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TARRAGONA (Town) CATALONIA
Tarraco or Kallipolis, Cissa, or Cissis (Tarragona) Spain.
One of the most important cities of Roman Spain, identified with Kallipolis mentioned
in Avienus (Or. Mar. 514-15). It may have had an old Etruscan population. In the
pre-Roman period it was the principal urban center of the Ibenian tribe of the
Cessetani. On coins and in some sources (Polybios and Livy), it appears under
the name Cissa or Cissis. References to it become more frequent during the Punic
Wars. Ancient Cissa was destroyed by C. Scipio in 218 B.C. After that Rome continually
beautified Tarraco (Livy 21.60, 22.14, 26.17, 27.7.17, 28.4.13, 16, 17, 21, 42;
Polyb. 3.76, 10.6, 11.25, App. 16 c.15; Frontin. Str. 2.3.1) and Pliny refers
to it as Scipionum opus, which seems to correspond with the latest and definitive
date assigned to the city walls (3d c. A.D.).
After the arrival of Scipio, Tarraco was the base for the Roman wars
against the Carthaginians and Iberians. Tiberius Graccus landed in its port in
179 B.C.; Scipio Emilianus, the destroyer of Numantia, disembarked there in 134
B.C. In the wars between Caesar and Pompey, Tarraco was loyal to Pompey, but later,
either voluntarily or of necessity, joined Caesar's party. Caesar was the first
great protector of the city. In 45 B.C. Tarraco received a colony of Caesar's
(not composed of veterans) and was given the title Colonia Ivlia Vrbs Triumphalis
Tarraco; the abbreviations CVT or CVTT appear on the coins of the city between
A.D. 16 and 22. However, Tarraco received its highest honor and attained its greatest
importance when Augustus withdrew to it to recuperate from the illness contracted
during the Cantabrian and Asturian wars (26-25 B.C.: Dio Cass. 53.25.2). Thanks
to him Tarraco became the capital of Hispania Citenior (Suet. Aug. 26), and gave
its name to Tarraconensis.
During the rising of Galba against Nero, the inhabitants sided with
the former (Suet. Galba 12). Hadrian spent the winter of the year 121 in Tarraco,
calling together an assembly of representatives of all the cities of the province.
Septimius Severus governed Tarraconenis from this city and later, while emperor,
ordered that the temple of Augustus be restored at his expense.
Imperial Tarraco flourished until 257 when, according to Aurelius
Victor (Caes. 33) and Eutropius (Breviarium 9.8), it was destroyed by the Franks.
It seems to have revived, however, since the poet Ausonius in 370 refers to it
as one of the principal cities of Spain along with Emerita and Corduba, although
this may be from a literary point of view. In 476 it was destroyed by King Euric.
This was the end of Roman Tarraco, but the city continued, and attained great
importance during the Visigothic period.
Tarraco was the seat of the legatus Augusti pro praetore and the nucleus
of the administration of Hispania Tarraconensis, as well as one of the seven conuentus
into which that province was divided. Once a year it was the meeting place of
the 300 municipalities of Tarraconensis and, according to inscriptions discovered
there, it had a full detachment of the Legio VII Gemina, established by Galba
in Clunia. The founding of Tarraco by Rome was probably because of the need to
establish a key post for the later conquest of the middle basin of the Ebro. Strabo
considered it the most important city of Spain (3.4.7); and Mela, in the time
of Claudius, does not hesitate to state: "urbs erat, in his oris maritimaris
opulentissima" (2.6.5).
In the Augustan age Tarraco covered ca. 36 ha and had a population
of about 30,000. There were many later alterations to the city and much reuse
of material but there are still considerable ancient remains, the best preserved
of which are the walls. Probably they were originally 4 km long, 1 km of which
survives. Their date has been the subject of controversy, but today it seems clear
that they contain features of two periods of construction: the 6th c. B.C. (the
Iberian Period), and the 3d c. B.C., which, moreover, agrees with Pliny's description.
