The Phoenicians, once established in Malaga, explored the interior via the river, founding a settlement called ‘Cartha’ (meaning ‘concealed city’).
In 195BC the Romans renamed the town 'Carthima'; it flourished as a centre for processing marble and a trading town for the rich supply of raw minerals extracted from the hills around. Carthima became wealthy and fashionable, and was noted for its fine baths and villas, and magnificent statues of the town's preferred deities, Mars and Venus.
Such was Carthima/Cártama's status in Roman times that one member of a prominent local family was appointed to a decemviri (a powerful magistrates' commission of ten). This was one of only three decemvirate appointments in the entire Baetican province, which roughly coincides with present-day Andalucía.
As Rome's grip on Spain weakened, Cártama's influence began to wane. It languished through the Visigothic period, but attracted the attentions of the Moors, who clearly valued it almost as highly as the Romans. They rebuilt the old castle, which was in ruins, and Cártama was on its way again.
In the dying days of Moorish rule, the unstoppable Christians decided that Cártama was the perfect point from which to lay siege to the big prize of Málaga. It was 1485, and the Moors of Cártama had little stomach for a fight. The town fell easily, and the final siege of Málaga was set.
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