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From the Beginning of Spanish Civilization to the Beginnings of the Reconquest
| Part 1 : The First Invasion - The Iberians | Part 7 : The Resistance |
| Part 2 : The Second Invasion - Celtics | Part 8 : Hispania - Spain Under the Romans |
| Part 3 : The Third Invasion - Phoenicians | Part 9 : The Seventh Invasion - Goths and Visigoths |
| Part 4 : The Fourth Invasion - Greeks | Part 10 : The Eight Invasion - Arabs |
| Part 5 : The Fifth Invasion - Carthaginians | Part 11 : Spain Under Arabian Rule |
| Part 6 : The Sixth Invasion - Romans | Part 12 : The First Arabian Defeat |
Before any discussion of Spain can begin, it is important to realize that Spain is not truly a united country. Spain has always been composed of highly individualistic and independent regions. This is a result of the peninsula’s geography and its inhabitants. Iberian history begins around 15,000 to 20,000 BC. The Iberians were a short, dark people who were very preoccupied with the process of day-to-day living. It is their paintings of bison, horses, bulls, deer, and goats that decorate the caves of Altamira, which are a lot of the earth-toned paintings that come to mind when one thinks of primitive men. The pictures, especially those of the bull, were drawn in celebration of victory over the animals. The blood of the slain was often used in the paint. In the Northern lands, the only representation of man on the cave walls is a hand with outstretched fingers. In the South, there are figures of men involved in the hunt or in war. Our information of the early Iberians is vague and conflicting. It is possible that the Iberians are related to people of the Mediterranean or to the Berbers of the Saharan Desert. The entire Iberian Peninsula was subject to invasion over many, many years. The waves of invaders mixed with the independent original inhabitants and reinforced their customs of self-autonomy. The first of the invaders were the Celts.
The Celts invaded Spain around 1,000 BC. They were Nordic, tall and blond. The original inhabitants, the Iberians, resisted them but eventually the two races mixed. Although the two people fused, there is yet no concept of a nation because the Celtic-Iberians are divided into more than 2,000 tribes. Each tribe fiercely maintains its individual independence forming temporary alliances in order to defeat a common enemy. Most of our knowledge of the Celtic-Iberians is second-hand information through Greek records. The Greeks spoke of an advanced culture that lived in stone houses, crafted jewelry, worked metals, used ceramics and cultivated the earth. The Celtic-Iberians even developed their own alphabet and writing system. According to the Greeks, the tribesmen were extremely skilled in guerrilla warfare using attack and retreat strategies. Loyalty to the clan-chief was often taken to the extremes of heroism. Individuals were inclined to sacrifice their lives for personal dignity or loyalty. These people were religious, hospitable, undisciplined, impulsive, and arrogant. They built elegant tombs and worshipped many gods, including the bull that is found everywhere in gold or bronze. The Toros de Guisando are stone bull sculptures near Avila. Apparently the bull, which the Celtic-Iberians both worshipped and fought, was an idol.
After the Celts, the next invaders were the Phoenicians. They established the city of Cadiz, the oldest city of Spain, around 1100 BC for commercial reasons. The Phoenicians also built the ancient lighthouse at La Coruna was built around the same time as the founding of Cadiz. While the Phoenicians established trading centers in Spain, they never tried to colonize the peninsula. It is important to note that the Egyptians, Hittites and Phoenicians all valued the bull as an important fertility symbol. The Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh is the first written account of the Matador, around 2000 BC. The Minoans had a tradition of flipping over a bull's horns to transfer the bull's fertility and strength to the leaping man. Around 630 BC, attracted by Phoenician prosperity, the Greeks established mercantile colonies in ports on the Mediterranean.
