EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNALMarch 17, 1999
Calle Conde de Barajas, Seville
Italica: A Short History of Roman Andalusia
The Romans came to Spain in 206 BC. Pleased with the wealth of the Iberian Peninsula,
they stayed for 700 years. In 200 years they conquered Spain and divided it into
provinces, with Baetica corresponding roughly to what is now Andalusia. They built cities
with feudal lords amassing wealthy estates by exporting olive oil and wheat to Rome.
Baetica became one of the most prosperous of Rome’s provinces with a thriving
Ibero-Roman culture. The Visigoths followed the Romans and continued to assert their way
of life until the Moors conquered them in AD 711.
One of the first cities founded in Spain by the Romans was Italica. Scipio Africanus
established the city in 206 BC, and it blossomed rapidly as a military headquarters and a
cultural centre. At its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD Italica
supported a population of several thousand. Both Emperors Trajan and Hadrian were born
here. Hadrian eventually bestowed imperial largesse on the city during his reign in the 2nd
century AD, adding marble temples and important buildings. Italica’s amphitheater
seated 25,000 spectators and was the third largest in the Roman Empire.
Italica is situated 9 kilometres north of Seville. Archeologists have
speculated that the changing course of the Guadalquivir—silting—led to the
demise of the city, which declined steadily after the fall of the Roman Empire. Seville on
the other hand flourished as one of the most prosperous ports in Europe. Unlike Cordoba
and Ronda, nothing was built on top of Italica in post-Roman times. Italica is therefore
beautifully preserved as a Roman city.
Although many of the treasures unearthed at Italica are displayed in
the Museo Arqueologico in Seville, the ruins of the city offer a clear idea of its 2nd
century AD splendor, with side-by-side villas, patios with intact, complex mosaics and
crumbling columns at street corners. At the edge of the city sprawls the vast
amphitheater. Within the circle of seating hides a dark, cool tunnel. Boxes peak out to
the massive, circular ring where gladiators wrestled lions and such. The amphitheater is
not unlike the Spanish bullring, and foreshadows the cultural wealth of this nation
sculpted by such a variety of sophisticated civilizations.
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