The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean

by Carolina Lopez-Ruiz

  There is no reason to doubt that Ibiza enjoyed a high degree of autonomy regarding policies on internal matters, although there are reasons to believe that the system of pacts in effect would lead to a degree of dependence on the Punic policy headed by Carthage. Ibiza played a major role in the course of the various multiple confrontations in which the North African capital was involved, first with the Greeks in Sicily and subsequently with Rome. In this sense, Ibiza could have had an important role in attracting, recruiting, and transporting mercenaries, from the renowned Balearic slingshot marksmen to recruits from the various mainland communities. We have therefore suggested that Ibiza may have carried the weight of the Punic presence and influence in both zones—the Catalonian coast and the Balearic Islands (Majorca and Minorca)—which proved to be of enormous interest for Carthaginian policy as areas for the sourcing of raw materials and mercenary soldiers (Costa 1994: 124, and 1998: 858). In addition, Ibiza was perhaps a destination for soldiers returning to civilian life at the end of conflicts and establishing themselves as settlers on the land (Costa 1994: 121, and 1998: 849–50).

  The development of the material culture of Punic Ibiza becomes increasingly greater between the final quarter of the fifth century and the first half of the fourth century bce. This is the period when the most characteristic shapes of Punic-Ibizan ceramics were produced. On the other hand, thanks to the thriving trading activity on the island, products arrived in amphorae from the westernmost Phoenician areas at both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar, as well as from the Iberian mainland and from Corinth. Thanks to the goods found in tombs, the arrival of large quantities of Attic ceramics is also documented, including terracotta and black-varnished crockery, but mostly lamps and lekythoi. Small glass containers, ostrich eggs, scarab amulets—now carved in stone—and other small artifacts were also found in the tombs from this period.

  This era is also when the island began its commercial expansion on a large scale, a development made clear by the presence of Ibizan amphorae in various enclaves on the coast of the mainland, in the Phocaean city of Emporion (modern Ampurias), and in the indigenous communities on the Balearic Islands. Ibiza exported a wide range of products to the mainland communities on the eastern and northeastern peninsular coasts (of today’s Valencian country and Catalonia) and the Gulf of Lion. These included some of its own production along with those redistributed from other parts of the central or eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, in addition to wine and olive oil, the products deriving from fishing—mainly salted fish—would undoubtedly have played a major role, owing to the existence of the island’s salt pans.

  We also need to consider other manufactured products from the various crafts developed on the island. These include metallic, agricultural, and domestic implements, jewelry (mainly silver, perhaps from the mines in the north of the island), perfume containers, bead necklaces, and amulets made from vitreous paste in monochrome or polychrome. Ceramic containers and terracotta figures were also made locally, besides those that came from Greece. To these we need to add a range of products which have not left any evidence, such as fabric dyed with locally produced purple dye for the social elites. In turn, there is a production of amphorae that literally reproduce the morphology of those from Ibiza in the mainland sites of Darró in Vilanova i la Geltrú, which points to the penetration of Ibizan trade on the Catalan coast. In Ampurias, there are indications of similar local production (Ramon Torres 1991).

  From the second half of the fourth century bce, there is an almost complete disappearance of Attic ceramics, reduced to a few types of lamps which themselves ceased to arrive on the island by the third century. There are also significant changes in local production at this time, as many of the most characteristic forms of Ibizan ceramic production disappeared. This gave way to new shapes, some of them inspired in the Sicilian production, as is the case with the coroplastic production developed between the second half of the fourth century and the early third century bce.

  At the necropolis at Puig des Molins, on the other hand, the number of new hypogea opened between the years 350–325 bce is 9 percent of the total studied, none of them dated later than the last quarter of the fourth century bce (Fernández 1992). It is necessary, therefore, to conduct a detailed study of the reuse of hypogea in the necropolis between 350 and 200 bce, as the phenomenon must have been much more prevalent than it has so far been surmised, and since analysis of numerous hypogea at Puig des Molins and in rural areas already suggests such reuse.

