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- IBIZA ON ITS EARLY DAYS -
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- By means of this picture
one can imagine the original looks that the hill on which
the old town rests should have had at the time of the
Carthaginian’s arrival to Ibiza. The rocky slopes of the
front is what conforms the quarters of "La Marina". The
smaller hills by the side is the actual "Hill of the
windmills" that was on the way to become the punic
nechropolis.
At the angle Vara de Rey would arrise, behind it ave. España,
and the rightside beach what today is known as ave. Sta.
Eulalia and "barrio del Pratet" - Thats how I can
imagine it. - José
Miguel |
When I began to work as a
touristic guide of Ibiza in 1977, I had to learn its
history, to talk about it.
The knowledge of the island’s history involves the origins of our civilization,
developed around the Mediterranean sea.
All that awakened on me an inexhaustible interest for history in general.
Phoenician sailors settled down on this island almost
2.700 years ago.
Those Phoenicians were a
trading people who founded important commercial centers
around the Mediterranean sea, one of them, the mythical city of
Carthage which
later became the capital of their western colonies.
So Phoenicians and
Carthaginians more or less were the same people, they were
cultured, already able to write and read, in fact one of their greatest
achievement was the development of a script, that adapted by the
Greeks would
result into the alphabet that we use ourselves.
They were very fond of Ibiza, its mild climate, the fertility of its red soil,
the abundance of fish in its surrounding waters and the
salt from the
salt-lakes,
that still work near the airport.
To have an idea of how prosperous this island was during those early days, we
have to consider that about the year 350 B.C., the
Carthaginians from
Ibiza
began minting coins, in bronze, copper and some silver too.
Little coins that still appear all over the island, bearing the image of
God Bes
as the main design on their obverse, and a bull or the legend
“Ai’Bsm” on the
other side, meaning “Island of Bes”.
And that is where the name “IBIZA” comes from, both for the island and its
capital city.
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God Bes was the protector against poisonous animals which on this island don’t
exist, and that fact wouldn’t go unnoticed to those enterprising Phoenicians and
Carthaginians.
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By
IBIZA GUIDE: José Miguel Abad Indarte.
Member
of the A.P.I.T.I.F
- Association of
OFFICIAL TOURIST GUIDES for Ibiza and Formentera
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