The Torres Vase (Jaén) with Iberian Inscription: A Study of Its DocumentaryTransmission and Authenticity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36707/palaeohispanica.v25i1.711Keywords:
Marquis de la Aula, Luis Velázquez, dotted Iberian inscription, silver vaseAbstract
This paper provides a comprehensive study of the documentary and graphic transmission of the so-called Vaso de Torres (Jaén, Spain) with an Iberian inscription. We focus on the authors who have studied or reproduced the vase from the 17th to the late 19th century. We pay also special attention to the textual transmission of the original testimony by the Marquis de la Aula (1623). Finally, we specifically review the elements that raise suspicions about the authenticity of the vase housed in the Louvre Museum (Paris).
References
- Abascal y Cebrián 2005: J. M. Abascal y R. Cebrián, Manuscritos sobre Antigüedades de la Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid 2005.
- Aguilar 1897: A. Aguilar y Cano, El Marqués del Aula. Los Ingenios de las Flores de Poetas Ilustres de España (Estudios biobibliográficos), Estepa 1897 (reimp. 1998).
- Agustín 1744: Antonio Agustín, Diálogos de medallas, inscriciones, y otras antigüedades. Ex bibliotheca Anton. Augustini Archiepiscopi Tarraconen[sis]. Al rey nuestro Señor. Por mano de D. Sebastián de la Quadra, Madrid, Francisco Martínez Abad, 1744 [1ª ed. 1587].
- Albert-Llorca y Rouillard 2023: M. Albert-Llorca y P. Rouillard, La Dama de Elche, un destino singular, Madrid 2023.
- Almagro-Gorbea 2003: M. Almagro-Gorbea, Epigrafía Prerromana. Real Academia de la Historia. Catálogo del Gabinete de Antigüedades, Madrid 2003.
- Ballesteros 2002: J. R. Ballesteros, La Antigüedad barroca. Libros, inscripciones y disparates en el entorno del III marqués de Estepa, Estepa 2002.
- BDHesp: Hesperia. Banco de Datos de Lenguas Paleohispánicas http://hesperia.ucm.es/.
- Beltrán 1962: P. Beltrán Villagrasa, El plomo escrito de La Bastida de les Alcuses (Mogente) (Addenda et Corrigenda), Valencia 1962.
- Beltrán Fortes 2021: J. Beltrán Fortes, “El museo arqueológico de la Universidad de Sevilla. Piezas romanas procedentes de Carmo (Carmona, Sevilla)”, Boletín del Museo Arqueológico Nacional 40, 2021, 95-112.
- Cacciotti y Mora 1995: B. Cacciotti y G. Mora, “La moneda ibérica en las colecciones y tratados de numismática españoles de los siglos XVI a XIX”, en: Mª P. García Bellido y R. M. Sobral (eds.), La moneda hispánica. Ciudad y Territorio, Madrid 1995, 351-359.
- Caro Baroja 1954: J. Caro Baroja, “La escritura en la España prerromana (Epigrafía y Numismática), en: R. Menéndez Pidal (dir.), Historia de España. España primitiva. Vol. III: la historia prerromana, Madrid 1954 (7ª ed. 1997), 679-812.
- Chaves 1996: F. Chaves Tristán, Los Tesoros en el Sur de Hispania. Conjuntos de denarios y objetos de plata durante los siglos II y I a. C, Sevilla 1996.
- De Hoz 1974: J. de Hoz, en: F. Jordá, J. de Hoz y L. Michelena (eds.), “La epigrafía prelatina meridional en Hispania”, Actas del I Coloquio sobre lenguas y culturas prerromanas de la Península Ibérica (Salamanca, mayo 1974), Salamanca 1976, 227-317
- De Hoz 1997-1998: J. de Hoz, en: AA.VV., Catalogue de l'Exposition Les Ibères, París-Bonn-Barcelona 1997-1998, 342-343, nº 346.
- De Hoz 2015: J. de Hoz, “La lengua ibérica en Jaén, desde el s. IV hasta las inscripciones de Piquía y las Atalayuelas”, en: Ruiz y Molinos 2015, 393-406.
- Delgado 1871: Antonio Delgado Hernández, Nuevo método de clasificación de las nuevas medallas autónomas de España, Sevilla 1871 (Tomo I).
- Die 2020: Mª. R. Die Maculet, La correspondencia erudita de Antonio Valcárcel Pío de Saboya, conde de Lumiares (1748-1808). Tesis doctoral, Tomo 1, Alicante (septiembre de 2020).
- Erro 1806: J. B. de Erro y Azpiroz, Alfabeto de la lengua primitiva de España y explicación de sus más antiguos monumentos de inscripciones y medallas, Madrid 1806.
