O Reino de Galicia nos textos (413-1845).

I. GALLAECIA: GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL IDENTITY The geographical designation Hispania emerged in the time of Artemidorus (1st century BCE), following the conclusion of the Lusitanian Wars. It likely derives from a Semitic term ( is , Phoenician is , of uncertain meaning – cf. Is-pale, Bait-Is, Is-torg-is, possibly linked to the Guadalquivir River), which replaced the earlier Greek name: Iberia . Even earlier, the Greeks divided the Peninsula into two distinct regions. Iberia proper extended along the Mediterranean seaboard as far as the Hérault River in southeastern France, home to the Iberians (with Tartessos representing a special case). The broader area, Κελτική (Celtica), covered the entire western Peninsula and was inhabited by the Κελτιβέροι (“Celtiberians of Iberia”). These should not be confused with the historical Celtiberians of the Upper Meseta – a mixed Celtic-Iberian people known from the Second Punic War – nor with the Κέλτικοι , who descend from those earlier Κελτιβέροι. With the arrival of Roman conquest in the south, geographical names evolved according to the most prominent peoples subdued. Thus, the old Greek Κελτική was replaced by Lusitania , which occupied roughly the same original territory (from Gades to the Cantabrian Sea and much of the interior). This ethnonym arose after the prolonged war between Rome and the Lusitanians, pushing the frontier as far as the Douro River. Similarly, after Decimus Brutus’s decisive victory over the Callaeci of the Douro and the subjugation of the coastal peoples between the Douro and the Miño, a new designation emerged that encompassed the entire northwestern quadrant: Callaecia . (A parallel process occurred in the Upper Meseta, where “Celtiberian” was applied even to peoples outside the Ebro Valley mixed group.) Whereas the Bracari or Artabri had once been called Lusitanians, they now became generically known as Callaeci (a people that later vanished as such). Over time, the name designated the full Roman province, divided into three conventus: Bracara (Braga), Lucus (Lugo), and Asturica (Astorga). This geographical space remained remarkably stable with the arrival of the Suebi and the establishment of their kingdom, which naturally adopted the name of the province: Gallaecia (already linked to Gallia). The Suevic kingdom extended eastward to the Pisuerga River, following the Douro, and by conquest reached as far as the River Lamego (between the Tagus and the Douro). This territory – whether as the Suevic kingdom or as an autonomous Visigothic province – retained the same designation until the fragmentation into the kingdoms of Portugal, Castile, Galicia, and León after the reign of Alfonso VII. This geographical and political Gallaecia was far more than a Roman administrative label. It became a living reality, reflected in European literature, diplomacy, and collective consciousness for centuries – as we shall see in the following sections. The Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula: Gallaecia in Remote Antiquity The northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, which we call Greater Gallaecia, was widely known and visited from the most remote antiquity. Its shores were already frequented by Phoenician traders as early as the 1st millennium BCE, in search of gold, tin, and women. The region was also renowned and sought after for its hyperthermal springs. Gallaecia was therefore a sufficiently well-defined and described space, requiring only a few indications to locate it on any map. Chief among these was the toponym Brigantia , referring to the principal city – the ancient Magnus Portus Artabrorum de Luco , likely the present-day A Coruña. This was one of the main ports for maritime trade in goods between northern Europe and the Mediterranean, dating back well beyond the Atlantic Bronze Age. Equally significant was the Farum , the lighthouse built by the Romans, rising to 80 metres in height on an equally elevated promontory. Visible from afar, it served not only as a marker for the proximity of the port of Brigantia, but also as a beacon signalling the turn into the Atlantic Ocean. This enduring geographical and cultural identity is vividly captured in the words of Paulus Orosius (early 5th century AD), who describes the region with remarkable precision: “The second angle extends toward the northwest, where Brigantia, a city of Gallaecia, is situated. There stands the tallest lighthouse, one of the few truly remarkable works of engineering, erected as a mirror for Britain [...] The island of Hibernia lies between Britain and Hispania, stretching farther northward from the southwest. Its forward parts face the Cantabrian Ocean and look out across a wide expanse toward Brigantia, the city of Gallaecia, which confronts it from the southwest to the northwest.” This perception of the northwestern Atlantic as a fierce and ominous sea is echoed in early medieval sources. Paul the Deacon, in his Historia Langobardorum (Book I, ca. 763 AD), records the belief that: “They affirm [that the ocean] is fierce and for this reason very deep between the island of Britain and the province of Gallaecia.” ( Pauli Historia Langobardorum , Lib. I, MGH, Rerum Germanicarum, Hannover, 1878, p. 56) Paul’s description of the ocean as a “vorago” – a fierce, deep abyss – reflects the real dangers of the Atlantic coast: powerful tides, sudden storms, and dramatic currents. These accounts reinforced Gallaecia’s image as a remote, almost mythical frontier of the Roman and post-Roman world – a land reached only by the bravest sailors, marked by its towering lighthouse and guarded by an ocean as formidable as it was beautiful.