History of Andalucia

The Romans in Andalucia, They came, they saw, they conquered and then stayed awhile

August 2007: Part 7, Farewell and Adieu to Our Ladies in Spain
June 2007: Part 6, Roman Entertainment
June 2007: Part 5, Roman Mosiacs
May 2007: Part 4, Roman Roads in Andalucia
April 2007: Part 3, Roman Mines in Andalucia
March 2007: Part 2, Timeline 208 BC to 419 AD
February 2007: Part 1, Timeline 208 BC to 419 AD

Part 7, Farewell and Adieu to Our Ladies in Spain

Our very abbreviated history of the Romans in Spain, and Andalucia in particular, has brought us to about 180 AD when, following the death of Marcus Aurelius, Roman influence in Andalucia declined until 409 AD when the Vandals supplanted them.

This period of over 200 years is, depending on which authority you consult, the period of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, a term first coined by the historian Gibbon in 1776. Since then over 200 theories have been put forward as to why the Western Roman Empire failed. The problem is a lack of information, particularly economic information, from that period. In short nobody really knows why the Empire unravelled as it did. However we are reasonably sure of the events that occurred and we can be sure that there was no single reason.

From about 165 AD for a period of twenty years the Antonine Plague swept through Europe in successive waves eventually killing about half the population. This put a huge burden on the remaining half because they had to not only supply men for an army that had to increase in size they also had to feed and finance the army and run the administration. Population levels in Europe actually continued to decline into the 7th Century so, even after the Antonine Plague, the population did not recover.

Then in 226 AD the Sassanid Empire emerged in the area now known as Iran and started to push the Romans back from the Euphrates, large parts of Armenia and southeast Turkey. It took the Romans fifty years to deal with this threat and they did so by taking the regional taxation income from the western provincial towns and cities, including those in Andalucia.They committed about 25% of their entire military might to the problem plus huge numbers of foreign mercenaries paid for by the purloined taxes. This caused a long term impact locally because the officials in the west, not threatened in any way by the troubles in the eastern part of the Empire, lost all incentive to invest and develop the local infrastructure. Public buildings started to suffer from lack of maintenance and new building was much more modest than that seen during the Pax Romana period.

Meanwhile the Germanic tribes on the Empire’s northern border had been increasing in material wealth due to their contact with the Romans since the first century AD. This created an upper class that in turn led to them controlling larger groupings of their population and these tribes evolved into more cohesive nations and much more formidable foes.

These Germanic tribes were in turn threatened by the Huns who were active around the Black Sea area to such an extent that in 376 AD the Goths invaded the Empire to escape the Huns. In reality the ‘invasion’ was much more a migration since the Goths brought everything with them with no intentions of going back. Similarly in 406 AD another wave of migration occurred, this time across the Rhine, as a result of another period of expansion by the Huns.

These Germanic migrants were called the Suevi, Alans and Vandals and they immediately ravaged Gaul. It is difficult to imagine today just what these people were like. They were warlike, even amongst themselves, they were transients, never staying in one place longer than necessary and they travelled light. Whole tribes, men, women, children and animals roamed across Europe displacing, usually forcibly, the local population.

Meanwhile one group of Goths, the Christian Visigoths, had formed an alliance with Rome and supplied mercenary armies to fight for Rome. As we have seen this was not an unusual occurrence. First as the Empire expanded Rome needed foreign troops to adequately garrison new territory, and that need increased after the plagues and again after the Sassanid threat and yet again after the first Gothic migrations. It was the Visigoths that drove the Vandals, Alans and Suevi out of Gaul into Iberia. The Alans and Vandals occupied what is now called Andalucia whilst the Suevi stayed in the north.

The Roman Emperor Honorius commissioned Athaulf the Visigothic king to restore order in Hispania. Athaulf’s wife, Placidia, by the way, was Honorius’s sister, which shows how allied they had become. The Visigoths entered Hispania in 415 AD and by 429 had made life so uncomfortable for the Vandals and Alans that they decided to look for easier pickings in North Africa. They sailed from Carteia (near San Roque).

In 484 the Visigoths established Toledo as their capital in Hispania. Although Romanised the Visigoths did not have as developed a cultural system as the Romans. It is often thought that by this period the Romans had left Hispania. Certainly their armies had gone but there were many Roman families that had been in Hispania for generations who had survived the deprivations of the Vandal period, and it was those people who ran the civil administration. Latin continued as the official language. Education and government became the responsibility of the church bishops who answered to the pope.

