The Legends tells that Seville was founded by Hercules. But according to historians, the Seville area flourished during the Tharsis reign. The Phoenicians and Greeks maintained commercial relations with Tharsis. During the 8th century BC, their descendants created a city on the shores of the Guadalquivir and named it Ispal. It would be later called Hispalis and is considered to be the origin of Seville.
From the 3rd century BC, the Carthaginians occupied the area but they were defeated by the Roman, Scipio Africanus in 206 BC. From then on, Seville entered into an age of splendor. This was even truer when Julius Caesar gave Seville the status of colony in 45 BC. The surprising fact is that, nowadays, there is little rest of this flourishing roman period.
During that period, various invasions took place, particularly Vandals and Visigoths. The latter dominated Seville during the 6th and 7th centuries. This is when Seville became the most important cultural area in the Occident. The great figure of that time was the archbishop San Isidoro, who wrote Etymologies, the encyclopedia gathering all the knowledge of those days.
In 712 started the domination of the Arabs over Sevilla, that they called at that time Isbiliah. The Betis river was also renamed Guad el Kevir. Those two names are the origin of the current names of Seville and Guadalquivir river. Under the Arab ruling, Seville entered into another age of splendor. When the Almohades arrived in 1147, they transferred the center of the power from Cordoba to Seville and made it their capital. From this last period of the Arab-Andalusian domination remain the Giralda, the Torre del Oro, the Alcazar (later rebuilt by the Christian kings) and the Macarena wall (Muralla de la Macarena).
