4 Native Peoples — the Tartessians

Sertorius, who, taking advantage of the light dusty soil
in which their caves lay, overcame them by a curious
stratagem.^

At the time of the Roman occupation, in the course
of the second Punic War, Spain was in possession of a
number of different races, native or foreign, the first
split up into small groups or tribes under a government
nominally monarchical, but really controlled by the
general assembly of clan elders or nobles. The south
and south-east parts were occupied by the Tartessians,
or, as they were coming to be called, Turdetes or Tur-
detani, with some kindred peoples. They were highly
civilized, with historical records and a literature, a wide
commerce, and, as recent finds prove, expert in sculp-
ture and metal work. It has been suggested that these
were the Atlantids of Greek fable, the last remnants of
Mycenaean civilization, who had found their way along
the North African coast in the Bronze Age, settled first
in Africa, then in Spain, and at last, losing all warlike
spirit, offered a ready prey to foreign invaders.^ How-
ever this may be, the view that they were merely a
branch of the Iberians, who through favouring cir-
cumstances and Punic influence outstripped their
countrymen, scarcely seems tenable. Earher Greek
authorities carefully distinguish Tartessians and Ibe-
rians. The language of the former, as seen from place-
names, belonged to the labializing class ; the Iberians,
in similar words, introduced a. k ox qu sound. The

1 Plut. Sert. 17.