So, whilst the administration carried on, there was still an educational system (albeit strictly controlled by the church) and a degree of government, the technical infrastructure started to crumble. The engineers, part of the army, had left leaving nobody with the necessary skills to maintain systems installed by the Romans. This can clearly be seen if you look at the hydro systems. A good example of a section of aqueduct has been exposed at Estepona. An enclosed reservoir was used to give a head of water to create a flow down the aqueduct itself to supply the town. Bronze stop valves and one-way valves were used to control the water like the examples shown found at Merida. Incredible technology for the time not to be equalled in Spain until the Moors arrived and in the rest of Europe until the Industrial revolutions of the 18th century.

They came in 208 BC, they saw and conquered by 60 BC, and they stayed officially until 409 AD, or did they? It could reasonably be argued that the Romans never left Andalucia and that their descendants are still here.

Part 6, Roman Entertainment

Roman Theatres at Merida, Italica and Acinipo

Our history of the Romans in Spain has brought us to a period known as Pax Romana or Roman Peace. It was a period of relative peace throughout the Empire that lasted from 27 BC, the accession of Augustus to 180 AD, the death of Marcus Aurelius, a period that saw the Romanization of the western world. Spain, in particular Baetica, is often seen as the ultimate example of this process.

Romanization simply meant that the local population were converted to the religion, cultural and social practices of the Romans, including the use of Latin, and adopted their governing systems and architecture, farming methods and so on. One aspect of Roman life the conquered territories were not forced or even enticed to adopt was the religion of the Romans.

Roman tolerance of other religions came about because they believed that their many gods looked after them and that other gods looked after other nations and areas of the earth. This belief was born out as they conquered more territories and encountered more religions. In many cases if the new god or gods looked like being a good thing the Romans added them to their own pantheon. The more the merrier, literally, since each god had a feast day. The Romans also believed that there was no after life. They were determined to extract as much pleasure from this life as they could and they were happy to allow the local population to share that pleasure.

It is this belief that allows us today to judge the size and worth of a particular Roman site. There were three main centres of entertainment; the theatre, the amphitheatre and the hippodrome. The Romans made sure that these places could, if necessary seat the entire population. The hippodromes or circuses were built in major cities like Merida and used for chariot racing. The one in Merida could seat 40,000. Amphitheatres were round structures usually with subterranean passages, used for gladiatorial contests, displaying wild animals and other spectacles. Amphitheatres are much more common than hippodromes, there are good examples at Carteia, Málaga, Italica and Acinipo. Theatres were semicircular structures used for plays, poetry readings and concerts. They normally had a wooden stage. There is a nice example at Baetica.

Remarkably, given the Roman tolerance and desire to provide the entire citizenry with pleasures, there was one group of people who made such a bad impression they often made involuntary visits to the amphitheatre where they were put on the menu. It must have taken a lot to push the Romans to such extremes but the members of the new faith, Christians, managed it. They had diametrically opposite views to the Romans. They for instance believed that there was no pleasure meant for this life, that came later, after death, if you proved worthy enough. They believed in one god, which the Romans would have accepted, except the Christians maintained there were no others. Apart from the multifarious gods worshipped by the Romans that they were entirely happy with the Romans could not understand how the Christians could know theirs was the only god since there were huge areas of the world with unknown races and unknown religions. The Christians also did not believe in personal hygiene. Contemporary writers repeatedly remark on the nefarious aroma surrounding Christians, their lank, untrimmed hair, their unwashed, unrepaired rags. The Romans would probably have managed to cope with all that, by staying upwind and ignoring them, if the Christians had not really pushed them too far. They not only preached that their god was a king they tried to convert everybody they came across. This the Romans could not accept. They had their king emperors, real people, and as far as they were concerned the Christians were inciting unrest. So they fed them to the lions, tigers and other carnivorous beasts in one last attempt to make the Christians happy. By making them martyrs.

