tribal confederation · Iberia

Cynetes

700 BCE – 150 BCE (approx.) · capital Conistorgis

The people of the Algarve, named by Herodotus as the westernmost inhabitants of Europe and linked to the enigmatic south-western script.

Origins

The Cynetes, or Conii, lived in the far south of modern Portugal, in the Algarve and lower Alentejo. Herodotus in the 5th century BCE called them the most westerly people of Europe, beyond the Celts. Their lands lay on the Atlantic routes that connected Tartessos with the north.

Rule and society

Their region holds most of the inscribed stone stelae in the south-western script, the oldest writing in Iberia, dated to the 7th to 5th centuries BCE; the language they record is undeciphered and debated. Little is known of their political organisation, though Appian names a town, Conistorgis, as their chief place.

Decline and legacy

In 153 BCE Lusitanians raiding Roman territory captured Conistorgis, then held by allies of Rome. The Cynetes were absorbed into the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior and later Lusitania, and their name disappears from the record.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

CynetesHispania Ulterior 197 BCE – 27 BCE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cynetes. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cynetes
MLA
“Cynetes.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cynetes. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cynetes.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cynetes.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cynetes’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cynetes (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