V.—Pre-Roman Bronze Votive Offerings from Despeñaperros, in the Sierra Morena, Spain

Abstract

Before entering upon the consideration of the subject matter of this paper, I would mention that I found some difficulty in selecting an appropriate title for it. It appeared to me that although a generally descriptive title, perforce composed of several long names strung together, or of compound adjectives made up of such words as Greek, Phœnician, and Iberian, would be more correct, it might, at the same time, and without some previous knowledge of the subjects dealt in during the course of the paper, prove to be confusing. I hesitated between “Iberian” and “Pre-Roman.” I think that “Iberian” would, in some respects, have been a more appropriate title, because Iberian influences, both in a geographical and an ethnical sense, undoubtedly predominate, not only in the votive objects themselves, but also in other expressions of that phrase in art with which I am about to deal. “Iberian” is, however, so often and so loosely employed to denote anything and everything that comes from Hispania, that I finally decided upon “Pre-Roman.” It should, however, not be taken in this instance as the chronological definition of a period which ends with the Roman occupation of Spain in 200 B.C., because it may, and undoubtedly does, extend into several subsequent centuries; but rather as indicating that the influences which predominated in the inception of the offerings in no way derive from the Romans, and that they are traceable to pre-Roman times in the Peninsula.