Anonymous
Hmm, according to Wikipedia the Romans did indeed get the term from the Greeks who in turn learned it from the Phonecians, so far so good. But …
“The ancient Greeks reached the Iberian Peninsula, of which they had heard from the Phoenicians, by voyaging westward on the Mediterranean.[7] Hecataeus of Miletus was the first known to use the term Iberia, which he wrote about circa 500 BC.[8] Herodotus of Halicarnassus says of the Phocaeans that “it was they who made the Greeks acquainted with […] Iberia.”[9] According to Strabo,[10] prior historians used Iberia to mean the country “this side of the Ἶβηρος” (Ibēros, the Ebro) as far north as the Rhône, but in his day they set the Pyrenees as the limit. Polybius respects that limit,[11] but identifies Iberia as the Mediterranean side as far south as Gibraltar, with the Atlantic side having no name. Elsewhere[12] he says that Saguntum is “on the seaward foot of the range of hills connecting Iberia and Celtiberia.”
Strabo[13] refers to the Carretanians as people “of the Iberian stock” living in the Pyrenees, who are distinct from either Celts or Celtiberians.”
So it appears to be named after the Ebro river, unless that derives from ‘rabbits’ …
I think it’s about time we got a guy called Technopat in to adjudicate! 🙂
