Aletes (), sometimes referred to as Aletos or Alidath, was an individual of disputed origin who lived in the southeast of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

in the times preceding the foundation of Qart Hadasht – Cartagena– by the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

general Asdrubal the Fair in 227 BC, and whose discovery of silver mines in the vicinity of that city earned him a deification by his peers. The only source about this person is a brief account by the

Greek historian Hellenic historiography (or Greek historiography) involves efforts made by Greeks to track and record historical events. By the 5th century BC, it became an integral part of ancient Greek literature and held a prestigious place in later Roman hist ...

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

during the topographical description of Cartagena for volume X of his ''

Histories Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to: * the plural of history * ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus * ''The Histories'', by Timaeus * ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius * ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...

'', in which he cites Aletes as a local hero to whom, after the aforementioned deification, one of the foundational hills, which currently corresponds to the hill of San José, was consecrated. The existence of a temple dedicated to him on that promontory is not certain in view of Polybius' laconism in this respect, but this has not prevented several authors from suggesting his possible presence crowning the sacred precinct.

Historiographical debate

Contemporary historiography has found in the mining deity a motive for discussion, both about its ethnic origin and its possible non-historicity. Thus, in 1930 the German archaeologist and historian

Adolf Schulten Adolf Schulten (27 May 1870 – 19 March 1960) was a German historian and archaeologist. Schulten was born in Elberfeld, Rhine Province, and received a doctorate in geology from the University of Bonn in 1892. He studied in Italy, Africa an ...

wanted to see in it an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy *Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization **Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan ...

influence on the peoples of Levante, in a theory that has not found academic support. The position of the Frenchman

Stéphane Gsell Stéphane Gsell (7 February 1864 – 1 January 1932) was a French historian and archaeologist. He was a specialist in ancient Africa and Roman Algeria. His main work is ''L'Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord'' (1913-1929). Principal publi ...

, who in 1920 stated that in the case of Aletes it could be an Iberian name, and whose hypothesis was supported since the 1960s by Spanish historians thanks to the advances in the identification of the Iberian scripts, has obtained more support. The last point of controversy came in 1982, when the German Michael Koch introduced the theory that Aletes did not exist as a real person, in a position generally contested by Hispanic historiography, headed by

José María Blázquez Martínez José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

. Within this historiography, Ignasi Garcés also states that the fact that the Carthaginians respected the Iberian nomenclature of the hill is an example of an attempt to integrate the indigenous stratum of the city into their new regime, which resulted in the strengthening of the political power of the Barcids in the region. In 2015 an article was published on the influence of astronomy in the urban planning of Cartagena during Antiquity, in which a group of archaeologists and historians suggested that the monumentalisation programme undertaken in the Roman-imperial period may have been conditioned by the attempt to link the Emperor Augustus with Aletes through the orientation of the ''forum'' and the ''curia''. Thus, during the summer solstice –a period of the year solemnised by Semitic peoples– the sunrise, as seen from these constructions, occurs over the nearby mountain associated with the discoverer of the silver mines.{{Cite journal , last1=González García , first1=Antonio César , last2=Noguera Celdrán , first2=José Miguel , last3=Belmonte Avilés , first3=Juan Antonio , last4=Rodríguez Antón , first4=Andrea , last5=Ruiz Valderas , first5=Elena , last6=Madrid Balanza , first6=María José , last7=Zamora , first7=Encarnación , last8=Bonnet Casciaro , first8=José , date=2015 , title=Orientatio ad sidera: astronomía y paisaje urbano en Qart Hadašt/Carthago Nova , url=http://revistas.usal.es/index.php/0514-7336/article/view/zephyrus201575141162/13416 , format=PDF , journal=Zephyrus: Revista de prehistoria y arqueología , volume=75 , language=es , publisher=

Universidad de Salamanca The University of Salamanca ( es, Universidad de Salamanca) is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the city of Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It was founded in 1218 by King Alfonso IX. It is th ...

, issue=75 , pages=155 , doi=10.14201/zephyrus201575141162 , issn=0514-7336, hdl=10261/136790 , hdl-access=free

References

Ancient peoples of Spain Deified men Earth gods European gods Religious syncretism

Historiographical debate

See also

References