Arganthonios
Arganthonios (Greek: Αργανθώνιος) was a king of ancient Tartessos (in Andalusia, southern Spain).
| Arganthonios | |
|---|---|
| King of Tartessos | |
| Reign | 625 BC – 545 BC |
| Predecessor | Habis |
| Born | c. 670 BC Tartessos, Hispania |
| Died | c. 550 BC (aged 120?) Tartessos, Hispania |
This name, or title, appears to be based on the Indo-European word for 'silver' (secondarily 'money'), reconstructed[1] as Proto-Celtic *arganto- and proto-Italic as *argentom.[2][note 1] Tartessia was rich in silver, like all of Iberia. Similar names (e.g. Argantoni) appear in inscriptions of the Roman period in or near former Tartessian territory. A name or title Argantoda(nos) is found on silver coinage in Northern Gaul and may have had a meaning akin to "treasurer".[3] Some have identified Arganthonios with the "Tharsis Mask" at the Archeological Museum of Seville.
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, King Arganthonios ruled Tartessia for 80 years (from about 625 BC to 545 BC) and lived to be 120 years old.[4] This idea of great age and length of reign may result from a succession of kings using the same name or title. Herodotus says that Arganthonios warmly welcomed the first Greeks to reach Iberia, a ship carrying Phocaeans, and urged them fruitlessly to settle in Iberia. Hearing that the Medes were becoming a dominant force in the neighbourhood of the Phocaeans, he gave the latter money to build a defensive wall about their town.[5] Herodotus comments that "he must have given with a bountiful hand, for the town is many furlongs in circuit".[4]
Notes
- Attested reflexes in Celtic include: Celtiberian arkanta (also compare arkanto-beđom 'silver mine (?)'), Gaulish arganto- (in compounds), Old Irish argat, Old Welsh argant; in Latin as argentum, Falsican arcentom with cognates Sanskrit rajatám, and others, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂r̥ǵn̥tóm 'silver', which is derived from a nominal root *h₂erǵ- 'white, brilliant; swift'; also compare Ancient Greek ἄργυρον (arguron) 'silver'.
References
- Zair, Nicholas (2012). The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic. Leiden: Brill. p. 35. ISBN 978-90-04-22539-8.
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series)
- Fichtl, Stephan (2004). "Les peuples gaulois, IIIe-Ier siecles av. J.-C" (in French). 28. Errance: 179. ISBN 2-87772-290-2. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - Herodotus. The Histories. 1.163.
- Aubet, Maria Eugenia (2007). White Crawford, Sidnie; Ben-Tor, Ammon; Dessel, J. P.; Dever, William G.; Mazar, Amihai; Aviram, Joseph (eds.). "Up to the Gates of Ekron": Essays on the Archaeology and History of the Eastern Mediterranean in honor of Seymour Gitin. Jerusalem: W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and the Israel Exploration Society. p. 449.