Pontevedra and the Phoenician society

About this heritage

The city of Pontevedra is the capital of the province of identical name, an area which Phoenician sailors considered offered the best conditions not only to anchor their ships, but also to trade with its inhabitants. Along the coast of Pontevedra, numerous lithic anchors and remains of materials of Mediterranean origin have been found, which are evidence of the commercial exchanges between both civilizations.

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The Phoenicians lived in independent cities and, although they had a number of agglutinating elements in common, such as language, habits, religion and culture, Fenicia did not exist as a territorial entity and never constituted a unified state. Phoenician cities were often confronted by commercial rivalries, and none of them imposed their hegemony over the others. They were located on peninsulas, such as Byblos and Sidon, or on islands, as in the case of Tyre. Each of them had a territory on dry land that allowed them to obtain the products of agriculture and livestock necessary for their subsistence. Its economy, however, was based above all on industry and commerce, especially maritime commerce.

Politically, these city-states were hereditary monarchies. They were governed by a king assisted by a council of elders, in which the large families of the powerful merchant social class were represented. In fact, it was a regime halfway between the monarchy and the oligarchy, which also had a large body of officials.

Unlike other neighboring cultures, the Phoenicians never had the ambition to conquer territories and subdue other villages in order to increase the power of their rulers. That's why they didn't worry about standing out in the military field. They based their defense on the location of their cities in places of difficult access and on the protection of their ramparts. And with respect to their powerful Assyrian and Babylonian neighbors, they preferred to fight, pact and become their contributors.

To know it better

Pontevedra, name deriving from Latin which means old bridge, is a Galician city located on the northeastern region of the Iberian Peninsula. This city stands out for its culture, art and history, and is where the first evidence of the Bronze Age was registered.

The castro culture also left behind evidence of its existence in the city of Pontevedra. Its main characteristic was the manner in which they organized their subsistence, as in their villages, known as castrum, what stood out were their circular stone dwellings, although some were also oval and square. Remains of this culture were identified where the current Church of Santa María la Mayor, dating back to the 16th century, and present church of San Francisco, now stand.

The Lérez river, approximately 60 kilometres long, runs through the city of Pontevedra. The Phoenician navigators used this river, not only to set anchor, but also for trading products with its inhabitants.