Arganthonios


Arganthonios was a king of ancient Tartessos.
This name, or title, appears to be based on the Indo-European word for 'silver', reconstructed as Proto-Celtic *arganto- and proto-Italic as *argentom. Tartessia was rich in silver, like all of Iberia. Similar names appear in inscriptions of the Roman period in or near former Tartessian territory. A name or title Argantoda is found on silver coinage in Northern Gaul and may have had a meaning akin to "treasurer". Some have identified Arganthonios with the "Tharsis Mask" at the Archeological Museum of Seville.
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, King Arganthonios ruled Tartessia for 80 years and lived to be 120 years old. This idea of great age and length of reign may result from a succession of kings using the same name or title. Herodotus says that Arganthonios warmly welcomed the first Greeks to reach Iberia, a ship carrying Phocaeans, and urged them fruitlessly to settle in Iberia. Hearing that the Medes were becoming a dominant force in the neighbourhood of the Phocaeans, he gave the latter money to build a defensive wall about their town. Herodotus comments that "he must have given with a bountiful hand, for the town is many furlongs in circuit".