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COIMBRA (Town) COIMBRA
Aeminium (Coimbra) Beira Litoral, Portugal.
Mentioned by Pliny (HN 4.24) and Ptolemy (2.5) and in the Antonine Itinerary,
the name also occurs in an inscription dedicated to Constantius Chlorus. Conimbriga,
16 km to the S, was in the 6th c. the seat of a bishopric in which Aeminium was
a parish, but ca. 589 the Bishop Posidonius was transferred from Conimbriga to
Aeminium, and part of Conimbriga's population also took refuge there. In the 9th
c. Aeminium took the name of Colimbria, a corruption of Conimbriga.
Nothing remains of the Roman monuments of Aeminium except the cryptoporticus
under the Museu Machado de Castro. Two arches still standing in the 18th c. in
Estrela (next to the present-day government building) were once thought to be
remains of a Roman triumphal arch, but they may have been ruins of one of the
fortification gates of the 9th c. There were, however, some Roman baths, called
in the 12th c. the Baths of the King, in the area where the monastery of Santa
Cruz was built. The aqueduct now called Arcos do Jardim seems to have been built
in the 16th c. over the ruins of the Roman aqueduct. The Roman road coming from
Conimbriga crossed the river E of the present bridge and probably ran alongside
the aqueduct. Near the aqueduct was the cemetery. On the Largo da Se Velha, remains
of a Roman building were uncovered, and coins and ceramics were found. Traces
of the Roman period in Coimbra are scarce, but the crytoporticus under the Museu
Machado de Castro is one of the chief remaining Roman structures of Portugal.
The hillside between the present-day terraces of the cathedrals (Se
Velha and Se Nova) was the site of the cryptoporticus on which the Romans constructed
their forum, a huge artificial platform on two levels. On the upper level, a pi-shaped
gallery surrounds another of the same plan. In each arm of the pi three corridors
give access from one gallery to the other, and they are also connected at the
top. Between the arms of the pi are chambers connected by narrow vaulted passageways.
On the lower level were other rooms, higher and more spacious, arranged along
a gallery with narrow passageways connecting them. This level was partially destroyed
by houses built against it, and later, perhaps when the bishop's palace was reconstructed
in the 16th c., the galleries were filled in with rubble. In the debris were uncovered
four marble heads, representing a priestess, Agrippina, Vespasian, and Trajan.
In the excavations on the site of the present-day church of S. Joao de Almedina
pieces of entablature have been found which can perhaps be attributed to the temple
in the forum. The chronology of the complex has not been established, but the
suggested dates in the 3d-5th c. are certainly too late.
Among the native sons of Aeminium was the architect Gaius Servius
Lupus, builder of the lighthouse of La Coruna in NE Spain.
J. Alarcao, 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.
CONIMBRIGA (Ancient city) PORTUGAL
Conimbriga (Condeixa-a-Velha) Beira Litoral, Portugal.
About 16 km S of Coimbra, near the village of Condeixa-a-Velha. The name means
oppidum of the Conii, a tribe which inhabited the region before the arrival of
the Celtic tribe of Saefes some time between the end of the 7th c. and the 5th
c. B.C. Conimbriga was probably entered by Decimus lunius Brutus at the end of
the 2d c. B.C. Not far away is an encampment, which was perhaps built by Brutus,
today almost destroyed by the airfield of Cernache.
Objects from the Roman Republican era at Conimbriga are rare. The
first forum is from the Augustan period; next to it simple rectangular houses
of Iron Age tradition survived to Flavian times. Pliny (HN 4.21) classifies Conimbriga
among the oppida of Lusitania, and under the Flavians the city received the status
of municipium and the name of Flavia Conimbriga. In the same period, the forum
was replaced by another, different in plan and of larger proportions. Considerable
construction took place in the first half of the 3d c. A.D. and there was a notable
workshop of mosaic workers. At the end of the same century or the beginning of
the 4th, the city was fortified; the amphitheater, a public bath building, and
some of the richest houses were left outside; the baths and houses were razed.
