The Greek character of Ancient Iberian inscriptions*

Abstract

Pre-Roman, non-Celtic Iberian inscriptions, dating from the fifth to the first centuries, B.C. and written in a semi-syllabic orthography of Eastern Mediterranean origins, remain generally undeciphered. That some of the Iberian funeral inscriptions would have been recorded in the Greek language, however, seems logical, certainly after the fact, as Greek trading settlements occupied areas of the Western Mediterranean coasts from the Rhone river to Gibraltar for nearly two centuries before the appearance of the first Iberian inscriptions.