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One thing we know for certain is that at the end of the Iron Age, the Iberian Peninsula was in the throes of war for the first time. This violent reality marked the dawning of the Ancient Age on the Peninsula and the transition to the historical era. The ending of the Ancient Age is widely taken to have occurred sometime between the 5<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> centuries AD. These three centuries, spanning from the end of Antiquity to the beginning of the Middle Ages, have been termed ''The Transition to the Middle Ages''. By this time, a definition of the Iberian Peninsula was taken into account as a unified territory, already medieval in nature, with its own borders and institutions. Its development paralleled the rise of the Republic of Venice, the expansion of the Franks with its epicentre in Paris, the shift from Latin to Greek in the Eastern Roman Empire, and the appearance and spread of Islam from Anatolia to Gibraltar, ending at the “mare nostrum”.
In the initial years of the Ancient Age on the Peninsula, Carthage, an ancient Phoenician colony of Tyre, near modern day Tunis, had become a great maritime island empire in the Western Mediterranean. After Tyre had been conquered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the 6<sup>th</sup> century BC, Carthage´s influence began to grow, eventually dominating the region. Over time, on the coasts and Balearic Islands, the Carthaginians replaced the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihVm6O3GY4Q Phoenicians ] who had periodically disembarked on the Iberian Peninsula to work in factories and storehouses since the 9<sup>th</sup> and 8<sup>th</sup> centuries BC. Greek explorers from Phocaea and the enclave of Massilia (Marseille) also arrived, and according to older historical sources, established a number of colonies; however, further studies of some of the remains in these areas suggest they belonged to Greeks who were only there engaging in trade with the earlier Phoenician enclaves.
Between the 5<sup>th</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> centuries BC, the Carthaginian Empire had already consolidated its power. By the 3<sup>rd</sup>century, it was embroiled in a series of conflicts with the emerging, powerful Roman Empire over the control of Sicily. In the first Punic War, the Carthaginian settlements of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia were lost to the Romans. The Carthaginians, led by the Barca clan, were in search of a strategic base with logistical advantages on the Iberian Peninsula. In 227 BC, Carthago Nova (Cartagena) was founded.
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The construction of Roman roads uniting the now very Romanised 150 cities in Hispania facilitated a rapid distribution of raw materials and merchandise. The development of highly-advanced technology enabled them to go through mountains and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0FZSmqcM-U rivers ] as well as the construction of aqueducts, civic centres, sports complexes, institutional buildings and recreational spaces. The road system ran north-south with two major thoroughfares: ''Vía de la Plata'', from sea to sea, and ''Vía Augusta'', extending all the way to the city of Rome. These two roads were linked in turn from east to west by two parallel roads originating in Asturica Augusta and Italica. And lastly, there was a diagonal causeway joining Emerita Augusta with Cesaraugusta.
Navigating the coastline along the extension of the ''Mare Nostrum'' and up to Rome was faster and cheaper than travelling by land. Transport ships enabled the crossing of rivers such as the Guadalquivir to reach Corduba (Córdoba), the Guadiana to reach Emerita Augusta, and the Ebro to arrive in the cities of Cesaraugusta (where the port is visible) and Calagurris.
