Roman Spain

It appears that everyone has invaded Spain at some time or another - from the Romans to the Moors, then the French in the early 19th Century.

The city of Italica was founded in 206 BC by the Romans in order to settle Roman soldiers wounded in the Battle of Ilipa, where the Carthaginian army was defeated during the Second Punic War. The name Italica bound the colonia to their Italian origins. Italica is only a few kilometres from Seville.

Italica was the birthplace of Roman emperor Trajan. Hadrian was generous to his settled town, which he made a forum; he added temples, including a Trajaneum venerating Trajan, and rebuilt public buildings. Italica’s amphitheater seated 25,000 spectators—half as many as the Colosseum in Rome— and was the third largest in the Roman Empire. The city's Roman population at the time is estimated to have been only 8000. The games and theatrical performances funded by the local aristocracy, who filled the positions of magistrate, were a means of establishing status: the size of the amphitheater shows that the local elite was maintaining status that extended far beyond Italica itself.

The modern town of Santiponce overlies the "old city" of Republican times founded by Scipio and the pre-Roman Iberian city. The well-preserved city of ruins seen today is the nova urbs magnificently laid out under Hadrian's patronage.

The city dwindled after Hadrian's death and loss of patronage. The mosaic work in Italica still exists and is extraordinary.

The Ampitheatre

The Ampitheatre

The Gladiators Room at the Ampitheatre

The Baths. Italica

Mosaic work in House of the Birds