Tarsis en la Estela de Nora: ¿un topónimo de Occidente?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the different interpretations given to the inscription on the Nora Stone, the oldest of the Phoenician inscriptions in the West. An exhaustive critical study of the interpretations that have assumed a reference to Tarshish and its location in the West has led me to conclude that the text of the Nora Stone does not definitively solve the problem of the site of the biblical Tarshish. Moreover, all the evidence speaks against identifying Tarshish with Tartessos. Therefore, since it is well established that the Phoenicians, when they arrived at a new place, built an altar intended for worship and for the offering of sacrifices to the gods of the metropolis, the sea and travel, the most likely interpretation is that the inscription referred to the building of a temple. © CSIC.