Part 5, Roman Mosiacs

We have now covered the history of the Romans in Andalucia into the 1st Century BC and looked at some of their cities and engineering feats. As we have mentioned before, the Roman period in Andalucia was a relatively peaceful time, unlike in the more northern parts of Spain and other parts of the Roman Empire where, it is fair to say, the Roman Republic was continuously in a state of war. Not difficult to see then why peaceful Andalucia was so attractive to retiring soldiers and wealthy Romans who wanted or needed to escape the intrigue of Rome.

In Rome during this period the social and political world was undergoing a violent transformation. There are many reasons why the late Republic created two classes of citizen, the Optimates, basically Conservative old established wealthy families and the Populares extolling the virtues of the common man but itself, as a party, led by renegade members of Optimate families. Hundreds of thousands of slaves from occupied territories, now employed on farms in Italy and more settled areas of the Empire, created a class of jobless, idle Romans who moved to the cities. Small farms were bought up by the Optimates to make vast estates that were then mismanaged as a result of which Rome could not always feed itself. The vast wealth pouring into Rome from all corners of the Empire provided the temptation and opportunity for corruption. Altogether a recipe for disaster that was to bring the Republic down through a series of civil wars and internal political strife. It fell to a man called Gaius Julius Caesar to grab the reins and become the first dictator and for Augustus in 27 BC to become the first Roman Emperor.

Before that however in 69 BC Caesar made his first visit to Spain as an administrative official. It was on this visit that at Gades he saw a statue of Alexander the Great and it was said that he broke down and cried in front of it. When asked why he would have such a reaction, his simple response was: “Do you think I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable?” In 61 and 60 BC Julius made his mark in Spain, developing his reputation as a military commander by winning considerable victories over the Spanish Calaici and Lusitani tribes and even marching into the north west of Spain that had never before been subdued. After an eventful interim subduing Gaul and Britain he came back to Spain in 49 BC to defeat Pompey’s legions. He returned in 46 BC to fight Pompey’s sons Gnaeus and Sextus. At the Battle of Munda, near Osuna in Seville province Caesar, who in his own words, ‘always fought to win’, fought his’ first and only battle for his life’ in 45 BC. Sextus garrisoned Corduba after his defeat and then fled Spain altogether. He later became a pirate preying on Roman merchant shipping in the Mediterranean.

Apart from these occasional periods of turmoil Baetica carried on as normal and it was this period of peace that allowed the development of an art form for which the Romans became famous, the mosaic.

Perhaps the most beautiful can be seen at Italica just north of Seville. Mosaics were not just a status symbol, they also told a story. The Romans were not into symbolism so what you see is generally an accurate representation within the confines of the media. For instance many of the early mosaics depict Roman gods. Some show the exotic creatures that were brought to Rome and Italica from remote parts of the Empire, lions, tigers and the rest, all recognisable and rarely fanciful. In the later Empire period, when Christianity was making more of an impact, the gods tend to be replaced by domestic scenes, farming, fishing and hunting. There is one fantastic mosaic that depicts a crocodile hunt on the Nile. The natives are recognisably Nubians, a mix of Negroid and Mediterranean features who originated in the Sudan, so the period shown is probably after Caesar’s campaign in Egypt when he met Cleopatra. One scene shows a Nubian frantically climbing a palm tree to escape the snapping jaws of the crocodile below and you can imagine the artist capturing that image as if he had a camera. The Romans didn’t seem to get around to depicting God, Jesus or any of the Christian retinue we are familiar with but they were interested in the seasons and religious festivals, particularly those relating to the seasons like the harvest festival.

Interestingly in the Mosaic of the Planets, Helios, representing the sun, has a biblical type halo. You can actually see in the mosaics how the later Romans were hedging their bets, not upsetting either the old gods or the new one.

Part 4, Roman Roads in Andalucia

The first three articles have brought our history of the Romans in Andalucia up to the beginning of the 1st Century AD and have looked at the industry and towns of the region. It is time to turn our attention to their most famous engineering feats, their roads.

As the saying goes, ‘All roads lead to Rome’. This phrase came about due to a man called Ptolemy. He wrote an itinerary, a verbal map, which gave the distances between staging posts and towns throughout the Roman Empire in the 2nd Century AD. Whether by accident or design he called all the roads leading from one area by the same name. His itineraries always start at Rome. So the single road that led out of Rome and was followed to Spain was called the Via Augusta. By the time that road gets to Baetica, an area roughly equating to Andalucia, there had been a number of road junctions as a result of which there are a few Via Augusta’s. So the whole network of roads was known by the same name and it was true they all led, eventually, to Rome. There is one notable exception in Andalucia, the Via de la Plata from Seville north to Santiago de Compostella that was, and still is, a pilgrimage route that the Romans paved.

