Page:The geography of Strabo (1854) Volume 1.djvu/223

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B. III. C. I. § 6.
SPAIN.
209

certain Lusitanians,[1] whom the Romans caused to settle here from the opposite side of the Tagus. Higher up, the country is inhabited by the Carpetani,[2] the Oretani,[3] and a large number of Vettones.[4] This district is moderately fertile, but that which is beyond it to the east and south, does not give place in superiority to any part of the habitable earth with which it may be compared, in the excellence of its productions both of land and sea. This is the country through which the river Guadalquiver[p 1] flows. This river takes its rise from the same paths as the Guadiana[p 2] and the Tagus, and is between these two in size.[5] Like the Guadiana, the commencement of its course flows towards the west, but it afterwards turns to the south, and discharges itself at the same side of the coast as that river.

From this river[p 1] the country has received the name of Bætica; it is called Turdetania by the inhabitants, who are themselves denominated Turdetani, and Turduli. Some think these two names refer to one nation, while others believe that they designate two distinct people. Of this latter opinion is Polybius, who imagines that the Turduli dwell more to the north than the Turdetani. At the present day however there does not appear to be any distinction between them. These people are esteemed to be the most intelligent of all the Iberians; they have an alphabet, and possess ancient writings, poems, and metrical laws six thousand years old as they say. The other Iberians are likewise furnished with an alphabet, although not of the same form, nor do they speak the same language. Their country,[p 3] which is on this side the

  1. ↑ Lusitania occupied the greater part of the present kingdom of Portugal. It was from the countries north of the Tagus that the Romans caused certain of the inhabitants to emigrate to the south side of that river.
  2. ↑ The Carpetani occupied a portion of New Castile, where the cities of Madrid, Toledo, &c. are now situated.
  3. ↑ These people inhabited the southern portions of New Castile, now occupied by the cities of Calatrava, Ciudad-real, Alcaraz, &c. They also possessed a part of the Sierra-Morena.
  4. ↑ The Vettones inhabited that part of Estremadura, where the cities of Alcantara, Truxillo, &c. are now situated.
  5. ↑ The course of the Guadiana is longer than that of the Guadalquiver.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bætis.
  2. ↑ Anas.
  3. ↑ Viz. Turdetania.
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