Talk:Carteia

Local historain Tito Vallejo
noted on Facebook... Carteia gets its name from the Phoenician god Melkartes or Melquart hence the name Mel-quarteya. This god was the fore runner of the Greek's Heracles and the Roman Hercules. It was these Phoenicians who invented the myth about falling over the edge of the world if you went past the Pillars of Hercules. This they did to scare the rest of the Mediterranean sailors so they would not venture outside the Med, why? because the Phoenicians had a big racket going off to the Tin Islands (Cornwall in England) to fetch the valuable metal Tin which was scarce in the Med. Tin mixed with Copper made Bronze which would revolutionize warfare. ... I'll ask for a source - i did find Melqart Victuallers (talk) 10:55, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

I suppose the reference is to the likely connection to Semitic KRT, meaning the "City", as in Carthage (krt hdst), New City. The predominant god of Tyre (which founded many of the Phoenician "colonies" in the west), was Melqart (mlk krt), "king (of the) city". Greek and Roman writers identified Melkart with Heracles. According to Strabo, Timosthenes claimed that Carteia was originally named Heracleia.

Its generally agreed that Carteia derives its name from Semitic topnym "krt". It's possible that its composed of "krt" and "y" (isle) in reference to its geographical feature. If we are to believe Timosthenes, the name would originally have been something like: MLK KRT Y or Melqarteia. Entirely possible but it would be difficult prove.

Its interesting to note that Carteia, like the more famous Carthage, is a "new" city. The old Phoenician city is located on a low hill (Cerro del Prado), a kilometre to the north (on the grounds of a REPSOL butane factory). It was relocated sometime in the 4th century BC and could rightly claim to be a "krt hdst". Strange (and confusing) how Punic names for people and cities all tend to the same. Kumaryu 20:18, 7 May 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryuito (talk • contribs) Kumaryu 20:29, 7 May 2013 (UTC)Kumaryu 20:34, 7 May 2013 (UTC)

A detailed discussion on etymology of of the toponym, "Carteia" can be found in an article by Cabrero, Martín and Pardo, "SISTEMAS DEFENSIVOS EN LA TOPONIMIA FENICIA DE LA COSTA ATLÁNTICA IBÉRICA Y NORTEAFRICANA" http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/centros/cont/descargas/documento22918.pdf published in "Las ciudades fenicio‒púnicas en el Mediterráneo Occidental" (ed José Luis López Castro, Universidad de Almería, 2007) Kumaryu 08:25, 8 May 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryuito (talk • contribs)

Abandonment
So we don't actually know when Carteia was abandoned? --Gibmetal 77 talk 2 me 11:13, 29 April 2013 (UTC)