The first roads built in Andalucia by the Romans were to allow an army to occupy the area to subdue the Carthaginians. For ease they tended to follow existing unpaved tracks. It is known that the first armies arrived down the coastal road that is now called the A7 or N340 and it is likely this was the first road to be paved in its entirety from Almeria to the major trading centre of Cadiz. At Malaga the road north led into the interior, eventually to Cordoba and then down the valley of the Baetis (Guadalquiver) to Seville and then south to Cadiz. It was along this road that the first Roman armies marched to do battle with the Carthaginians. The older Roman roads tend to follow the boundaries of tribal lands, contours, and coasts and alongside easy river courses imitating the tracks they overlaid.

It was only later in the occupation that the rest of the network of paved roads was built and these were primarily for commercial purposes. So there is a Roman road from Seville to Huelva, another from Carteia to Jimena de la Frontera, Gaucin and Acinipo. It is these roads that tend to have the familiar straight stretches wherever possible.

In addition there were numerous secondary roads, some paved, some not, many of which are in use today like the track up to the Roman Baths at Manilva and continuing to Casares. These were not mentioned in the itinerary.

The roads were marked at intervals of one mile by a milestone and at periodic intervals by small settlements like Oba (Jimena de la Frontera), some fortified or protected by a tower such as the one at Carteia. The settlements tended to be about a days march apart.

The map shows Main roads & major towns.

1. Gadir (Cadiz)
2. Baelo Claudia (Bolonia)
3. Tarifa
4. Carteia (San Roque)
5. Calpe (Gibraltar)
6. Hispalis (Seville0
7. Onoba (Huelva)
8. Oba (Jimena de la Frontera)
9. Acinipo
10. Malaca (Malaga)
11. Iliberris (Granada)
12. Corduba (Cordoba)
13. Aurgi (Jaen)
14. Niebla
15. Castulo (Linares)

Part 3, Roman Mines in Andalucia

Our brief history of the Romans in Andalucia has brought us to around 140 BC. For most parts of Andalucia the next 100 years are fairly peaceful. On the northern and western borders of the region however there were repeated incursions by the Lusitanians even after their defeat in 139 BC. These occurred in 112, 109, 102, 101 and probably in 99 BC. In 98 BC Crassus beat the Lusitanians which kept them quiet for thirty years until Caesar, tired of their bandit like raids, campaigned against them in 60 BC whilst he was governor of Hispania Ulterior.

Spain, in particular the area known as Andalucia was unique in the territories conquered by the Romans in that from their first arrival they physically occupied the land. Soldiers, as they were paid off, elected to remain in Hispania rather than go back to Rome, particularly during the 1st Century BC when the political situation in Italy was anything but stable. It is during this period that references to the Roman province of Baetica first appear. Baetica roughly covers the area now known as Andalucia. The other two provinces were Lusitania, corresponding to Portugal and Extremadura and Hispania Tarraconensis that covered the rest of modern Spain.

This period saw a large increase in Romanised development of existing settlements like Gadir (Cadiz) and the establishment of coloniae which conformed to a Roman model of what constituted a town. The model was based on the city of Rome. The number of coloniae established in Baetica is a matter of considerable academic dispute but, coloniae or not, the 'model' was implemented at Corduba (Cordoba), Hispalis (Seville), Astigi (Ecija), Itucci (Martos), Ucubi (Espejo), Urso (Osuna), Hasta Regia (Asta), Italica (Santeponce), Iliturgi (Mengibar) and Asido (Medina Sidonia).

Roman strategy in Baetica must have been partly dictated by the presence of the rich mines in the Sierra Morena area. Prior to their occupation of Spain, Rome had been buying copper, gold and silver from Phoenician and Carthaginian traders who in turn were trading with the Tartessians in whose territory the mines were. Rome could be looked upon as a black hole as far as wealth was concerned. Its population, or at least the prosperous ones, were reputed to be extravagant, flamboyant and idle, spending their days in pleasurable, depraved and expensive pursuits, each trying to out do the others and spending huge amounts of money in the process. This depravity, particularly during the later part of the Roman period, is often cited as a major cause of Rome's demise. That may be correct but what undoubtedly happened is that Rome bled its territories dry through punitive taxes that in turn caused unrest amongst the native population. The mines would have been considered a great asset. The manner in which they were exploited is an education in the contrasting sides of Roman nature and the mines of the Rio Tinto area is a perfect example.

