Iberians
before the name Hispania, before Greeks and Romans, there came the Phoenicians. And before them, the indigenous Iberians spoke a non-Indo-European language unrelated to any known tongue except, somewhat distantly, Euskadi or Basque.
A ceramic rim painted with Iberian script. Tossal de Sant Miquel
This marble comb from the Medellín necropolis in Spain shows a goddess with outstretched wings and a lotus in each hand. This theme originates in west Asia; compare the Nimrud marble from Assyria, at right.
A relief from the Pozo Moro funerary
monument shows Phoenician influence
in the lotus and wings, but the warrior figure
is rendered in distinctively Iberian style
--with similarities to Italic art.
by a goddess flanked by lions.
Badajos, southwestern Spain.
Jug from Enserune shows
Phoenician and North
African influences.Circa 400 bce.
