Historians vs. Geographers

The ancient geographic names Turdetania and Turdetani suffered great displacements and changes in meaning throughout their history.* They are first mentioned by Cato, who located them in central Iberia, reappearing later with Strabo in the Guadalquivir Valley and finally with Ptolemy in southern Portugal. A first clue to unravelling this instability may be found in their etymology, for Turdetania and Turdetani are Roman creations, as revealed by their suffixes,1 and not indigenous names transcribed into Latin. From this standpoint, the reasons for these changes are not only due to different chronological phases in the geographical discovery of Iberia, but also, as will be seen ahead, to the use given to these names by different authors

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