The Mistery of Belicena Villca
The strange and contradictory news thus reached the refuge of the Lords of Tharsis : Hamílcar Barca offered to save their lives if they renounced all rights on Tartessos and agreed to enter his service to govern the country ; otherwise , they would be exterminated as the Golen claimed . With a lot of pain , but with no possible alternatives , the Lords of Tharsis had to agree to such dishonorable offer : they were doing it out of a higher interest , for the family mission and the Wise Sword .
Once the surrender was arranged , those of Tharsis went on to serve the Barcida and took care in pacifying Tartessos and reorganizing the agricultural and industrial production . For their good disposition they were rewarded with a farm located very close to the site of the defunct Tartessos , where the " Tharsis family " would live from now on , except for the members who performed functions in the cities or accompanied the Barcides in the inspection trips . While the Carthaginian occupation lasted , despite the protection assured by the Barcides , the tranquility was scarce due to the constant lurkings of the Golen , who explored the region inch by inch searching for the Wise Sword and had now added the deaths of twenty of them to the list of charges to be paid by the House of Tharsis .
On the death of Hamilcar Barca , in 228 B . C ., his son Asdrubal Barca succeeds him , but , after being assassinated in 220 B . C ., assumed command of the Carthaginian army , his son , Hannibal Barca . Hamilcar ' s grandson invades the Greek colony of Saguntus in 219 B . C ., which was under the protection of Rome , and with that action the Second Punic War began , which would end in 201 B . C ., with the unconditional surrender of Carthage . Thirty years after the destruction of Tartessos , Spain was forever free from the Carthaginian invader ! But it was too late for Tartessos : the new Roman occupant would not leave the peninsula until the dismemberment of its own empire , six hundred years later .
With the Romans the House of Tharsis had a relative good time because it was regarded as an allied native nobility and the functions of government of the region were restored to them , now a Roman province , subject to the law of the Republic and to the authority of a proconsul or propretor . The region of ancient Tartessos , between the Tinto and Odiel rivers , was included in the province of " Baetica ", named after the Betis river , today Guadalquivir , which extended to the river Anas , today Guadiana , border of Lusitania ; the Romans gave the Tartessians the name of " Turdetani " and Tartessos , that of Turdetania : in a few decades the Turdetania was romanized , the use of Latin was popularized , and large rural latifundia were created , owned by provincial governors , magistrates , or army Chiefs .
Around the 1st century B . C . the House of Tharsis had become related to the Roman nobility and was quite powerful in Baetica , a province that had 175 cities , many of them rich and thriving like Corduba ( Córdoba ), Gades ( Cadiz ), Híspalis ( Sevilla ) or Malaca ( Málaga ). Based on the property ceded by the Carthaginians and restitutions made by the Romans , the Lords of Tharsis developed a rustic Roman Villa , building a Manor Residence and expanding it with the acquisition of large extensions of fields for cultivation ; cereals , olive trees , and vines , made up the main production , in addition to some minerals that were still exploited in the mountain range of Sierra Catochar . It should be noted that the Romans registered it as " Villa de Turdes " and that its inhabitants were called " Lords of Turdes " while the Roman Empire ruled , although I will continue to mention Lords of Tharsis to maintain the continuity of the story .
As all the families of Hispano-Roman landowners they had a housing in the City where they stayed most of the year ; however , whenever they could , they preferred to retire to the country estate as their greatest interest was being near the Secret Cavern .
The Golen had no chance to influence the Roman population and its power was preserved intact only in Lusitania , in some regions of Gaul , in Britannia and Hibernia . After the campaigns of Julius Caesar , this power seemed to decrease completely and , for a time , it was believed that the threat was
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