This paper offers a synthesis on my dissertation, titled The Phoenician communities of the Iberian Peninsula and their integration in the Roman world: an identity perspective. The period under discussion extends from the end of the Second Punic War in 206 BCE to the Flavian era in the last quarter of the century CE. About all, this work focuses on the cultural and ethnic dimensions of the process of integration.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Machuca Prieto, Francisco

English

Repositorio Institucional Universidad de Málaga

The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th A Phoenician way to be RomanFrancisco Machuca PrietoUniversidad de MálagaThis  paper  offers  a  synthesis  on  my  dissertation,  titled  The  Phoeniciancommunities of the Iberian Peninsula and their integration in the Roman world: anidentity perspective. The period under discussion extends from the end of the Second Punic War in206 BCE to the Flavian era in the last quarter of the century CE. About all, my workfocuses on the cultural and ethnic dimensions of the process of integration.Thus,  the  investigation  that  I’m  presenting  in  this  workshop,  built  on  anexamination  of  the  extent  literary,  archaeological,  epigraphic  and  numismaticevidence, has at its primary goal the explanation of the mechanisms of constructionof collective identity (as well as their forms of expression) which must have comeabout in the midst of these commnunities along the road to becoming established asRoman ciuitates.Secondly, my dissertation also attempts to improve upon the one-dimensionalclassical  perspectives  concerning  the  poorly-named  process  of  «Romanization».This, in turn, lead me to think in the existence of ethnic workings and re-workings bymeans of falsely or actually ancient components with the goal of legitimation withinthe dynamic Roman world.Finally, the  theorical  construct  which  I  take  as  starting  poins  rests  on  twopillars: 1) the new identitarian perspectives, based on the idea of the social world is aconstruction; and 2) the postcolonial theories.1The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th The main hypothesis of our thesis is none other that the consideration of anearly  and  intense  political  movement  of  the  Phoenician  peninsular  communitiestoward  the  orbit  and  interests  of  Rome,  along  with  a  parallel  adaptation  of  theirpolitical elites into Roman power structures. I defend that, from the end of the SecondPunic  War  on,  and  especially  in  the  early  Imperial  period,  the  communities  ofPhoenician origin and tradition in the West may have carried on amongst themselvesa new ethnic discourse full of Phoenician content, at the same time that the graduallyintegrated into the political structures of the Roman world.The Phoenician communities inhabiting the south of the Iberian Peninsula atthe end of the III century BCE, dit not disappear with the advent of the romans. News such as those by Strabo, according to whom the Turdetani had forgottentheir own language, and were living utterly in the roman style by the turn of the Era(Str. 3.2.15), requiere a deeper interpretation. Moreover the geographer of Amasia, inother part of his work, declares that most of the Turdetani cities and adjacent areasremained inhabited by Phoenicians (Str. 3.2.13).  Therefore, according to him or hissources, such as Posidonius, Asclepiades and Artemidorus, who knew first hand ofthe political  situation in the Peninsula at the end of the Republic,  existed certainpeoples  with  distinctive  cultural  traits  –language,  written  documents,  traditions,religion, etc.– which would allow a foreign observator to speak of «Phoenicians» stillliving in Turdetania.Certainly, the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans brought with itgreat changes. However, in the case of the Phoenician communites, testimonies likethose already mentioned and also archaeological data (as can be seen in this slide)2The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th reveal an apparent cultural  continuity,  with considerable changes not taking placeuntil toward the end of the Republican period. The  main  conclusion  that  we  can  take  from this  is  that  the  Phoenicians,although they began to integrate themselves quite early into Roman power structuresdue to the necessity of the elites to consolidate their positions of power at the heart oftheir own communities, did so with the intention of maintaining their own idiosyncrasyand of not losing their unique cultural traits.At the same time that the process of the establishment of Roman rule wasunderway,  there  arose  among  the  Phoenician  peninsular  communities  ethnicstrategies and mechanisms of self-recognition which used the past as the principalelement of legitimation. This does not mean that the civic arena ceased to operate asa mechanism for forming identity, but now, after the arrival of Rome, also came intoplay a new complementary axis. Given this state of affairs, our primary thesis, as I have already noted, is thatfrom the time of  the arrival  of  Rome into the Iberian Peninsula there was ampleopportunity for the Phoenician communities located there (like  Gades,  Malaca,  orSexs, to mention a few of the more well-known ones) to participate in a process ofethnic construction and/or re-elaboration related to their gradual integration into thestructures of the new Roman government. As  a  base  was  used  a  series  of  cultural  elements  which  displayed  theirspecificity in the face of other contemporary identities by means of a connection witha  prestigious  ancestral  past.  There  were  two  fundamental  components  of  thisprocess: the recognition of certain common origins, real or putative, which took root3The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th along with the city of Tyre, the oldest metropolis, and the figure of Melqart, not onlybecause  he  was  the  tutelary  divinity  of  that  city  but  also  because  he  was  thequintessential founding god within the Phoenician orbit.The goal of our dissertation is to explain why and how this process occurred. With regards to the first question, I think it necessary to explain, even onlybriefly,  that  this  elaboration  of  a  native  ethnic  discourse  within  a  fundamentallyHellenistic-Roman era could be explained largely by the needs of the elites of theabove-mentioned cities for political legitimation, totally immersed as they were in thecomplex  game  of  ethnic  oppositions  and  aggregations  which  sustained  theideological structures of the Roman Empire. That is to say, alongside municipal civicidentities,  which,  as is  known,  constitute  the most  important  framework