About Phoenician Cadiz
The starting point for understanding the Phoenician presence in Spain is Gadir (Cadiz), the first city in the Western world and a beacon of civilization in Europe for centuries, celebrated by the ancients for its prosperity and grandeur. The classical sources agree that Gadir was the first Phoenician settlement in the West, founded 80 years after the fall of Troy in 1104 BC, although current archaeological data suggests that the city sprang to life around 300 years later.
Gadir, meaning 'walled stronghold', was strategically located on a small island at the mouth of the Guadalquiver river, controlling access to the rich agricultural lands of Andalucia's interior and the precious metal resources of Tartessos. Gadir’s connection with the local population and position beyond the Pillars of Hercules on the Atlantic coast allowed it to dominate trade routes, with the thriving metropolis swiftly becoming the heart of Phoenician Spain.
The Phoenicians established Gadir primarily to exploit the region’s mineral resources and particularly its abundant silver deposits, which local rulers like the ‘Silver King’ Arganthonios were happy to trade for Phoenician luxuries including wine, olive oil, perfume, fine textiles, wheel-made ceramics, crafted metalwork and jewellery.
Described as a 'joyful and licentious city' by the Roman poet Martial, Gadir was best known in antiquity for its Temple of Melqart (later the Temple of Hercules Gaditanus), and it is from ancient references to the shrine dedicated to the supreme Phoenician god that we know so much about the city’s foundation.
Writing in the first century AD, the historian Velleius Paterculus states that the city was founded 80 years after Troy’s destruction in 1184/83 BC, giving a date of 1104/03 BC:
‘About this time, also, the fleet of Tyre, which controlled the sea, founded in the farthest district of Spain, on the remotest confines of our world, the city of Cádiz, on an island in the ocean separated from the mainland by a very narrow strait.’
This date is unanimously confirmed by the classical sources, and the 300 year inconsistency with the archeological evidence may mean that the initial Phoenician presence in Gadir was semi-permanent and based solely on trade before an urban settlement later developed.
The continuous human occupation of Cadiz for 3,000 years means that the physical remains of Gadir are buried under Roman and medieval structures and the modern city itself, making archaeological investigations and excavation work practically impossible.
While much remains unclear about the Phoenician city and its layout, Gadir was located on three main islands in the Bay of Cadiz, which after millennia of sedimentation now form a peninsula connected to the mainland.
The largest of the islands was Kotinoussa, modern-day Santo Petri, with the Temple of Melqart situated at its southern end, and a shrine dedicated to the Phoenician fertility and weather god Baal Hammon (Greek Kronos) to the north.
The smaller island of Erytheia is where a small Phoenician settlement was located at the highest point of the old city centre of modern Cadiz. Erytheia was also the site of a temple dedicated to the goddess Astarte (Venus/Aphrodite), the divine consort of Melqart (Hercules).
The third island in the archipelago was Antipolis, believed to have been uninhabited until the Roman era, and judging by the quantity of sea snail shells discovered at the site, was probably an industrial zone with foul-smelling factories producing the incredibly valuable Tyrian purple dye.
The sparse signs of human occupation on the three islands can be explained by the Phoenician foothold on the mainland at Castillo de Doña Blanca. This appears to be the main settlement area and true heart of ancient Gadir, with the islands mainly engaged in religious and economic activities.
Castillo de Doña Blanca was situated on a promontory roughly 15 metres above sea level with an excellent harbour and thick defensive walls up to six metres high. Eighth century BC residential brick buildings have been discovered among a network of streets, lanes and public spaces, pointing to a high degree of urban organization.
The settlement must have been the main commercial link between Gadir and Tartessos, as well as playing a crucial role in providing the Phoenician islands with fresh water, agricultural produce and construction materials.
The inhabitants of Castillo de Doña Blanca introduced animal husbandry techniques and produced a surplus of meat for export. Wheat, barley, grapes and olives were cultivated in the fertile conditions of Andalucia, while fishing for tuna and sea snails undoubtedly played an important commercial role.
An intriguing question is raised by the earliest pottery discovered at the settlement, with an unusually high level of handmade local ceramics found alongside Phoenician wheel-made equivalents. This indicates that, at least to start with, Castillo de Doña Blanca was a mixed settlement, with the Phoenicians choosing and being allowed to live alongside the indigenous population in apparent harmony.
Melqart was the supreme god and mythical founder of the Phoenician city state of Tyre, and the temple dedicated to the deity represented a powerful bond between Gadir’s inhabitants and their homeland.
Melqart literally means ‘King of the City’, and the god’s main function was to protect both citizens and trade, with the temple serving as a neutral and sanctified meeting place for the Phoenicians to strike commercial deals with representatives of Tartessos in an atmosphere of mutual confidence.
The controlling and supervisory role of the shrine's priests is clear from the fact that 10% of the profits from trade went to the temple, which acted as both a treasury and bank, and probably kept an official record of the city’s commercial transactions.
The divine authority of Melqart was accepted by the local population partly because of the elaborate ritual involved in his worship, including daily sacrifices, three altars preserving the eternal flame, and a renowned oracle later consulted by leaders like Julius Caesar and Hannibal. Bronze columns flanked the entrance to the Temple of Melqart, which became a key pilgrimage destination for centuries.
While next to nothing remains of the Temple of Melqart or its successor shrine dedicated to Hercules Gaditanus, ancient descriptions and its fame in Roman times as guardian of the relics of Hercules, supposedly including his mortal remains, emphasise its foundational role in Phoenician Spain and Western Europe.
Cadiz Ring
This obscure but highly significant gold ring was found randomly in Cadiz, and its dating has recently been revised back to the eighth century BC, making the inscription the earliest written record of the city’s existence: ‘To the lord, all mighty, and his servants the people of Gadir’.
The ring probably belonged to priests at the main temple in Gadir dedicated to Melqart (Hercules), who formed a divine couple with Astarte (Venus) in Phoenician and later Roman culture. Scholars believe that the phrase ‘people of Gadir’ implies their status as a political collective, and that the final part of the inscription actually means ‘according to (the law) of the people of Gadir’.
This suggests that a citizen’s assembly existed in the city, which would represent the first form of popular government and democracy in Western Europe.
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In 1887, a fifth century BC marble sarcophagus of a bearded Phoenician male was discovered and became the starting point of the Museum of Cadiz’s archaeological collection, occupying its own room in the Museo Arqueológico de Cádiz from 1893.
The museum moved to its current location on Plaza de Mina in 1935, with the ‘Lady of Cadiz’ female Phoenician sarcophagus added to the collection after its discovery in 1980.
Apart from this unique heritage, the museum houses the Priest of Cadiz statue, an extensive Phoenician jewellery collection, and other relics discovered in the city Cadiz, on the island of Sancti Petri, and at Doña Blanca in Puerto de Santa María.