As the Greeks established Mediterranean mercantile, they brought the grape and the olive to Spain. They founded schools and academies and were highly influential in the improvement of Iberian ceramics. The Greeks called the peninsula either “Hesperia” or “Iberia”, meaning the country of the Iberians and it is derived from the root “ib” which means river. They also used the name “Spania” which was later changed to “Hispania” by the Romans. It is believed that the name “Spania” comes from the Celtic word “span” which has the same root as the English word “span” which indicated the palm of the hand. The central meseta of the peninsula is shaped like the palm of a hand. The bull was also important to the Greeks. According to them, Zeus took the form of a bull in order to seduce Europa and she gave birth to Minas, the mythical king of Crete. It was his wife, Persiphae, who gave birth to the Minotaur. Testing oneself against the bull was a supreme test of manhood to the Cretan bull cult.
During III century BC, the Carthaginians and the Romans have a big dispute over the possession of the Iberian Peninsula. The Romans were afraid of the Carthaginian navy closing off the Adriatic Sea and the Strait of Menina. The Carthaginians were afraid of losing settlements on the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. When Sicily was lost to Rome in the First Punic War, Hamilcar Barca decided that Spain would compensate for that loss and his army landed in 218 BC to conquer the Peninsula. It is very interesting the Hamilcar’s conquest was quite peaceable. His soldiers, including his son Hannibal, took Spanish wives. It is said that Hamilcar founded Barcelona and developed New Carthage (Cartagena). When Hannibal inherited the empire in 221 BC, he realized that war with Rome was inevitable and he began to consolidate his power in the peninsula. He included many Celtic-Iberians mercenaries in his armies. He then besieged and captured Saguntum which allowed him to dominate the entire peninsula south of the Ebro River. When the Romans protested, Carthage declared war in 218BC. Hannibal took his army, including elephants, and crossed both the Pyrenees and the Alps. He almost succeeded in occupying Rome. Meanwhile, the Roman general, Scipio Africanus rallied Roman soldiers and gained Celtic-Iberian allies in order to capture and destroy New Carthage in 210 BC. It is still important to remember that the fierce Celtic-Iberians are extremely independent and will only give loyalty on an individual or a tribal basis.
While Hannibal was with his troops fighting in Italy, Rome invaded Spain. The Second Punic War (218-210BC) drove the Carthaginians out of the Iberian Peninsula. Rome now began the difficult task of conquering Spain. Because of differences in fighting styles, it took them almost 200 years to completely conquer the Celtic-Iberians. Rome fought in massed array and the Iberians fought in small groups and utilized surprise attacks. They were so fierce that Roman soldiers dreaded service in the Peninsula while the conquest was in process. Ironically enough it is the independence of the Celtic-Iberians that kept Rome far from an easy victory and their independence also allowed Roman invasion. If the tribes of the Celtic-Iberians had united, they could have easily won because their numbers were so much greater than the Romans. Rome conquered Spain and dominated it for six centuries. At the beginning of Roman conquest, the praetors were so violent and abusive that their actions only fueled all resistance. In 181 BC, Rome began a period of much more conciliatory practices; however, once resistance was defeated it did not take officials long to begin abusing their authority once again through pillaging, excessive fines, and arbitrary decision making. In 153 BC, the city of Numantia rebelled against Roman rule.
Numantia, also known as Numancia, is an eternal symbol of the Celtic-Iberian resistance. When it became clear that their efforts could not hold off Roman General Scipio Aemilianus (known as Escipión in Spanish), they burned their city and all their possessions before throwing themselves on the raging flames. Such die-hard actions made the Roman victory a hollow one. Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quijote, wrote a tragedy about the fall of Numancia. Numancia is not the only example of such extreme reaction to Roman invasion, the city of Estepa, originally a Carthaginian settlement, greeted their Roman conquerors in 208BC with the same actions as Numancia.
While both Numancia and Estepa are wonderful examples of Celtic-Iberian loyalty, pride, and valor, it must be pointed out that the tribes were still very independent and that not all of the tribes were against Roman occupation. The city of Saguntum (Sagunto) was a Roman ally and the Carthaginians believed that Saguntum would be an excellent staging area for a strike against Rome. The Carthaginians laid an eight-month siege around the city; however, the inhabitants were so determined to resist that they resorted to cannibalism rather than surrender. When they realized that failure was inevitable, they torched the city and then threw themselves onto the swords of their enemies.
Spain was Rome’s first overseas colony. As the years passed, Rome began to extend political and civil rights to the Celtic-Iberians. This extension contributed greatly to the pacification and unification of Spain. Although Hispania was a rebellious at times, it was one of the most prosperous. Under Roman rules, Spanish wines became very famous and the Spanish olive was also prized. In order to aid their military, Romans built extensive roads that boosted internal commerce. Education improved because it was an effective means of extending Roman culture into the Peninsula. At the beginning of Roman colonization, there were two classes, freemen and slaves. Gradually a middle class developed which included Romanized freemen of mercantile or professional status and bureacrats. Spain did not remain a colony but became an integral part of Rome.
Hispania’s contributions to Rome:
1. Four Roman Emperors: Trajano, Adriano, Marco Aurelio, and Teodosio el Grande
2. Important writers: Quintilia (the rhetorician), Martial (composer of poetic epigrams) Columella from Cádiz (12 books on agricuture), Pomponius Melo (author of most geographical work in Latin), and Seneca (father of Stoicism)
3. Politicians and Bureacrats: The most influential family was that of Seneca, Annaeus Seneca, the rhetorician from Córdoba. His son was Lucius Annaeus Senesca the writer of verse and prose, a Stoic, and advisor to Nero.
Rome’s contributions to Spain:
1. Roman law and customs: The Romanization process provided for easy conversion of the Celtic-Iberians to Christianity, which became an important unifying bond. The Spanish Church claims its origins to come from the Apostle James and that he worked in the Galician area. That is why their principal city, Santiago de Compostela, and its impressive cathedral have been the destination of so many pilgrimages. History states that it is more probable Apostle Paul who brought the Christian Church between 63 and 67 AD.
2. Roman language: The vulgar Latin form became commonly spoken by the Hispanoromans. However lack of education, lack of books, and geographical isolation produced noticeable language changes on the Peninsula. Some of the regional dialects that developed were Gallego, Catalán, Andaluz, and Castilian. Only the Basque province didn’t yield to Roman influence and it maintained its own language. The origins of the Basque language are unknown and it is a possibility that it might be the language spoken by primitive Celtic-Iberians.
3. Bullfighting tradition: There is conflicting information about the source of the bullfighting. Some say that the Romans brought it to Spain and some say that Julius Caesar brought it to Rome. The Greek tradition of vanquishing the bull, which was a male only religion in Greece, was influential in either case. Mithra was the Aryan god of light who killed the bull using the sun as a shield. Roman gladiators wore a pigtail to signify the fact that they fought bulls and cut it only when they retired. The Spanish call bullfighting, “La fiesta brava” or “The Festival of Bravery.” When Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he outlawed both the bull contests and Mithraism.
After four centuries of Roman peace, Spain was invaded forcefully by the Visigoths, Goths of the West. The Hispano-Romans, who had been following peaceful pursuits, were easily conquered. Attracted by the prosperity and stability of the Roman Empire and pressured by the Huns, the Germanic invasion came south through the Pyrenees in 409 AD. The Visigoths ruled for 300 years. Their rule added a Germanic element to the mixture, namely feudalism. The existing Roman customs were adapted to the needs of the new rulers. The Visigoths were very accomplished in the art of jewelry making and metalworking.
Problems of the Goths:
1. Migrant Tradition: They were originally a migrant tribal people. When they began to adopt the principle of assigning land to individuals, it was very disruptive to their form of government. The rulers were elected and advised by the warriors. Once land, the key to wealth, was assigned to individuals, it became very difficult to assemble the warriors. As a result, the Visigothic kings wanted to establish hereditary succession that produced continuous revolts and weakened the monarchy.