The latest Roman coins found in Conimbriga date from 402 to 408 and are very rare.
Rome probably abandoned the region in the time of Honorius. The Cantabri, perhaps
the richest family in the city, probably took over its government and defense,
but in 465 they became prisoners of the Suevi. In 468, according to Idatius of
Chaves, the Suevi attacked Conimbriga a second time and partially destroyed it.
The city, however, was not abandoned. By 561 it was a seat of a bishop;
its own prelate Lucentius participated in the first council of Bracara, but the
seat was soon moved to Aeminium. Many Visigoth coins have been found (one of Rodrigo
minted in 710, the year before the Arab invasion and the downfall of the Visigoth
monarchy), as well as Arab and mediaeval coins. Occupation of the site may have
continued even after the Arab invasion of 711, but the absence of stones with
Arab workmanship and of Moslem pottery indicates that it was no more than a hamlet.
Near the E section of the fortifications several buildings have been
excavated: a rich residence with private baths, three other less extensive but
luxurious houses, two public baths, an Early Christian church, and a building
which served perhaps as an inn. More recently the Forum of Augustus has been discovered,
the Flavian forum which replaced it, two insulae of houses and commercial buildings,
and some large public baths of Trajan's time, constructed over others of the early
1st c.
The rich houses are all built around a large peristyle with a pool:
in one of them the pool held more than 400 water jets. Around the peristyle was
a portico paved with mosaics. Two of the larger houses have as a second central
point a small atrium which opened on the sleeping quarters of the house. The mosaics
discovered constitute the largest collection in Portugal, although there are others,
at Torre de Palma, for example, more varied in theme and more carefully executed.
The mosaics with mythological themes represent Perseus, Bellerophon, Acteon, the
Minotaur in the labyrinth, and a solar chariot. Others show hunting scenes or
animal life, from aquatic birds to sea dragons, the elephant, or the camel. The
simplification of some of the Classical themes by leaving out some of the usual
figures (Andromeda is omitted from the mosaic of Perseus) is characteristic of
the local workshops, which seem to have been particularly active in the time of
the Seven.
Of the public monuments, the oldest remains are those of the Forum
of Augustus. The monument was enclosed on one side by a basilica with three aisles
and on the other by shops. On the N side was the temple, built over a crypt. This
forum was demolished under the Flavians to make room for another (100 x 50 m)
and the public square was enclosed by two monumental porticos along the E and
W sides. On the S side were some small structures, now ruined, which were probably
shops. The large temple with a double cella, dedicated to Rome and Augustus, dominated
an esplanade at a little higher level in the N section of the forum. The esplanade
was surrounded by a pi-shaped cryptoporticus with a flat roof resting on thick
pillars, and above the crytoporticus stood a portico. This forum, which had neither
basilica nor curia, was destroyed at the beginning or middle of the 5th c.
The amphitheater (94 x 80 m) outside the walls has not yet been excavated.
It dates from the 3d c. A.D. The cavea rests in part on arcades and in part is
cut out of the rocky hillside. Four public baths of different periods have so
far been discovered in the city. Two of them, each with a natatio, existed during
the 2d and 3d c.; both have curious circular laconica, and in the center a small
pool, also round, with steps hollowed out of the pavement. At a level higher than
the pool, a passageway resting on the hypocaust goes around the room. The water
was brought by an aqueduct, largely underground, from a large spring ca. 3 km
from the city, and was distributed to the baths and some houses in lead pipes.
Water was channeled even into simple houses in which there are no traces of paving
in mosaic, and which could have belonged only to small industries or small traders.
The Early Christian basilica has a cruciform apse, and the baptistery
a circular basin of a depth unusual in the 7th-8th c., the period to which the building is attributed. The finds are in a museum at the site.
R. Etienne & J. Alarcao, 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 60 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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