Gadir 3.

GADIR 3. Names. Kotinous (sa / Cotinusa. ----------------------- For the mouth of the Rio Guadalete location are situated several islands and peninsulas. That was in ancient times as well. This comes in a report by Pliny the Elder (IV, 22) well expressed: "Timaeus says that the biggest is called Cotinusa by them; we call it Tartessos, the Punics name it Gadir (that's what the word "enclosure" means in the Punic language) 'saepes'...." Also Avienus speaks about it,"  Gadir is the old Cotinusa, the  Tyrian people call it Tartes(s)os, but it is still mentioned in that foreign language Gades ; Punic calls it Gadir, as “a place that is enclosed on all sides by a wall." One explanation for Cotinusa can be "island of wild olive trees.” In fact it is the long and thin island, that runs from the northwest to the southeast. The Phoenician name of this island we don’t know, but it could have been: ‘y-rk = long island or: ‘y-qṭn = thin island.

Gadir 2.

GADIR 2.

Names

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The place Càdiz has in antiquity various names. It should be observed that the classical authors usually imitate each other and / or to invent more and more.

Gadir / Gadeira / Gades.

The Phoenicians were to name the city with the letters GDR, which in their judgment may be spoken as Gadir. As you know we are devoid of vowels at the Phoenician script. The word Gadir can have several meanings. It can stand for 'Wall', or 'enclosed space'. The letters 'GDR’ indicate the ‘wall’ or 'serving as a warehouse’ or ‘space with a fence around it”. The latter meaning is also found in the Berber 'Agadir’. Gadir can also mean "castle / fortress' to a Greek interpretation, or "boundary wall / walls' to a Roman explanation. The Greeks named it Gadeira and the Romans thus distorted it in the Latin language to Gadeis and Gades. Incidentally, Herakles according to a Greek legend, on his journey to the Hesperides and Gerynomeus, came to Gadeira (Diodorus IV 18.2 + 56.3). Among the Hesperides understood the Greeks the three mouths of the Baetis-river and the Baetis is the current Guadalquivir.

Gadir 1

GADIR 1 Càdiz has been since very old times inhabited. That makes that the buildings were constantly expanding, but also that old buildings were replaced by new ones. This process is still going on and that makes it for archaeologists who want to find in the soil the past of the city, extremely difficult to achieve results. Nevertheless, there are continuing efforts undertaken. As early as 1610 AD. we can see the work "Grandeza y antgüedad de la Isla y ciudad de Càdiz" made by the hand of Suarez Salazar. In 1792 it comes to a first excavation and in 1826 and 1873 will follow more. From 1877 on to the occasional attempts are increasingly being replaced by a continuous search, which only receives a first closing in 1952. Archaeologists from that era include F.Cervera and P.Quitero. From 1979 to 2000, the work is almost done again every year. These are especially made by A.Muñoz Vicente Moreno and L.Perdigones.