2. Dual Legal Systems: The Hispano-Romans followed a general territorial law and the Visigoths followed customary personal law. All attempts to clarify the conflict resulted in further confusion. The confusion led to an inequality of classes, gradual loss of liberty for all but the privileged, and land was now the primary word of wealth. The end result of the mess is that primitive law was reborn in Spain and a class system of privileged and serf.
3. Lack of religious unity: Many of the rulers believed that religious unity was important and Catholics were intermittently persecuted. Eventually the rulers became Christian and Latin became the official language. Emperor Herclius commanded Jew to accept Christianity within a year or leave. Jews had became numerous, Hadrian had transplanted 50,000 Jewish families to the peninsula. Some 90,000 converted and the remainder were severely persecuted.
4. No significant cultural achievements: Architecture was imitative. Libraries were small and common schools were nonexistent. The Visigoths even forsook the use of their own tongue in favor the vulgar Latin spoken in the peninsula.
Important Occurrences under the Goths:
1. Increase of the Clerical Power: One of the Gothic Kings, Sisenand, ordered the Fourth Council of Toledo to approve his assumption to the crown. His successor followed his example with the Fifth Council of Toledo. The council declared that the king was sacred and inviolable. Additionally, they established certain conditions for heirs and firmly established clerical intervention in the succession. The clergy became members of the privileged class with all the associated privileges and the right to extend asylum. As the wealth and power of the church grew, official schools disappeared and the clergy gained control of education.
2. Revival of the Fiesta Brava: Formerly outlawed by Constantine, the Visigoths revived bullfighting because they took pride in bravery and skills in stock handling. The Arabs, the next series of invaders, continued the tradition on the backs of the Arabian horses.
3. Reinforcement of family loyalty: Family-unity, important to the Celtic-Iberian, had weakened under Roman rule. The tribal tradition of the Visigoths reawakened that and added the tradition of wergild. While wergild added to the confusion, it also reaffirmed some of the unique “Spanish” characteristics.
In seventh century AD, Mohammed unified the Arabian tribes and made holy war an extremely important component of their religion. This addition led to the Moorish invasion of Europe. According to Rhea Marsh Smith in her book Spain, Spain is the only European country affected by the Roman, Christian, Germanic, and Moslem traditions (37).
According to the legend of Don Rodrigo, the last Gothic king, the loss of Spain was a result of his libido. It is said that he saw a beautiful maiden, Florinda de La Cava, bathing in the waters of the Tajo and fell in love with her. Don Rodrigo took Florinda as his love, without the permission of her father, Count Julian, governor of Ceuta in the Straits of Gibraltar. When Count Julian learned of the relationship, he felt that his honor had been slighted. That is the reason why he helped the Moors invade Spain in 711. The fate of Don Rodrigo is unknown. Some say that he died in the ocean, some say that he went to a hermitage before being eaten alive by a snake, and still others say that he went mad with grief for losing Spain.
History does not completely support the popular legend. While it is possible that Don Rodrigo did take Florinda as his lover, it would have occurred before his ascent to the throne in 711. History shows a little evidence that Don Rodrigo was fighting Basque rebels in Pamplona when he first learned of the Moorish invasion. He sent his nephew, Sancho, and an army to repel the invaders. Unfortunately, their efforts were futile and the Arab invasion was successful. History disagrees with legend stating that Rodrigo fled to the north were he resisted Arabian conquest until his death.
Tarik was the Moorish leader who conducted the invasion by dividing his army into three parts. He sent a section to lay siege to Ecija and then later gave the city to the Jews before advancing on Malaga. Another section took Cordoba. Tarik led the third section to Toledo, which surrendered without resistance. Both Jews and adherents of Witiza, the last Visigothic king, fiercely supported Tarik. Because Witiza’s sons were to young at the time of their father’s death to rule, Don Rodrigo was able to steal their position. The sons thought that the Moors were only interested in pillaging some of Spain’s riches and would leave after the conquest restored them to the throne. However, they were incorrect. The Moors drove their campaign across Spain before Charles Martel in Poitiers of Southern France finally stopped them.