When the Romans arrived the mines were already old having already been exploited for about 2,000 years but even so only a small amount of the available ore had been removed. The original miners had found colourful ores outcropping on the surface, typically in the Rio Tinto area, green malachite, and blue azurite, both oxidised ores of copper. They had used primitive bone tools and fire to extract the ore until further extraction was impossible. Normally this left a scar. Infrequently a small shaft was made rarely more than a few metres deep and very rarely there would be evidence of small side galleries off the shaft. In the Sierra Morena there are hundreds, possibly thousands of these primitive workings. Even digging such a shallow mine was dangerous but at least the miner had the option of stopping when he judged it too hazardous. The Romans changed all that.

Firstly the Romans had slaves, mainly natives who had made the mistake of supporting the wrong side, and their attitude to them would, today, be considered abominable. Slaves had no rights whatsoever. A slave owner could punish or kill his slaves with no fear of retribution, he could work them to death and that is exactly what they did at Rio Tinto.

Slaves were born and lived their entire lives underground, never seeing daylight. Not that they were likely to live that long, cave ins and, as the shafts were dug deeper, sudden flooding, were regular occurrences. Technology was employed to make extraction of the ore easier and more efficient, not to safeguard the workers. In the 19th Century, at the Rio Tinto mine a series of water wheels was found in man made galleries that were used in Roman times to take water from tens of metres below the surface, up nine levels to an adit that drained the water out onto the hillside. Slaves turned the wheels. Incredibly an Archimedes screw was also used to raise water from the depths. The Romans had over 50 working mines within 100 kilometres to the west and north of the Rio Tinto mine itself.

It was only much later in the occupation period that the Romans realised that the supply of slaves was declining to dangerous levels. They immediately, almost overnight, reversed their policy of inhumanity and slaves suddenly found that they had shorter working hours, were provided with decent food and living accommodation and could enjoy holidays. It has been estimated that when the mines closed as the Romans departed, the slaves actually enjoyed better conditions than 20th Century coal miners in the UK, Arthur Scargill would have been impressed.

Part 2, Timeline 208 BC to 419 AD

Beach

The first article looked at the Roman conquest of Andalucia and brought us to the end of the Second Punic War in 206 BC and the colonisation period that followed.

During the Second Punic War the native tribes in Hispania had alternatively supported the Carthaginians and the Romans, depending on who at the time was offering the most rewards. After the war they found that the Romans were not backward in exploiting the mineral wealth of the conquered regions and in taxing the local tribes. In spite of the enlightened manner in which Rome colonised its conquered territories dealt with last month, the locals all turned against the Romans. Within the area now called Andalucia the rapid conquest, suppression of tribes supporting the Carthaginians and subsequent colonisation meant that there was no centre of resistance. However around the borders of that territory, the Lusitani to the north west, the Celtiberians to the north east and the Iberians to the north were by no means subdued and would not be for nearly 200 years. The Iberians were the dominant native group in Andalucia and consisted of a number of tribes primarily the Bastetani who occupied the present day Almeria and Granada regions and the most powerful tribe, the Turdetani who were located in the Guadalquivir river valley. Politically and culturally the Iberians were influenced by the Greek and Phoenician cultures they had contact with before the Romans arrived and had one of the two pre Roman alphabets found in Hispania, the other being the Tartessian alphabet. Unlike the Tartessians though the Iberians never formed one state preferring the monarchy led city state model of ancient Greece. The armies that these tribes could field consisted of cavalry supported by infantry armed with javelins, slings and dirks and wearing light armour.

In 197 BC the Turdetani rebelled and were soon followed by more tribes in central and northeast Hispania. Consul Marcus Porcius Cato was sent by Rome to take command of the whole peninsula and successfully put down the revolt returning to Rome in 194 BC leaving a praetor in charge of each of the two provinces. Cato's procession through Rome included a baggage train that carried his spoils; 25,000 pounds weight of silver, 1,400 pounds weight of gold and 177,000 silver coins. Cato also paid his cavalry 1,610 bronze coins per man and his infantry 270 bronze coins per man.

