Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/346

HISPANIA. or the ooontrj of the Ibenis, if ve examine its northern ports, Aragon and Catalonio, alreadj greatly resembles a northern oountxy. Valencia sti^ds in the middle between them. The whole countiy of the Tagns is thronghont a table-land, very high at its commencement, piercingly cold and unhealthy as far as the fivnUer of Portugal. Between the Sierra Mofena and the Donro we have the large p^n-of Estremadura, which is fertile but unliealthy, and perfectly flat The plain of Leon is scarcely inha- bitable on acooant of its drought and barrenness. The southern parts of Castile are productive, and the continuation of the valley into Portugal changes its character so much as to become extremely rich : it still contains large plains, but the greater part is a beautiful hilly country." {Leciurta <m Ancient Ethnography and Geography^ vol. ii. pp. 282, 283.) Arnold also has a brief passage on the subject, weU worth quoting : — *' The centre of Spain, notwith- standing its genial latitude, only partially enjoys the temperature of a southern climate ; while scxne of the valleys of Andalucia, which lie near the sea, present tlie vegetation of the tropics, the palm-tree, the banana, and the sugar-cane. Thus, the southern coast seemed to invite an early civilisation ; while the interior, with its bleak and arid plains, was fitted to remain ilor centuries the stronghold of barbarism." {Hittory of Borne, vol. iii. pp. 391, 392.) With these descriptions the statements of the ancient writere agree tolerably welL It would be tedioos to refer at length to the passages of Poly* bins, Strabo, Pliny, Justin, and other writere, which are collected by Ukert (voL i. pL 1. pp. 323, 324). Its fertility is generally celebrated by the andents, who mention among its products, com, wine, oil, firuits, pasturage, metals oiP all kinds, and precious ■tones. Baetica was famed for its abundant har- vests; Lusitania, for its numerous flocks; Turde^ tania, for its timber; the fields of Carthago Nova and other plains, for the ^artum, from which cord* age was made. But the great attraction of the peninsula to civilised nations, from the earliest times, was foond in its mines of the precious metals, especially the silver mines in the mountains of the south. It also yielded gold, iroo, quicksilver, cin- nabar, rock-salt, and other vsjuable minerals. (See the authorities ap, Ukert, L c: comp. Babtica, Castuaoo, Cabthaoo Noya.) VIL Population. The ethnognphy of the Spanish peiiinsnla is a Tery difilcult subject It is certain that, in the his- txxical period, the chief stock of the population was the race called Iberian, with a considerable inter- mixture of Celts, and, in the S., of Phoenicians also. But as to the precise position of the Iberians in the human fiunily, and as to the questions, whence they came into the peninsula, in what exact relation they stood to the Celtic population, and what has become of them in the subsequent movements of races, which have swept like mighty tide-waves backwards and forwards over the face of the peninsula: — these are problems of which we cannot yet be said to liave ob- tained a very satisfactory solution. The prevailing opinion among the ancients, and tho one most in fkvour with modem scholars, repre- sents the Iberians as an aboriginal people, in ad- dition to whom the peninsula received an immigra- tion of Celts from beyond the Pyrenees, who over- powered the Iberians. The two peoples coalesced to a great extent, forming the great nation of the HISPANIA. 1087 Cbltiberi; but pure Iberian and pure Celtic tribes were still to be found in various parts of the peninsula. (Herod, ii. 33; Diod. Sic v. 33, 35; Strab. i. p. 33, iii. pp. 148, 151, 153, 157, 158, 162; Polyb. U. 31; Appian, Hisp, 2; Plin. iii. 1, s. 3; Lucan, iv. 9; Sil. iii 140.) The Celtiberians occupied chiefly the centre of the country, as well as parts of Lusitania and of the N. coast. [Cjslti- BKRi.] Tho pure Iberians dwelt chiefly in the Pyrenees and on all round the coast, and the pure Celts on both sides of the river Anas, and in the extreme N W. of the peninsula, about the promontory Nerium. [Celtica.] Lastly, there was a hu-ge admixture of Phoenicians in Baetica; and on other points of the S. and £. ooasts colonies were esta- blished by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, and by various Greek states, as the Phocaeans, Rho- dians, Zacyuthians, Samians, and Mjuisaliots (Herod, i. 163; Strab. iii. pp. 151, 157, 159 ; Mela, iii. 6 ; Plin. V. 19. s. 17); besides the great influx of Bomans at a later period. But, as regards the first inhabitants, a directly opposite opinion has been held by not a few eminent scholan, and is supported by the high antliority of Niebuhr, who expounds it as follows: — Spain is destined by, nature almost more than Italy, to form one compsct state: no one can liave a doubt about this, when looking at the three seas by which it is surrounded. Nevertheless, however, it did not be- come united as one whole till a late period, though this hi^pAed before the time of which we have written records; for there can be no doubt that pre- viously it was divided into two distinct countries. On the one side, the Pyrenees formed its natural boundary towards Gaul (in the course of time, how- ever, they were crossed, and the Iberians ruled over the country from the Gctnmne to the Rhone) ; but at an earlier period another natural boundary line was formed by the Sierra Morena, an extensive range of mountains, which, for a couple of centuries, formed the boundary between the Christian and Mahommedan parts of Spain. These same moun- tains, no doubt, also separated the Iberians from the Celts. The heights in the north of Spain, whence the Tagus, Durins, and Minius flow towards the sea, and whence, on the other side, smaller riven carry their waters towards the £bro, were inhabited by Celts, who were also called Celtiberians. Other Celts bearing the name CelUci dwelt in Algarbia and the Portuguese EttremadurOy and othere again inhabited the province Entre Douro e Minho in tho north of Portugal These three Celtic nations were quite isoUted in Spain. The Celtiberians were not pure Celts, but, as even their name indicates, a mixture of Celts and Iberians; but the Celts in Portugal are expressly stated to have been pure Celts. The latter attracted the attention even of the ancients, especially of the excellent Posidonius, who made so many correct observations, but allowed himself in this instance to be mii>led. He is of opinion that the CelU had immigrated into Spam, for he reasoned thus: as the Celts could migrate into Italy and across the Danube as far as the Dnieper it was far lei« diflicuit for them to enter the neighbouring country of Spain. But such isohited parts of a nation cannot have arrived in a countiy by immigration; on the contrary, the Iberians ap- pear extending themselves and in possession of Aquiiunia and Languedoc at a very early period; how then could the Celts, not being nble to maintain the Pyrenees, have spread over the whole peuiubuU?