  The dynamism and thrust of the Ibizan economy was to make it possible for the island to begin producing its own coinage in the fourth century bce. The first coins were composed of a silver fraction, with very few examples, and two of bronze with a variety of models while following the metrological system of Carthage and Gadir. Ibizan coinage is characterized by an image of the god Bes on virtually all issues, on one or both faces, which constitutes a currency symbol for the mint (Campo 2014). The legend which appears on later issues, the plural ’YBŠM, could mean “the Bes islands,” and is without doubt a reference to the two Pitiusas Islands known today as Ibiza and Formentera. This name would be adapted as Ebesos, Ebysos, or Ebousos by the Greeks, while Romans translated it as Ebusus, in reference to both the islands and the city.

  Transformation: The Late Punic Era

  The economic and social structures of the Punic-Ibizan society underwent a progressive integration with those of the Roman state before becoming a part of the empire, in a process of transformation that began with the Punic Wars and intensified afterward.

  The archaeological record of the third century bce in Ibiza itself provides us with little information until the last quarter, owing in large part to the scant quantity of “index fossils” to identify the contexts of this century. It is, rather, Ibizan materials found outside the island which are an illustration of the activity on Ibiza at that time. Hence it can be observed how, during the First Punic War, the Ibizan amphorae continued in their commercial flow abroad, at least to their traditional markets in the Balearic Islands and the Catalan area on the mainland. Similarly, during the Second Punic War, they were found in numerous Talayotic and Iberian deposits—especially Catalan and to a lesser extent, Valencian—while Ibiza actively participated in the redistribution of North African and mainly Tunisian materials to the mainland. Ibiza was not neutral in the conflict, and sided with Carthage. In 217 bce, thanks to its solid fortifications, the island resisted the conquest attempt by Roman troops under the command of Cneus Cornelius Scipio who, unable to take the city, pillaged the country settlements and took booty far exceeding that taken from the mainland (Livy 22.20.7). Later on, in 206 bce, Ibiza would supply the Carthaginian troops and equip the fleet of general Mago, the brother of Hannibal, to continue the struggle (Livy 28.37.3) (see Costa 2000, with previous bibliography).

  The mint also started to issue coinage from a date somewhere around 225 bce and in substantial quantities as a contribution to the Punic side in the wars. They coined money in bronze and, from 212 bce, in silver. Indeed, the six issues from Ibiza represent some 8 percent of the silver coin minted by the Carthaginians during the war. All this information indicates that, in spite of the conflict, Ibiza continued to have high economic potential, not merely continuing but also increasing its overseas trade, as well as recovering from unfavorable experiences, such as the Roman sacking of 217 bce. The economic efforts made during the conflict must have been an accelerating factor in the development of social and economic dynamics and structures of the Punic-Ebusitan society, involving changes both in the organization of production and in the forms of ownership, as well as, possibly, in the social hierarchy (Costa 2000).

  Economic growth continued after the Second Punic War. Archaeological data, on the one hand, shows that in the first half of the second century bce, the city witnessed a degree of urban development also manifest in the pottery workshops area, which reached its greatest degree of activity (Ramon Torres 2011). In the rural sphere, this period also
coincides with a peak for the exploitation of the island’s agricultural resources. At various modest sites founded during the former period, we detect the restructuring and extension of installations. In line with the internal development of the island, the first half of the second century bce constitutes a high point in overseas trade. Virtually all the indigenous settlements along the Catalonian coast and in the Balearic Islands were inundated with Ibizan material (Ramon Torres 1991, 1995). In addition, from the beginning of third century bce, Ibiza established a stable structure on several islets of the south coast of Mallorca, from which to introduce its products to the island’s indigenous communities (Guerrero 1997). This was constituted, mainly, by the establishment of Na Guardis, where Ibizan products were unloaded and stored and an intense metallurgical activity was developed (Guerrero 1997: 33–130), as well as that of the islet of Sa Galera, where the Punic-Ebusitans built a probable place of worship (Martín et al. 2015).