The Lusitani were next to take up arms against Rome and managed to penetrate Andalucia as far as the mouth of the Baetis. (Guadalquivir) in 189 BC. At times allied with the Celtiberians the war, which was really a series of inconclusive skirmishes, dragged on until around 133 BC. Probably the most famous figure to emerge was Viriathus, a Lusitanian shepherd who persuaded 10,000 Lusitanians to fight the Romans. He carried on a guerrilla war against huge odds for eight years, eventually taking a number of towns in the Cordoba area. He was killed in 139 BC by one of his friends who had been bribed by the Romans to undertake the dirty deed.

Baelo Claudia

A period of relative peace and prosperity followed the civil wars and a number of towns were built soon after including Baelo Claudia.

Baelo Claudia is situated on the Atlantic coast overlooking the bay of Bolonia and was a busy fishing town after its construction at the end of the 2nd Century BC. Not only was it the link between Tingi (Tangiers) and Hispania it was also an important source of salt, salted fish and that peculiar fish sauce, garum. Apparently the Phoenicians developed a recipe for garum that used salted, fermented, mackerel entrails that was considered superior to any other and although they had been supplanted first by the Carthaginians and they in turn by the Romans, the recipe survived on the coast of Hispania Ulterior and it was this particular garum that was in greatest demand amongst the upper classes of Roman society.

Fish Factory

Today almost half the 13 hectares have been excavated and it is possible to walk around the forum, temples, market place, taverns, basilica, baths and fish-processing factory. Much of the self guided tour is on the original roads, the main thoroughfare, running east to west was grandly called Decumanus Maximus. The theatre set on the hill with magnificent views over the bay must have been one of the finest in Hispania. The site is considered one of the best and most complete Roman urban sites in Spain.

The Romans in Andalucia, Part 1

Timeline 208 BC to 419 AD

Amphitheatre at Italica

That Hannibal had a pack of war elephants when he marched from Spain to Italy during the Second Punic War is well known. Less well known is the fact that his brother, Mago, also had elephants that were used in battle against the Romans in Spain, including at the battle of Ilipa (Alcala del Rio, Andalucia, Seville province) in 206 BC. It must have been a remarkable site to see this Carthaginian army on the march and in camp at Gades (Cadiz, Andalucia) with elephants roaming around. Although a fearsome sight, war elephants were notorious for becoming panicked during battle and were as likely to rampage through their own troops as they were to trample the enemy underfoot.

Although the Second Punic War, between the Carthaginians and Romans, had been raging for eleven years it was not until 208 BC that the area now known as Andalucia saw its first occupying Roman army. The war had started in Hispania (Spain) with the siege and sack of an Iberian settlement at Saguntum (Sagunto) in 219 BC by the legendary Hannibal. Saguntum was a large and prosperous town on the Valencia coast that traded with Greek and Phoenician coastal colonies and sided with Rome against the Carthaginians. Hannibal, with his elephants and cavalry had then crossed the Pyrenees leaving his brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago, in command of the remaining Carthaginian armies in Hispania. They were joined in 214 BC by another army commanded by Hasdrubal Gisco (no relation to Hannibal). Although Rome immediately sent an army to Spain it was ineffective, most of the action being indecisive skirmishes, until in 211 BC it was defeated in two battles, Castulo (Linares, Andalucia, Jaen province) and a few days later at Ilorca (Lorca, Murcia). The Carthaginians effectively controlled Hispania south of the River Ebro whilst the Romans occupied the north. In 210 BC Publius Cornelius Scipio was appointed overall commander of Roman forces in Spain. He landed at Carthago Nova (Cartagena) with 25,000 men in 30 ships and took the city. That winter Scipio concentrated on training his men and supplementing his forces with the native CeltIberians. It was at this time that the Roman army abandoned its use of the gladius sword in favour of the shorter Celtiberian sword (Gladius Hispaniensis). In 208 BC Scipio with between 40 and 50,000 Romans met 30,000 Carthaginians commanded by Hasdrubal at Baecula (Bailen, Andalucia, Jaen province) on the banks of the river Baetis (Guadalquiver). Hasdrubal was defeated and retreated north into the interior of Hispania and then attempted to join his brother, Hannibal, in Italy. Most of the Spanish tribes immediately allied themselves to Rome. Scipio turned his attentions on the Carthaginian army commanded by Mago who was defeated and retreated to Gades where he joined the third Carthaginian army in Spain commanded by Hasdrubal Gisco. Mago and Hasdrubal marched from Gades in the spring of 206 BC with between 50 and 70,000 infantry, 4 to 5,000 cavalry and 32 war elephants. They headed for Ilipa (Niebla, Andalucia, Huelva province) where they were joined in battle by Scipio with 45,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry, most of whom were non Romans since Scipio had been forced to leave many of his legionaries to garrison various towns in the conquered areas. In an epic and famous battle the Carthaginians were defeated and, by the end of 206 BC Gades had also been captured. Southern Hispania and the area now known as Andalucia, but then just part of Hispania Ulterior, were in the hands of Rome although it would take until 133 BC to totally subdue the native tribes in Hispania Ulterior and until 19 BC before the remainder of Hispania was totally conquered.