- Giménez 1853: J. Giménez Serrano, “Monumentos ibéricos. Monedas autónomas de España”, Revista española de ambos mundos 1, 451-468.
- Gómez-Moreno 1962: M. Gómez-Moreno, La escritura bástulo-turdetana (primitiva hispánica), Madrid 1962.
- Hernando 2009: Mª. R. Hernando Sobrino, Manuscritos de contenido epigráfico de la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid (siglos XVI-XX). La transmisión de las inscripciones de la Hispania romana y visigoda, Madrid 2009.
- Héron 1892: A. Héron de Villefosse, “Vase d’argent trouvé en Espagne et portant une inscription ibérique”, Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres 6, 1892, 403-408.
- López 1996: R. López Domech, La Región oretana. Estructuras indígenas y organización romana en la Alta Andalucía, Murcia 1996.
- Luján y López 2021: E. R. Luján Martínez, A. López Fernández, “Revisión de un grafito ibérico sobre vaso de plata de Chiclana de Segura (Jaén)”, CFC (g) 31, 2021, 13-20.
- Luján, López y Ngomo 2023: E. R. Luján, A. López Fernández y E. Ngomo Fernández, “Epigrafía funeraria de territorio oretano”, Palaeohispanica 23, 2023, 115-134.
- Maier 1999: J. Maier, “El Plomo de Castellón: el primer documento epigráfico ibérico hallado en la Península”, en: J. Blázquez y L. Roldán (eds.), La cultura Ibérica a través de la fotografía de principios de siglo. Vol. 2. Las colecciones madrileñas, Madrid 1999, 61-70.
- MLH III: J. Untermann, Monumenta Linguarum Hispanicarum. Band III. Die iberischen Inschriften aus Spanien, 2 tomos, Wiesbaden 1990.
- MLI: E. Hübner, Monumenta Linguae Ibericae, Berlín 1893.
- Mommsen 1863: “Sopra alcuni ripostigli di denari romani scoperti nella Spagna”, Annali dell’Instituto di correspondenza archeologica 35, 1863, 5-80.
- Mozas 2018: Mª S. Mozas Moreno, Martín de Ximena Jurado: Manuscrito 1180 de la Biblioteca Nacional de España. Arqueología en Jaén en el siglo XVII: monedas y antigüedades, Jaén 2018.
- Orduña 2010: E. Orduña Aznar, “En torno al lexema ibérico eki- y sus variantes”, Palaeohispanica 10, 2010, 319-334.
- Raddatz, 1969: K. Raddatz, Die Schatzfunde der Iberischen Halbinsel vom Ende des dritten bis zur Mitte des ersten Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Untersuchungen zur hispanischen Toreutik, Berlín 1969, 2 vols.
- Rísquez y Rueda 2025: C. Risquez y C. Rueda: “La dama de Cerro Alcalá. Una aristócrata de Ossigi”, en: Ruiz y Molinos 2025, 177-188.
- Rodríguez 2011 = I. Rodríguez Casanova, “El primer tesoro hispánico”, publicado en Panorama Numismático, revista digital de la AENP (https://panoramanumismatico.com/articulos/el-primer-tesoro-hispanico/).
- Romero de Torres 1915a: E. Romero de Torres, “Antigüedades romanas e ibéricas de Castillo de Locubín y Fuensanta de Martos, en la provincia de Jaén”, BRAH 66, 1915, 564-575.
- Romero de Torres 1915b: E. Romero de Torres, Catálogo monumental de los Monumentos Históricos y Artísticos de la Provincia de Jaén, formado en virtud de la R. O. de 30 de enero de 1913, Texto (Tomo I). Fondo digital del CSIC: http://simurg.csic.es/view/990013594890204201.
- Ruiz López 2013: I. D. Ruiz López, “Tesorillos con presencia de moneda Romano-Republicana descubiertos en la provincia de Jaén”, Trastamara, Revista de Ciencias Auxiliares de la Historia extra 11, 2013, 99-128.
- Ruiz y Molinos 2015: A. Ruiz y M. Molinos (Eds.): Jaén, tierra ibera 40 Años de investigación y transferencia, Jaén 2015.
- Terreros 1758: E. de Terreros, Paleografía española, que contiene todos los modos conocidos que ha habido de escribir en España desde su principio y fundación hasta el presente, Madrid, Joaquín Ibarra 1758.
- Torija 2003: A. Torija Pérez, “Algunas consideraciones para el estudio de la epigrafía ibérica sobre vajilla de plata: el cuenco del Alcornocal”, Palaeohispanica 3, 2003, 167-178.