  An analogous situation occurred in the second century bce when, in addition to amphorae and other ceramics, Ibizan coinage began to be circulated in significant quantities outside the island, starting in the latter years of the third century. Ibizan coinage can be found in the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, the southeast and east of the mainland, and in southern Gaul, Sardinia, Sicily, Campania, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco (Campo 1994: 53). On the other hand, in Ibiza we find coinage from this period from other Punic mints, such as Carthage, western Phoenician cities such as “Malaka” (Málaga), and Iberian coins from Kese, Untikesken, Ikalkusken, and so on. It should also be stressed that the first coinage from the mint at Rome also started to be found on the island.

  I believe that this apparent prosperity at ’YBŠM is related to the analogous development observed at Carthage and in other Punic cities following the Second Punic War, when economic growth was stimulated by Rome, since this ensured the payment of war penalties to Rome, imposed on the Carthaginians after their defeat (Costa 2007). In any case, if the Ibizan economy was able to achieve such levels following the war, it was due to the fact that its activities did not conflict at that time with the interests of Rome, committed as it was to territorial conquest on the Iberian mainland, as well as the eastern Mediterranean. On the contrary, the fact that Rome most benefited from Ibizan trade, appropriating part of the revenues in the form of taxes or tributes, satisfactorily explains the situation. (On the Punic Wars, see chapter 13, this volume.)

  Various authors have sought to explain this apparently paradoxical situation as the result of a political conjuncture, arguing that after the war Ibiza became a civitas foederata of Rome, based on a comment by Pliny (HN 3.76–77). However, this explanation is not very convincing if we take into account the fact that the concession of a foedus was a deal Rome tended to grant to its allies. It was unlikely, therefore, that Rome would award this status to a city that remained faithful to Carthage until the end of the war, unless it had previously changed sides, as Gadir did. However, given that there is no evidence for anything of the sort, we believe that after the war Ibiza had to make a deditio to the Romans. In other words, the island was to offer unconditional surrender to the power of Rome, probably following the Battle of Zama in 202 bce and in any case before 195 bce, as the island was not affected by the campaign by the Consul Cato between 195 and 193 nor by the Third Punic War, which would end with the razing of Carthage in 146. It is also clear that in 123 bce, when the Roman conquest of the Balearic Islands took place, had Ibiza not been at peace with Rome, the troops of Quintus Caecilius Metellus would not have limited their actions to Majorca and Minorca. As a result, the federation must have been formed at some later undetermined point. This alliance, in any case, must have resulted from a conjuncture where Rome sought to formalize its relationship with Ibiza by giving legal sanction to its hegemony over the island, in addition to the economic and military benefits to which the foedus obliged all foederata cities.

  Starting in the last quarter of the second century bce, the archaeology reveals a substantial downturn in the Ibizan economy, leading to the abandonment of some settlements. It is also significant that between ca. 125 and 100/80 bce, there was a break in issues by the Ibizan mint, along with the production of wine amphorae. The Ibizan factories established on the Balearic Islands were also abandoned. Everything points to a relationship of this downturn with the conquest of Majorca and Minorca by the troops of the Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus in 123. This event had a negative effect on overseas trade, depriving Ibiza of its most important markets and consequently affecting the economy of Ibiza, now that it represented direct competition for Roman interests in the western Mediterranean. It should not be overlooked that the Romans had managed to consolidate their domain over an extensive and rich territory on the mainland, which they were now seeking to make profitable by direct exploitation.

