Tartessos

Tartessos appears on the timeline as a people or culture of Iberia (Europe) from c. 900 to 550 BCE, a span of 350 years. Its people spoke Unknown or undeciphered languages (Indus, Minoan, Moche, Nazca, Chavin, Jomon and other unattested languages).

A silver-trading society of the lower Guadalquivir that Greek writers placed at the edge of the known world. Herodotus says its king Arganthonios welcomed Phocaean traders. It faded in the 6th century BCE.

See Tartessos on the interactive timeline

Facts

Dates: c. 900 to 550 BCE
Duration: 350 years
Type: People or culture
Region: Iberia, Europe
Language family: Unknown or undeciphered

Events in Europe during its time

776 BCE First Olympic Games
753 BCE Traditional founding of Rome

Neighbours in Europe

Greek city-states c. 800 to 338 BCE
Sparta c. 900 to 192 BCE
Etruscan civilization c. 720 to 90 BCE
Kingdom of Macedon c. 700 to 168 BCE
Syracuse c. 734 to 212 BCE
Roman Kingdom c. 753 to 509 BCE
Phoenician colonies in Iberia c. 800 to 237 BCE
Massalia c. 600 to 49 BCE
Magna Graecia c. 750 to 272 BCE
Carthaginian Sicily and Sardinia c. 550 to 238 BCE

Elsewhere in the world at the same time

Carthage c. 814 to 146 BCE, North and West Africa
Neo-Assyrian Empire 911 to 609 BCE, Middle East
Achaemenid Empire 550 to 330 BCE, Middle East

Questions

When did Tartessos exist?

c. 900 to 550 BCE, about 350 years. These dates are approximate, because the evidence for its beginning or end is uncertain.

Where was Tartessos?

Iberia, in Europe.

What language did Tartessos speak?

Unknown or undeciphered. This family includes Indus, Minoan, Moche, Nazca, Chavin, Jomon and other unattested languages.