- Untermann 1996: J. Untermann, “Comentarios sobre textos ibéricos inscritos en vasos de plata que aparecieron junto con tesoros de monedas, de época republicana”, en: Chaves 1996, 703-714.
- Velaza 1996: J. Velaza Frías, Epigrafía y lengua ibéricas, Madrid 1996.
- Velaza 2016: J. Velaza, “Los humanistas y las escrituras paleohispánicas: Antonio Agustín”, Sylloge Epigraphica Barcinonensis (SEBarc) XIV, 2016, 55-62.
- Velázquez 1752: Ensayo sobre los alphabetos de las letras desconocidas, que se encuentran en las más antiguas Medallas y Monumentos de España, por don Luis Joseph Velázquez, caballero de el Orden de Santiago, de la Academia Real de la Historia. Escrito, revisto y publicado de orden de la misma Academia, Madrid, Oficina de Antonio Sanz, impresor del Rey, año 1752.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Raúl Manchón Gómez
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Professional standards and ethical policies
a) Palaeohispanica’s editorial board
Details concerning the journal’s internal organization can be found at this website.
b) Authors’ responsibilities
As an implicit condition for publishing in Palaeohispanica, authors are expected to adhere to all the ethical and professional principles that are shared across all research fields and academic publications. By submitting a contribution for peer review, potential authors guarantee that their work is original, that it constitutes a significant contribution to its research field and has not been published elsewhere.
All submitted manuscripts ought to contain bibliographic references at the end of the paper as well as an indication of how the research that culminated in the article was funded.
Likewise, authors must agree to incorporate any relevant changes that peer reviewers suggest as well as to include any recommendations that the editorial committee includes in the manuscript’s proofs at the end of the editorial process.
The journal expects its authors, reviewers, editors and staff members to all conduct themselves professionally by treating others with respect and civility. Should any sort of untoward situation arise, such as (self) plagiarism, conflicts of interest or aggressive behaviour on the author’s part, the following actions will be taken:
- Plagiarism and the republication of articles
Plagiarism is defined as the reproduction of a text or other materials found in different publications without the original source being adequately cited. Accordingly, material can still be plagiarized even when it has been tweaked or paraphrased. Plagiarism constitutes a serious ethical violation; furthermore, there can be legal ramifications for violating an author’s rights in cases where the reproduced material has been previously published. Authors who want to cite published work must do so by including complete references to the original materials and by including any quotations within quotation marks. Graphs and images can only be reproduced with the express permission of the original author and must include a citation below said image or graphic according to the rules laid out on the journal’s website. If a peer reviewer or the editorial board detects any instance of plagiarism (whether of one’s own or another’s work), the manuscript will automatically be disqualified.
- Conflicts of interest
In most instances an individual who works at the same institution as an author or one of the co-authors is automatically barred from evaluating a potential contribution. The journal’s editors must always be aware of possible conflicts of interest and are required to recuse themselves from any decision-making process, whenever there is even the appearance of a possible conflict of interest.
c) The peer-review process
Palaeohispanica employs peers to evaluate externally all contributions, with this being understood as obtaining the opinion of an established expert over the merits of every potential contribution. In addition to completing the relevant form, reviewers are expected to suggest any pertinent bibliography that was not included in the original version of the manuscript.
Furthermore, the peer-review process is double blind, meaning that both authors’ anonymity as well as the reviewers’ impartiality and independence are guaranteed. Reader reviews will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. As is the case with all respectable research journals, the editors of Palaeohispanicawill not share with a third party the identity of a peer reviewer, the contents of his or her review or any correspondence resulting from the review process. Likewise, reviewers are required to adhere to the same strict standard of confidentiality: neither manuscripts nor the contents of any correspondence between an author and the editors can be shared with a third party without the written and express consent of the journal’s editors.
While strictly speaking authors are not held to the same standards (they can, for instance, solicit advice from co-authors and colleagues as they revise and amend a manuscript in accordance with the recommendations found in a reviewer’s report), the public airing of a reviewer’s report or of the correspondence with the editorial team constitutes untoward behavior. Any author who acts in such a way will automatically forfeit his or her right to the journal’s confidentiality.
- Aggressive behaviour
Should the editorial committee be made aware of any untoward behaviour on the author’s part towards external reviewers, other authors or the journal’s editors/staff, that author’s submission will immediately be withdrawn from the consideration process.
