#Celtiberians of Bastetani

[yaellaharpe-blog]

The Lady of Baza, 4th century BC.

(English / Español / Italiano)

The Lady of Baza is a remarkable ancient statue discovered on 22 July 1971 by archaeologist Francisco José Presedo Velo during excavations at the necropolis of Baza, near Granada, Spain. The statue, dating from the 4th century BC, is attributed to the Celtiberians of Bastetani, whose capital was located nearby.

This intricately designed statue portrays a female figure seated on a throne, her hands resting on her knees. She wears a distinctive headdress similar to that of the Lady of Elche, a diadem and large earrings, giving her a regal and solemn appearance. Traces of polychrome paint are still visible, suggesting her original vibrant decoration.

On the back of the statue is an opening that is believed to have contained cremation ashes, suggesting a connection to funerary rituals. This has led scholars to speculate that the figure may represent a deity associated with death and the afterlife.

The Dama de Baza is currently kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid.

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La Dama de Baza es una notable estatua antigua descubierta el 22 de julio de 1971 por el arqueólogo Francisco José Presedo Velo durante las excavaciones en la necrópolis de Baza, cerca de Granada, España. La estatua, que data del siglo IV a. C., se atribuye a los celtíberos de Bastetani, cuya capital se encontraba cerca.

Esta estatua de intrincado diseño retrata una figura femenina sentada en un trono, con las manos apoyadas sobre las rodillas. Lleva un tocado distintivo similar al de la Dama de Elche, una diadema y grandes pendientes, que le dan un aspecto regio y solemne. Aún se ven restos de pintura policromada, lo que sugiere su vibrante decoración original.

En la parte posterior de la estatua hay una abertura que se cree que contenía cenizas de cremación, lo que sugiere una conexión con los rituales funerarios. Esto ha llevado a los estudiosos a especular que la figura puede representar una deidad asociada con la muerte y el más allá.

La Dama de Baza se conserva actualmente en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional de Madrid

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La Dama di Baza è una straordinaria statua antica scoperta il 22 luglio 1971 dall'archeologo Francisco José Presedo Velo durante gli scavi nella necropoli di Baza, vicino a Granada, in Spagna. La statua, risalente al IV secolo a.C., è attribuita ai Celtiberi di Bastetani, la cui capitale si trovava nelle vicinanze.

Questa statua dal design intricato raffigura una figura femminile seduta su un trono, con le mani appoggiate sulle ginocchia. Indossa un caratteristico copricapo simile a quello della Dama di Elche, un diadema e grandi orecchini che le conferiscono un aspetto regale e solenne. Tracce di pittura policroma sono ancora visibili, il che suggerisce l'originale vivacità della decorazione.

Sul retro della statua c'è un'apertura che si ritiene contenesse ceneri di cremazione, suggerendo un legame con i rituali funerari. Questo ha portato gli studiosi a ipotizzare che la figura possa rappresentare una divinità associata alla morte e all'aldilà.

La Dama di Baza è attualmente conservata presso il Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Madrid.

Source: Por Tierras De España

[al-mayriti]

PRE-RROMAN IBERIA

So, I wanted to do a series of posts talking about the Iberian peninsula (+ Balearic and Canary islands) throughout history and its divisions. For that, I wanted to talk a bit in-depth about pre-Roman Iberia and the kind of peoples that inhabited it. So, first of all, here's the canonical map we usually use in class when we study all of this stuff.

It's in Portuguese, but it's pretty easy to understand. First of all, there are two big pre-Roman groups that inhabited the Peninsula: the indigenous and the exogenous groups.

The indigenous groups generally can be divided into two big "groups": Iberians and Celts. These two groups were so strongly divided that the Hispanic Roman author Martial wrote that he was descendant "of iberians and celts" all the way in the 2nd century CE. Of course, as you can see in the map, this was not as easy as that, and there were some groups that can't be classified into these two groups, namely the vasconi (direct antecessors of the modern Basque people), turdetani (descendants of Tartessos), and of course the indigenous Canarian people, the guanches.

The exogenous groups are basically Greeks and Phoenicians / Punics. Greeks stablished a polis in what's now Ampuriès, the city of Emporion; while Phoenicians were all over various points of the southern coast, with very very important trade routes.

Keep in mind, the names of the tribes and groups are all Roman, as well as the location of each of the groups; we don't know how much longer did one group inhabited a particular area. We also know that some of these groups didn't coexist; for example the contestani ruled over the territory where the edetani should be.

Not all groups produced a written script, in fact, we only have various iberian scripts that, even though can be read, aren't desciphered. Other than that, we mostly have toponyms and antroponyms, as well as some lusitanian words in latin script, again, without being desciphered. Linguistically, the lusitani and vettoni didn't speak a celtic language, which differentiated them with the rest of celtic groups. Of course, turdetani and vasconi also had a unique language.

These groups have a chronology of about the 13th century BC until the late 2nd century BC, when Rome started its conquest of the peninsula. Nevertheless, toponyms and anthroponyms, as well as some religious practices and other cultural stuff survived well into the Roman Empire.

As for the guanches, an Amazigh group, they have a chronology of about the 5th century BC until the 15th century, where the Spanish colonizers wiped out the locals.

I'll be doing individual posts on the exogenous first and then indigenous groups, and down below you'll have the complete list of everything i'll be talking about; I'll be linking all posts so you can take a look at them as I make them:

Exogenous groups:

Greeks

Phoenicians / Punics

Indigenous groups:

Turdetani and Tartessos

Bastetani

Oretani

Contestani

Edetani

Ilercavoni

Northeastern Iberian Groups (lacetani, indiketi, ilergeti...)

Middle Ebro Iberians

Celtiberians

Vaccaei

Vettoni

Carpetani

Celtici

Conii

Lusitani

Turduli

Galaici

Asturi & Cantabri

Vasconi

Balearics

Guanches