Malaka

Origins

Phoenicians settled the bay of Málaga in the 8th century BCE, first at Cerro del Villar on an island in the mouth of the Guadalhorce, and then on the hill below the later Alcazaba, where Malaka grew into the main settlement by the 6th century BCE.

Rule and society

Malaka traded with the Iberian peoples of the interior and lived from fishing, fish salting and crafts. It was later drawn into the Carthaginian sphere, and its coins with Punic legends showed a smith god with tongs. Strabo described it as a market for the nomads of the opposite African coast.

Decline and legacy

After 206 BCE Malaka came under Rome as an allied city. As Malaca it received municipal status under the Flavian emperors, recorded in the bronze Lex Flavia Malacitana, and continued as a major port of Hispania Baetica.