It is not difficult to see why the Romans found Hispania Ulterior so attractive. The mineral reserves in the Huelva and Cartagena regions, primarily lead, gold, silver, and copper were worth unimaginable amounts and the Romans had been paying over the odds for them for many years via trade with the Carthaginians, now they could exploit them directly. The fertile strip of land on the coast and up the valley of the Baetis produced grain, olives for oil, grapes for wine, honey and figs. The area was also known for its horses and mules, its pottery, sea salt and garum, a fish condiment. Altogether a very valuable piece of real estate.

Theatre at SantiPonce

Having subdued the area the Romans spent no time at all in colonising it. For the time this process was very enlightened. Any man, whether Roman born or not, who had served with the legions, was given the status of a Roman. These men, on retirement, normally when a campaign had ended rather than a fixed term of years, were entitled to land and property in the territory they had helped conquer or they could take their accumulated pay (much obtained through plunder) back to Italy. Many, particularly the native born, chose to stay. The Romans thereby obtained a colonising force and a reserve that could be called upon in the event of future uprisings in the colonised area. This month we take you to two of the earliest settlements.

Italica was the first Roman settlement in Hispania, dating to 205 BC. It was, originally, for wounded veteran legionaries, following their victory over the Carthaginians at the battle of Ilipa the previous year and occupied the site of an earlier Turdetanian settlement. This older part of Italica is largely beneath the modern town of Santiponce although there are tantalising glimpses of it between the more modern buildings including a theatre reached by following signs through the narrow alleys of the town. Italica developed into a suburb of Hispalis and could be likened to Mayfair as a suburb of London, with large villas, many with elaborate and beautiful mosaics, a grand amphitheatre, wide streets, and luxurious baths, all on a bluff overlooking the working town and port of Hispalis. The amphitheatre is one of the best-preserved examples in Spain and the fourth largest known from any part of the Roman Empire. It could seat 40,000 people. The subterranean passages and pits beneath the stage where animals and gladiators were kept from the sight of the public are all still there. Hadrian (117 - 38 AD), whose family came from Italica, built the grand villas and public buildings you see today in the 1st Century AD. Hadrian's family included his predecessor, the Emperor Trajan (98 - 117 AD) who was actually born in Italica. He and Hadrian became the first Roman emperors of provincial origin. Italica is open to the public. From the ring road at Seville, follow the signs for Merida. As you leave the city behind you will see the signs for Santiponce. Carteia, just outside San Roque, was another well-established settlement when the Romans captured it from the Carthaginians in 206 BC. They had occupied this Turdetani town since 228 BC. Prior to that Carteia was a thriving port administered by the Phoenicians. It was resettled in 171 BC by 4,000 sons of Roman legionaries and local women and gained fame in 45 BC when it became one of the last refuges of Pompey. The port exported the local wine to all parts of the empire. Partly as a consequence of the wine trade an important amphorae factory was built there. Today Carteia is open to the public but, due to the excavations still being carried out, you must have an (English speaking) guide. Carteia is found by taking the A7 towards Algeciras. Just past San Roque the site is signposted and the road takes you a few kilometres through the oil refineries until you see the site on your left.