Italica

Italica (Spanish Italica ) was a Roman town in Hispania; its ruins lie in Santi Ponce, about ten kilometers north of Seville ( Hispalis ) on the Guadalquivir.

History

During the Second Punic War, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was in 206 BC after the battle of Ilipa a turdetanische settlement as a camp for wounded Roman soldiers relate and expand to a military post. In following years, Italica became an important center of the Romanization of the Iberian Peninsula. Ever since Gaius Iulius Caesar Italica had the status of a municipium.

The proximity to the Roman city of Hispalis ( Seville ) has given rise to considerations that Italica was a kind of city officials, whereas Hispalis acted as a commercial and economic hub in the first place. The importance Italicas shown by the fact that the families of the Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian were located there. Under the latter, the town of Colonia ( Colonia Aelia Augusta Italica or Colonia Victrix Italicensis ) was collected and expanded by conditioning the nova urbs on. Despite this flourishing city could not permanently maintain economically and politically and lost in the aftermath of influence.

The Visigoths took Italica probably as a fortress, later the city was seat of a bishop. With the attack of the Moors (711 ) to the Iberian Peninsula, the decline of the city continued.

The abandoned city served for a long time as a quarry. First excavations began in the 18th century, in the 19th century, the site in an archaeological park ( parque arqueológico ) was converted.

Excavations

Large parts of the city prähadrianischen are hidden under the center of today's Santi Ponce. The applied under Hadrian quarter, however, is largely developed and visit. The main attractions are Italicas:

• The amphitheater, which is the third largest Roman amphitheater with a length of 160 meters and a capacity of 25,000 spectators;
• The mosaic floors of the residential buildings of the social elite;
• The Traianeum, a temple dedicated to the Emperor Trajan
• The statues of Venus, Diana, and of Trajan ( the originals are in the Archaeological Museum in Seville, on-site are only copies);
• The partially exposed public baths;
• The reconstructed Roman theater in Santi Ponce.

Trivia

The Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo composed in 1980 a piece for guitar solo "Un Tiempo fue Italica famosa " ( "Once Italica was famous " ), with whom he reminds of Italica.