All participants in the publication process, including editors, authors, peer reviewers, and member’s of the journal’s staff are expected to meet basic standards of professional courtesy and to respect the fundamental rules and guidelines concerning the peer-review and publication processes. Under any circumstance, personal attacks and verbal assault (whether expressed orally or through writing) are completely unacceptable. Accordingly, the journal reserves the right to reject the contribution of any author who repeatedly violates these principles or refuses to cooperate with the editors and reviewers during the normal evaluation and publication processes.
d) Editorial ethics
The editorial team at Palaeohispanica will bring an end to any dishonest research practice by submitting every proposal to a careful review process that will begin before the selection of possible peer reviewers. Should anything questionable be detected, an author will be asked to provide relevant explanations and then be told to review his/her text so as to meet the journal’s quality standards. If an author does not make the requested changes, the manuscript will not be submitted for double-blind peer review and, accordingly, will not be published. The editorial board is always available to discuss and debate with authors any misunderstanding that could have given rise to such a situation.
e) Copyright and journal access
Journal content falls under the protection of licence Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA. Access the all journal content is open and free of charge.
f) Journal archive
Given that the Institución Fernando el Católico is an established and important publishing house, it is extremely unlikely that access to the journal’s contents could be compromised in anyway within the foreseeable future. The contents of Palaeohispanica will be stored in IFC’s servers even if the journal ceases to be published.
g) Ownership and management of the journal
The journal Palaeohispanica is edited and run by the institution «Fernando el Católico», an independent entity of the Excelentísima Diputación de Zaragoza.
Names and email addresses submitted to this journal will only be used for tasks related to the journal and will not be shared with any third party or used for any other purpose.
In accordance with the Regulation UE 2016/679, information gathered by the Institución Fernando el Católico de la Excma. Diputación de Zaragoza (IFC) will be used for carrying out the functions of an academic publication, the handling of claims, appeals, complaints, suggestions, surveys as well as any other activity involved in the management of the journal.
Cubic Factory is in charge of handling said data. They can be contacted at cubic@cubicfactory.com.
Data can be given to public agencies with the relevant competencies and in case of legal obligations.
Those who are interested can exercise their rights of access, correction, suppression, limitation of the use, opposition and portability by contacting ifc@dpz.es.
Users can also go to the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos to make any complaints that they feel is necessary.
User information will be kept during the period in which it is needed to complete the task for which said information was provided in the first place or for the period necessary to comply with any legal obligations. Once a given objective has been completed, personal data that is not part of fulfillment of public service will be blocked until the applicable period has ended.
Ethical and confidentiality policy of Palaeohispanica can be consulted here.
Privacy policy
Names and email addresses submitted to this journal will only be used for tasks related to the journal and will not be shared with any third party or used for any other purpose.
In accordance with the Regulation UE 2016/679, information gathered by the Institución Fernando el Católico de la Excma. Diputación de Zaragoza (IFC) will be used for carrying out the functions of an academic publication, the handling of claims, appeals, complaints, suggestions, surveys as well as any other activity involved in the management of the journal.
Cubic Factory is in charge of handling said data. They can be contacted at cubic@cubicfactory.com.
Data can be given to public agencies with the relevant competencies and in case of legal obligations.
Those who are interested can exercise their rights of access, correction, suppression, limitation of the use, opposition and portabilityby contacting ifc@dpz.es.
Users can also go to the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos to make any complaints that they feel is necessary.
User information will be kept during the period in which it is needed to complete the task for which said information was provided in the first place or for the period necessary to comply with any legal obligations. Once a given objective has been completed, personal data that is not part of fulfillment of public service will be blocked until the applicable period has ended.
The IFC’s privacy and data protection policy can be consulted at https://tiendaifc.dpz.es/Sites/dpz/paginasPersonalizadas/Modelo2/inicio.aspx. It can also be found in the journal’s the top navigation menu: http://ifc.dpz.es/ojs/index.php/palaeohispanica/dpd
Names and email addresses submitted to this journal will only be used for tasks related to the journal and will not be shared with any third party or used for any other purpose.
In accordance with the Regulation UE 2016/679, information gathered by the Institución Fernando el Católico de la Excma. Diputación de Zaragoza (IFC) will be used for carrying out the functions of an academic publication, the handling of claims, appeals, complaints, suggestions, surveys as well as any other activity involved in the management of the journal.
Cubic Factory is in charge of handling said data. They can be contacted at cubic@cubicfactory.com.
Data can be given to public agencies with the relevant competencies and in case of legal obligations.
Those who are interested can exercise their rights of access, correction, suppression, limitation of the use, opposition and portability by contacting ifc@dpz.es.
Users can also go to the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos to make any complaints that they feel is necessary.
User information will be kept during the period in which it is needed to complete the task for which said information was provided in the first place or for the period necessary to comply with any legal obligations. Once a given objective has been completed, personal data that is not part of fulfillment of public service will be blocked until the applicable period has ended.
Ethical and confidentiality policy of Palaeohispanica can be consulted here.