  Finally, during the first century bce, signs of recovery can be noted—above all, following the Sertorian episode in 81 bce—which may have led to the foedus with Rome. Contacts with the outside were renewed, specialist agriculture grew—especially wine—and the mint once again increased its issues. In the last quarter of the first century bce, there appears to have been a renewal of the island’s productive infrastructure as a result of the specialist production of olive oil, while wine production from the vineyards increased even more. At that time, the transformation of Punic Ibiza by its relentless incorporation into Roman structures was inevitable. This situation would come to an end in 74 bce, during the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, when Ibiza, together with the rest of the Hispanic cities, was granted the ius Latii and became the Flavius Ebusitanus Municipium. In this way, the Ebusitans ceased to be socii peregrini and Ibiza/’Yboshim lost its status of foederata and ended the process of full integration into the state structures of the Roman Empire. Thus it became a municipality subject to Latin legislation, endowed with municipal magistrates—as illustrated by epigraphic evidence—and integrated into the Tarraconensis province (Costa 2007). In this way, Ibiza lost its autonomy and singularity, to become another municipium in an empire that by then had become extensive. ’Yboshim had definitively become Ebusus.

  References

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  Barceló, P. 2009. “Observaciones sobre la Constitución y las Instituciones de Cartago.” In Instituciones, demos, y ejército en Cartago: XXIII Jornadas de Arqueología Fenicio-Púnica (Eivissa, 2008), edited by B. Costa and J. H. Fernández, 9–30. Ibiza: Govern de les Illes Balears.

  Campo, M. 1994. “Les monedes de l’Eivissa Púnica.” In La moneda a l’Eivissa púnica, 39–98. Palma de Mallorca: “SA NOSTRA,” Caixa de Balears.

  Campo, M. 2014. “La fase inicial de la ceca de YBSHM/EBUSUS (siglo IV a.C.).” In In amicitia. Miscel·lània d’estudis en homenatge a Jordi H. Fernández, edited by C. Ferrando and B. Costa, 133–48. Ibiza: Govern de les Illes Balears.

  Costa, B. 1994. “Ebesos, colonia de los cartagineses. Algunas consideracions sobre la formación de la Sociedad púnico-ebusitana.” In Cartago, Gadir, Ebusus y la influencia púnica en los territorios hispanos. VIII Jornadas de Arqueología Fenicio-Púnica (Ibiza, 1993), 75–143. Ibiza: Govern de les Illes Balears.

  Costa, B. 1998. “El proceso de ocupación y explotación del territorio rural en la Ibiza fenicio-púnica. Algunas hipótesis.” In L’Africa Romana. Atti del XII Convegno di studio (Olbia, 12–15 dicembre 1996), edited by M. Khanoussi, P. Ruggieri, and C. Vismara, 839–62. Sassari: Editrice Democratica Sarda.

  Costa, B. 2000. “’YBSHM (Ibiza) en la Segunda Guerra Púnica.” In La Segunda Guerra Púnica en Iberia. XIII Jornadas de Arqueología Fenicio-Púnica, edited by B. Costa and J. H. Fernández, 63–115. Ibiza: Govern de les Illes Balears.

  Costa, B. 2007. “Punic Ibiza under Roman Republic.” In Articulating Local Cultures. Power and Identity under the Expanding Roman Republic, edited by P. van Dommelen
and N. Terrenato, 85–101. Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series 63.

  Costa, B., and J. H. Fernández. 2006: Ibiza Fenicio-Púnica. Palma de Mallorca: El Mundo-El Día de Baleares.

  Costa, B., and J. H. Fernández. 2012. “Algunas consideraciones sobre el culto a Melqart en Ibiza.” In EPI OINOPA PONTON. Studi sul Mediterraneo antico in ricordi di Giovanni Tore, edited by C. del Vais, 613–24. Oristano: S’Alvure.

  Costa, B., V. Marí, and N. Benito. 2005. “Territorio y poder: la construcción de una chôra insular en la Ibiza púnica.” In Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Fenici e Punici (Palermo-Marsala 2000), edited by A. Spanò, 3: 1359–72. Palermo: Università degli Studi di Palermo.

  Fernández, J. H. 1992: Excavaciones en la necropolis del Puig des Molins (Eivissa). Las campañas de D. Carlos Román Ferrer: 1921–1929. Three volumes. Ibiza: Govern de les Illes Balears.