of  ethnicreference within  the Roman world,  there was generated what  we could considerconstitutes a new «Phoenician identity» which until  that  point  had not  existed assuch, due above all to the ambition of these communities and their aristocracies tosecure  the  most  favorable  position  possible  in  the  recomposition  of  powers  andhierarchies within a political system like that of the Roman Empire, which was notablyflexible in its ability to integrate conquered peoples. With respect to the how, the thesis that I am setting forth considers that a goodpart  of  that  identity  would  have  been  linked  to  the  reception  on  the  part  of  theabove-mentioned elites of the essentially positive “ethnic image” of the Phoenicians–phoinikés– which we find in certain authors of the Hellenistic era such as DiodorusSiculus or Strabo. This is a phenomenon of assimilation which is not only identifiablein Roman Hispania but also in other parts of the Mediterranean, including Phoenicia4The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th itself,  as  has  been  studied  previously  by  Fergus  Millar  and  Corinne  Bonnet.  Inpostcolonial  terms,  I  would  be  talking  about  seeing  how  the  Greek  and  Romanwriters constructed the other, but also in what way that other represented itself whileemploying the tools which had been placed at their disposal as well as their owntools.So then, the construction of this identity with a strong Phoenician componentwould  not  completely  oppose  itself  to  «Roman  identity»,  but  rather  would  beintegrated into the complex array of identities which sustained the imperial edifice. Ibelieve that the integration of the Phoenician communities into the Roman world didnot have to necessarily be linked to an imitation of «Romanness». I defend the ideathat  beginning  in  the  second  century  BCE,  there  could  have  taken  place  in  thesouthern part of the Iberian Peninsula a rediscovery of «Phoenicianness», not as areaction  to  «Romanness»,  but  more  appropriately  as  a  «Phoenician  way  to  beRoman». Therefore, according to my focus, the transformations produced by the Romanconquest beginning at the end of the third century BCE are the real stimulus whichmotivated the configuration, based on criteria which were themselves ethnic, of a«Phoenician  identity»  apparently  composed  by  specific  groups  within  thesecommunities for the purposes of self-recognition within a context which was above allpolitical.Although the new ethnic discourse which we are discussing would have takenits own form in each city, it seems clear that the formation of this new identity isabove  all  related  to  the  reworking  of  histories,  myths,  legends,  and  traditions5The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th concerning the ancient origin of the Phoenician communities. Melqart, the primaryTyrian god, turns out to be a central component of the process, as I have alreadynoted. The tutelary Tyrian god appears until the Imperial period on the most notabletypes  of  Gaditanian  coinage  as  an  ethnic  symbol,  typically  accompanied  by  therepresentation of tunas or dolphins, a symbol of maritime riches and the commercialascendancy of the city. The figure of Melqart is also present on the obverse of coins from  Carteia,Sexs, and Abdera until well into the first century BCE. The purpose for this is noneother than to make clear the great antiquity of such foundational concepts and todemonstrate their affinity to Tyre, whether actually real or not. Indeed, the first Latininscriptions do not appear on these coins until the time of Augustus. But even so,they still  maintain the head of Melqart  on the obverse for some time, as can beclearly seen on the sesterces and dupondii of series VII.A 1 and 2 minted by the mintof Gades around 19 BCE to commemorate the pontificate of Balbus Minor.The Phoenician imprint on the Roman Gades of the second and first centuriesBCE is also noticeable in the funerary arena, since there are numerous examplesboth of rituals and of funerary objects as well  as in the typology of burials whichdemonstrate continuity. A similar tendency can be seen in other cities of southernSpain in which the Phoenician component is notable, like Baelo Claudia, where thepopulation  of  ancient  Bailo ultimately  settled.  Or  Carmo,  whose  early  Imperialnecropolis is characterized by the absence of typical Roman  terra sigilata and thepresence of a funerary iconography of  Phoenician-Punic origin –for  example,  theTomb of the Elephant–. 6The UK Punic Network Graduate Workshop 2017Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies – University of OxfordMarch 29th I  believe that  this  cultural  continuity  which manifests  itself  as  much in  thefunerary  sphere  as  in  the  arena  of  coinage  is  related  to  the  process  of  ethnicelaboration and re-elaboration. I  observe  that,  coinciding  with  the monumentalization  and  the  urbantransformations experienced beginning at the end of the first century BCE by a largenumber of cities in the southern part of the peninsula, which served as a show oftheir  constantly  increasing  integration  into  the  Roman  world,  nonetheless  theirmaterial culture and funerary practices indicate, as already discussed, a significantconnection  with  Phoenician  customs.  This  means  that  certain  ethnic  markers,reformulated as they were, continued to be fully active as a form of expression in anopen, heterogeneous, and dynamic context. Gades, Malaca, Sexs, or Abdera do notcease to be Phoenician cities when they fall within the Roman orbit at the end of thethird century BCE. From various graffiti found in some of these cities, we know withcertainty that Neo-Punic was still written in them until the Imperial era. For this reason, the significance of the Phoenician elements must have stillbeen important in a period in which Hispania in general and Baetica in particular hadlong been immersed in the governmental structures of Rome.In conclusion, I’m trying to show that we have shifts constantly between unityand diversity, local and global. The survival of cultural elements rooted in traditionsprior  to  the  arrival  of  Rome  certainly  does  not  indicate  an  active  and  hostileresistance  to  Roman  customs.  On  the  contrary,  this  continuity  is  seen  as  arenovation, a way of giving free rein to integration without renouncing the particulars:«a Phoenician way to be Roman».7

A Phoenician Way to be Roman

Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga

https://riuma.uma.es/xmlui/bitstream/10630/13415/1/A%20Phoenician%20way%20to%20be%20Roman.pdf

A Phoenician Way to be Roman

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