The Cynetes or Conii were one of the

pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula This is a list of the pre- Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula (the Roman Hispania, i. e., modern Portugal, Spain and Andorra). Some closely fit the concept of a people, ethnic group or tribe. Others are confederations or even unions of t ...

, living in today's

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has its ...

and Lower

Alentejo Alentejo ( , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond () the Tagus river" (''Tejo''). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo and Baixo Alen ...

regions of southern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, and the southern part of

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The populatio ...

and the northwestern portions of

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

and

Ciudad Real Ciudad Real (, ; en, "Royal City") is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region. History It was founde ...

provinces in Spain before the 6th century BCE (in what part of this become the southern part of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of Lusitania). According to Justin's epitome, the mythical Gargoris and

Habis Habis (from the Cynete language meaning fawn) is a legendary king of the Spanish region of Tartessos. The only source of the legend of Habis and his father Gargoris is the work ''Epitome'' by Justin, who copied it from the now lost work ''Ph ...

were their founding kings.

Etymology

The name ''Cynetes'' (Latin ''Conii'') probably stems from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celt ...

''*kwon'' ('dog') connected with

greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''kyοn'', κύων, dog.

Origins and location

They are often mentioned in the ancient sources under various designations, mostly Greek or Latin derivatives of their two tribal names: ‘Cynetas’/’Cynetum’; ‘Kunetes’, ‘Kunetas’, and ‘Kunesioi' or ‘Cuneus’, followed by ‘Konioi’, ‘Kouneon’ and ‘Kouneous’/‘Kouneoi’. The Conii occupied since the late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

most of the present-day Lower

, the southern part of

and the northwestern portions of

and

provinces, giving the Algarve its pre-Roman name, the Cyneticum. Prior to the Celtic-

Turduli The Turduli (Greek ''Tourduloi'') or Turtuli were an ancient pre-Roman people of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Location The Turduli tribes lived mainly in the south and centre of modern Portugal – in the east of the provinces of Beira Lit ...

migrations of the 5th-4th Centuries BC the original Conii territories also included upper Alentejo and the Portuguese coastal Estremadura region stretching up to the ''Munda'' ( Mondego) river valley.

Genetics

It has been suggested that the haplotypes HLA- A25- B18- DR15 and HLA-A26- B38- DR13, which are unique genetic markers found in Portugal, may be from the Conii (or Oestrimni).

Culture

Their presence in these regions is attested archeologically by the elaborated cremation burial-mounds of their ruling elite, whose rich grave-goods and the inscribed slabs in ‘Tartessian alphabet’ – also referred to as ‘

Southwest script The Southwest Script or Southwestern Script, also known as Tartessian or South Lusitanian, is a Paleohispanic script used to write an unknown language usually identified as Tartessian. Southwest inscriptions have been found mainly in the sout ...

’ – that mark the graves, evidence close contacts with North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean since the 9th century BC. Scholars like

Schulten Schulten is a surname. It may refer to: *Adolf Schulten (1870–1960), German historian and archaeologist * Alcuin Schulten (born 1972), Dutch figure skater *John William Schulten (1821–1875), also spelled Johann Wilhelm, 19th-century chess maste ...

, consider the Conii a

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

n tribe (related to the

Ligures The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian reg ...

of North-western Italy/South-eastern France) and believe that the «Ligurians are the original people of the Iberian Peninsula». The Conii would have left their mark not only in Portugal but also in Spain and European regions where the Ligurians established themselves. They appear to be related to the Aquitanians and the Basques. Inscriptions in the

Tartessian language The Tartessian language is the extinct Paleo-Hispanic language of inscriptions in the Southwestern script found in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, mainly in the south of Portugal (Algarve and southern Alentejo), and the southwest of Spa ...

have been found in the area, in a variety often referred to as Southwest Paleohispanic script. The name ''Conii'', found in Strabo, seems to have been identical with the ''Cynesii'', who were mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

as the westernmost dwellers of Europe and distinguished by him from the Celts.

Towns

The capital of the ''Conii'' was '' Conistorgis'', according to Strabo, who considered the region Celtic. In the local language ''Conistorgis'' probably means "City of the Conii". Its precise location has not been determined. Some authors suggest that '' Pax Julia'' might have been founded over the ruins of Conistorgis. Other Conii towns (''Oppida'') included ''Ipses'' ( Alvor), ''Cilpe'' (

Cerro da Rocha Branca Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

– Silves), ''Ossonoba'' (near Faro; Iberian-type mint: ''Osunba''), ''Balsa'' (Quinta da Torre de Aires, Santa Luzia – Tavira), ''Baesuris'' ( Castro Marim; Iberian-type mint: ''Baesuri'') and ''Myrtilis'' ( Mértola; Iberian-type mint: ''Mrtlis Saidie''). According to

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. He was born in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nearly to the year 1500. It occupies less ...

the population of these ''parva oppida'' did not surpass 6,000 inhabitants. A powerful urban aristocracy of

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

n and

Turdetani The Turdetani were an ancient pre-Roman people of the Iberian Peninsula, living in the valley of the Guadalquivir (the river that the Turdetani called by two names: ''Kertis'' and ''Rérkēs'' (Ῥέρκης); Romans would call the river by ...

an or

colonists dominated all the trade, fishing, and shipbuilding in these same coastal settlements since the 4th Century BC, until the

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

occupied the Cyneticum and founded the Punic colonies of ''Portus Hannibalis'' (near Portimão?) and ''Portus Magonis'' ( Portimão) at the late 3rd Century BC.

History

The Conii seemed to have played no significant role in the

2nd Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in ...

and subsequent conflicts, even though they were constantly under the pressure from the northernly Celtic tribes throughout the 3rd-2nd Centuries BC, which may explain their willingness to place themselves under the protection of foreign powers such as

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the clas ...

and later

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Around the 3rd Century BC the

Celtici ] The Celtici (in Portuguese language, Portuguese, Spanish, and Galician languages, ) were a Celtic tribe or group of tribes of the Iberian peninsula, inhabiting three definite areas: in what today are the regions of Alentejo and the Algarve i ...

reached the western Algarve, establishing a colony at ''Laccobriga'' ( Monte Molião, near

Lagos Lagos ( Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national capital of Nigeria until December 1991 f ...

) and in 153 BC, during the Lusitanian Wars against Rome, Conistorgis fell to the Lusitani and their Vettones’ allies. The Conii were thence forced to switch their allegiance from the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingd ...

to the Lusitani, being subjected in 141-140 BC to Consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus’ reprisal campaigns in the Iberian southwest. In 138-137 BC the Cyneticum was aggregated into Hispania Ulterior province, only to become again a battleground during the Sertorian Wars, when Quintus Sertorius seized Conistorgis and Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius devastated the region in retaliation, being defeated at the battle of Laccobriga in 78 BC.

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ...

, ''Sertorius'', 13.

Romanization

In 27-13 BC the romanized Conii were incorporated into Lusitania province.

Notes

References

* * * * * Mattoso, José (dir.), ''História de Portugal. Primeiro Volume: Antes de Portugal'', Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 1992. (in Portuguese) *

Primary

* Strabo, Geographika
III, 2, 2

External links

{{Pre-Roman peoples in Portugal Tribes of Lusitania History of the Algarve Ancient peoples of Portugal History of Alentejo Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula