The Iberian Stones Speak

Paul Lachlan MacKendrick (1914-1998) was a classical scholar from the United States. He was Professor of History and Classics at the University of Wisconsin for more than thirty years (1952-1984) and wrote several books about the history of the ancient world:

** The Mute Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Italy (1960, second edition 1984)

** The Greek Stones Speak: The Story of Archaeology in Greek Lands (1962, second edition 1984)

** The Iberian Stones Speak: Archaeology in Spain and Portugal (1969)

** The Dacian Stones Speak (hardcover 1975, paperback 2000)

** The North African Stones Speak (hardcover 1980, paperback 2000)

The third book in the series, the one about the Iberian Peninsula, which is under review here, has 238 pages. The main text is divided into eight chapters which follow a chronological line from 12,000 BC to AD 350. At the end of the book we find a bibliography (divided into eight sections, one for each chapter) and an index. The text is illustrated by more than 155 maps, plans, and photos. Some of the photos are taken by the author, who has travelled widely in Spain and Portugal.

MacKendrick got some good reviews. On the back cover of the dust jacket there are excerpts from three positive reviews of his previous books. I understand the positive reviews, but I cannot agree completely with them.

Mackendrick was a pioneer in his field. Since he was able to read German and French as well as Spanish and Portuguese, he could read archaeological excavation reports written in these languages and present the results in English. In 1969, when his book appeared, nobody had ever done anything like that.

There are some good elements in this book. To mention just two examples: in chapter 6 he presents the bronze tablets discovered in the ancient town Urso (today Osuna) in Spain (Lex Ursonensis, pp. 122-125); in chapter 7 he presents the bronze tablets discovered in the ancient town Vipasca (today Aljustrel) in Portugal (Lex Metalli Vipascensis, pp. 180-181). But not everything in this book is great. There are several flaws:

(1) The structure of the book. The author has two objectives. He wants to present the ancient history of the Iberian Peninsula, which calls for a chronological approach. He also wants to present some of the sites where traces of the ancient culture can still be seen and some of the museums where ancient objects are on display today, which calls for a geographical approach. The two methods do not go well together.

As explained above, he chose the chronological approach, even though his main source (the ancient stones) seems to call out for a geographical approach. This is a fatal flaw of this book and of the other books in series.

If you are looking for background information or if you are an armchair traveller, the book may work quite well. But if you are a traveller who wants to visit some of the ancient sites in Portugal and/or Spain, the book does not work so well.

Chapter 3 is good, because most pages are devoted to a single site: Emporion in Spain. Chapter 5 is also good, because most pages are devoted to a single site: Numantia in Spain. In other chapters MacKendrick jumps from one province of Spain to another or from Spain to Portugal (and back again).

(2) Roman inscriptions are mentioned several times, for instance on pp. 138, 141 and 174. But they are only used to date a monument. In these cases I feel the book does not live up to its title. If there is a case when a mute stone speaks, it must be when an inscription is written on it. I think the reader deserves to know everything the inscription can tell us. Not only the date of a monument.

(3) Theodosius I is mentioned on page 175. MacKendrick says this emperor ruled from 379, which is correct, but fails to tell us that this emperor was born in Spain (although the exact location is uncertain). Moreover, he fails to mention the missorium of Theodosius - an important archaeological object - which was discovered in Spain in 1847.

[For more information about the missorium, see Ruth Leader-Newby, Silver and Society in Late Antiquity, published in 2004.]

(4) Adolf Schulten (1870-1960) is mentioned two times. On page 23 he is described as a German archaeologist, who worked in Spain, which is true. But on page 113 we are told that the local people are disappointed “at the news that he is not German.”

(5) The Portuguese antiquarian and forger Andre de Resende is mentioned on page 192 where we are told he was publishing ancient inscriptions “as early as the seventeenth century.” But he died in 1573, as stated on the same page.

(6) Viriathus - a leader of the Iberian resistance against the Romans and today a national hero in Portugal - is mentioned on pp. 108-109. We are told that “the Portuguese … have erected … a bronze statue of Viriathus surrounded by five of his shepherd-guerrillas.” Figure 5.8 on this page is a plan of “Cava de Viriato” north of Viseu, which is fine, but there is no picture of the statue mentioned in the text. Why not?

 



 

This picture (which is borrowed from Wikipedia)
shows the bronze statue of Viriathus in Viseu.

For more information about Viriathus,
see chapter 3 of The Enemies of Rome.



 

This book was published more than forty years ago. Obviously, it is not up-to-date on every aspect. But as you can see, my criticism does not concern the age of the book. I only mention flaws which MacKendrick could (and should) have corrected before handing his manuscript to the publisher. The Iberian Stones Speak is more a history book than a guidebook, although it purports to be both. For this reason I think it cannot get more than three stars.

PS. During the 1980s, two important Roman inscriptions were discovered in Spain. The first, known as Tabula Siarensis, was discovered near Seville in 1982. The second, known as Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre, was discovered in the same area six years later. For more information about these discoveries see Death and Dynasty in Early Imperial Rome (2012).

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Paul Lachlan MacKendrick,

The Iberian Stones Speak:

Archaeology in Spain and Portugal,

Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1969, 238 pages

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Paul Lachlan MacKendrick (1914-1998)

This picture is borrowed from the dust jacket of the book.

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