The first time I saw Professor María Eugenia Aubet was at the University of Valencia. I am not certain of the year, perhaps 1988 or 1989. She gave a lecture in which she presented the main lines of her acclaimed book Tiro y las colonias de Occidente (1987). What I remember from that moment was her magnetism, her warmth, and how she was able to communicate and involve her audience in her argument. She left a lasting impression on me and remained the subject of conversation among my classmates for several days. However, as a famous scholar, she seemed too important; and I was a simple student too shy to approach her. It is also true that at the time the Phoenicians were not my foremost field of study. I was more interested in underwater archaeology and the ancient Near East.
A couple of years later, in the spring of...