The Moors occupied Spain for many centuries and their influence can be seen in the nation’s character, literature, and art. At first Spain was governed by the Omayyad caliphate of Damascus and the immediate rulers was the wali of North Africa in Kairwan. That changed in 756. The Caliph of Cordoba was proclaimed sovereign and independent. Cordoba quickly became a powerful city and Spain quickly became the most civilized state in Western Europe. Under the direction of the Cordoban caliphs, Abderramán II and Abderramán III, from 756 to 961, Cordoba was the capital of Spain and Spain led Western Culture. Its fleet was the most powerful in the Mediterranean. Major Moorish centers were also established in Toledo, Valencia, and Granada. With the exception of the Visigothic Kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Galicia, Leon, and Navarre, Spain became Moslem. There was constant warfare between Christians and Moslems for dominance within Spain. This struggle lasted for 800 years.
Important Arabic Contributions:
Arabs and Jews worked together and made important discoveries in medicine, botany, mathematics, and other sciences. They established an irrigation system so efficient that it is still in use twelve centuries later. It is the Arabs who transmitted the philosophies and culture of Greece to the Western world.
1. Spain became a center of learning: Previously education was reserved for the rich; however, Hakam II endowed many schools to teach the words of Mohammed to the children of the poor. Many others mimicked his example. While no plan was provided for higher education, it also flourished. Most Spanish Moslems were literate and they valued philosophy. Widespread literacy did not exist in other European countries. The Arabs placed high esteem on their poets and even delivered challenges, threats, and declarations of war in verse.
2. Jews returned to the Peninsula: When the Jews returned, they contributed heavily to the prosperity of the country by managing commerce and banking. Additionally, they were also wonderful doctors and important government administrators. When the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, expelled the Jews in 1492, the results were quite significant and almost devastating to the country.
3. Reinforcement of familial loyalty and tradition: Moslem society was based on the family which reinforced the changes begun by the Goths. In Spain, women were not as subordinate to men as they were in the Orient. Although they were still not permitted in public without a veil, women held influence within the family and were educated.
4. Religion: The organization acquired by the Catholic Church during the Gothic period remained unchanged, although the Caliph did intervene in the appointment of bishops and in the meeting of councils.
In 711 the Arabs began their invasion of the Iberean peninsula. First they established themselves in the southern part of the peninsula. Then they began eliminating the remaining Visigothic forces and secured the fall of Don Rodrigo. The invasion then pushed upward into the peninsula, invading Extremadura, Portugal, Murcia, and Valencia. It was not until they reached the town of Covadonga in 718, located in the northern part of the Asturias province. Thirty Spaniards, led by Count Pelayo, repelled the Moslem invaders from a pass within the Cantabrican Mountains. This battle was an extremely important one because it established the principles that drove the Reconquest.
The Reconquest is the name given the period of history in which the Christian Spanish drove out the Moslem Arabs. While the Reconquest lasted eight centuries, the struggle was puncuated with periods of peace and amnesty. It is during the Reconquest that the national and religious character of Spain developed. As individual areas were rescued from the Arabs, many different independent kingdoms developed. The character of these independent kingdoms is similar to that of the Celtic-Ibereans.
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Mazour, Peoples, and Rabb. People and Nations: A World History. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1983.
Sacks Da Silva, Zenia. Márgenes: Historia Intima del Pueblo Hispano. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1967.
Sí, Spain
Smith, Rhea Marsh. Spain: A Modern History. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1965.
Ugarte, Miguel and McNerny, Kathleen. España y su civilización: 4a edición. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.
(Copyright 1999-2000, Katherine Estep Stephenson)