A Space without Ethnology: Study of the Ideological Treatment of the West in Greek and Roman Literature through the Sources about the Island of Gades

Abstract

In this article, we examine Greek and Latin sources dealing with the Far West of the oikoumene, notably the symbolically charged area of Gadeira and the region of the river Guadalquivir. Our main interest, however, is not that of geographical or historical reconstruction, but rather the ideological motives behind the selection and treatment of the information. We identify a number of historical periods and contexts that were particularly involved in the creation of the popular image of the Far West, and explore the connection of this image with their material or symbolical interest in the area. In this exploration, we pay special attention to what is not said, believing that absence of information about places that were relatively well known can, in certain contexts, be as ideologically charged as what is overtly said.