On a base of Cyclopean construction of huge, rough-hewn blocks, some of which
are 3 by 4 m, are preserved some more typically Roman stretches of wall built
with parallelepiped, projecting stones.
The plan of Tarraco, as reconstructed today, is composed of three
nuclei: the upper city, with the forum and the Temple of Jupiter (now the cathedral);
the middle city, with several Imperial buildings; and the lower city near the
port, probably the oldest. We know from the inscriptions (CIL II, 4071-4451) that,
in gratitude for the honors that the city received from Augustus, it dedicated
an altar to him. The altar was replaced in the year 15 of the Augustan age by
a temple dedicated to Diuus Augustus; this temple appears on coins with eight
Corinthian columns on the facade, a few remains of which are preserved in the
Archaeological Museum of the city. The columns were 1.55 m in diameter and 12
m high. The temple was built on the highest point of the city, and the emperor
was depicted as Zeus. Suetonius (Galba 12) writes of the existence of a temple
dedicated to Jupiter, and Florus tells us that Europa was venerated in the same
temple. There is also information on the worship of Jupiter-Amon and Isis. Also
worth mentioning are the remains of the Palatine, a palace belonging to Augustus
and later to the governor, which contain some mediaeval additions. The city had
a theater and an amphitheater (CIL II, 4280), the latter estimated as 93 by 68
m, baths (CIL II, 4112), a forum (CIL II, 4275), a basilica, and a circus. In
the Archaeological Museum of Tannagona are sculptures such as a Venus of the knidos
type, a Bacchus of the school of Praxiteles, a head of Alexander, fragments of
the temples of Minerva and of Tutela, a mosaic with a Medusa motif and one with
fish.
On the left bank of the Francoli river, near the city, was found a
Romano-Christian necropolis of ca. 2000 sq. m, buried about 1.8 m deep. It dates
from the 3d-6th c. and contains about 2000 tombs. Sarcophagi and mosaic tombstones
may be seen in the museum in the necropolis. A basilica has been discovered over
the sepulchers of the martyrs Fructuosus, Augurius, and Eulogius, who died under
Valenian and Gallienus, and the necropolis is now called San Fructuoso.
J. Arce, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 38 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
TIVISA (Town) CATALONIA
Tivissa (Tivisa) Tarragona, Spain.
An Iberian town at the mouth of the Ebro. It was probably destroyed by Cato in 195 B.C. Several small treasures have been found. One included silver coins, five pairs of gold earrings, bracelets, rings, a silver clasp, the handle. of a bronze mirror, a plowshare, all from the beginning of the 2d c. B.C., and now in the Archaeological Museum of Tarragona. A second treasure consisted of three coins and a bronze yoke, now in the Archaeological Museum of Barcelona. The third treasure included several paterae, two bracelets, ten vases, and fragments of others.
The houses were rectangular, with stone foundations and adobe above.
The town was walled. The gate is flanked by two towers, triangular on the outside
and quadrangular elsewhere, 13.75 long by 6.50 m wide. The town had a central
street beginning at the gate, 7.7 m wide and crossed by two transverse streets;
the gates in the S wall were 2 m wide. One of the streets has a drainage ditch
6 m long, and remains of two others. Parts of the streets were paved with large,
smooth slabs, also used in some houses. A nozzle from a foundry, three stoppers
with molded, hand-painted, ceramic decorations, and Campanian pottery have also
been found.
J.M Blazquez, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
TORREDEMBARRA (Town) CATALONIA
Barra Tarragona, Spain.
A town NE of Tarragona near Torredembarra, with one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Roman arches in Spain. it lies on the Via Augusta, probably as a border marker between the Cesatanians and the Ilergetes. According to its dedication it was constructed under the will of Trajan's general Lucius Licenius Sura, consul during 102, 104, and 107. Built of stone, it has one arch framed by two pilasters with Corinthian capitals; it is 12.28 m high, 12 m long, and 2.34 m wide. Probably it once had an attic.
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