vol. 6, Article 16. pp. 715–748. Available at: The Language(s) of the Callaeci

Further reading[edit]

  • ALARCÃO, Jorge de (1992). “Etnogeografia da fachada atlântica ocidental da Península Ibérica”. In: ALMAGRO-GORBEA, M. e RUIZ ZAPATERO, G. (coords.). Paleoetnologia de la Peninsula Ibérica, 2–3, Madrid, Universidad Complutense: 339–345. (in Portuguese)

External links[edit]

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