Gargoris and Habis: A Tartessic Myth of Ancient Iberia and the Traces of Phoenician Euhemerism

Abstract

The story of Gargoris and Habis in Justin's Epitome is usually read as a Greek-oriented version of a local myth from Iberia. The structure and motifs in the story, however, draw from Near Eastern traditions, i.e., of succession myths and “first inventors,” and a variety of euhemerism circulating in the Phoenician-Carthaginian sphere.