Asturica Augusta

About

Asturica Augusta was a Roman city corresponding to the Spanish city of Astorga, in the province of León. Founded around 14 BC as a camp of the Legio X Gemina, at the beginning of the first century it developed as a civil center and was the capital of the Asturicense conventus iurudicus, within the province of Tarraconense. Located on a hill overlooking a large territory, from the mountains of León to the plains of the Páramo, during the first and second centuries it acquired great importance due to the control of gold mining in the northwest of the peninsula. It was an important communications hub, which, via numerous roads, linked the city with some of the most important centers of Roman Hispania. Its ruins are hidden under the present city and among these are the Roman Ergastula, the two thermal complexes and the sewage system, as well as the domus of the Mosaic of the Bear and the Birds.

The present-day municipality of Astorga is located in the northwestern part of the Duero river basin and its surroundings present, in general, a gentle relief but with two distinct areas: on the one hand a series of ESE-WEST oriented mountain ranges, with materials from the Lower Paleozoic, and on the other the plain of the Tuerto river, of Tertiary materials later covered during the Quaternary. Between both areas and at the confluence of the Jerga and Tuerto rivers, the city proper was located on a promontory, at 870 m (2,850 ft) above sea level, whose profile resembles a spur, becoming smoother at its western end.

It was located on the northwestern border of the Meseta; to the north is the Cantabrian mountain range, which divided the Asturians themselves into Transmontane and Augustan, to the east the alluvial countryside characteristic of the Duero basin, and to the west the mountains of León, with the summit of Teleno, which was the object of religious worship by both the Asturians and the Romans.

The fertile plains of the rivers allowed for agricultural use, especially that of the Tuerto, and the abundance of stone in the surrounding area—mainly quartzite—provided materials for construction. Likewise, the proximity to the gold deposits found in the surrounding mountainous area is another of the arguments put forward to justify its foundation; among them those of the Omaña river valley, the valleys of the Duerna and Eria rivers and the Bierzo, with the exploitation of Las Médulas.

The city is mentioned on several occasions in classical historiography. Pliny the Elder, who visited the city in about 73, during the rule of Vespasian, notes the following:

Following them are the twenty-two peoples of the Asturians, divided into Augustans and Transmontans, with Asturica, a magnificent city: among them are the Gigurians, the Pesicans, the Lancians, and the Zoelas. The number of freemen in the whole population reaches two hundred and forty thousand.

— Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 3, 28

This qualification as magnificent may have been related to the growth it experienced as a result of gold mining during the first and second centuries. In the latter century, Claudius Ptolemy, in his work Geographia, includes Asturia as the capital of the Amachians. In the 3rd century, there are several mentions. Dion Cassius, who developed his work during the reign of Alexander Severus, points out the program of urban foundations carried out by Augustus. The Itinerary of Antoninus mentions it on several occasions as a mansio of the various Roman roads that converged in the city, while the Anonymous of Ravenna mentions it in one of his itineraries. The city is also mentioned by Bishop Cyprian of Carthage.

Later we have mentions of Bishop Hydatius in the 5th century, Jordanes in the 6th century, and St. Isidore, who lived between the 6th and 7th centuries. Likewise, in the acts of several councils, such as those of Serdica, I of Saragossa, the Bracarenses III and IV, and Toletanus III, IV, VII, VIII, and X, different bishops of Asturica sign. As for epigraphy, 83 inscriptions from Astorga are known, to which should be added 21 found in the surrounding area and 7 from other parts of the Peninsula but related to the city or the Asturicense Convent. Most of them are of a funerary nature (64), followed in number by votive inscriptions (17). The oldest date back to the first century and allude to military themes, especially those related to the Legio X Gemina. The others belong to the 2nd and 3rd centuries; in them, among which two in Greek stand out, administrative and government positions are mentioned, such as Legati, Procuratores Augusti, procurator Asturiae et Gallaeciae, Augusti Dispensator and Praeses Provinciae.

In relation to the possible municipal status of the city, reference is made to the positions of magistratus, curator, sacerdos, and flamines. The Tablet of Hospitality of Astorga or Pact of the Zoelas, ratified in Asturica in the year 152, also stands out, although the place where it was found is unknown. Some of the citizens mentioned are a grammaticus —a literate man—and an avium inspex —a fortune teller from the flight of birds. Likewise, the presence of an immigrant population, specifically of oriental origin, can be seen thanks to the inscription in Greek and their names, such as Lyda and Taumasto. Among those inscriptions that refer to cults and divinities, the cult of the emperor—as a form of recognition of Roman political power—the cult of the Capitoline triad and the cult of the goddess Fortuna stand out.

Due to the fact that the urban layout of present-day Astorga did not show orderly urban planning that would suggest a Roman origin, an indigenous origin for the city has traditionally been considered. The first to point this out was Manuel Gómez-Moreno in 1905, who endorsed its pre-Roman origin through the elevated position of the city. Later it was José María Luengo who tried to support this pre-Roman origin with archaeological finds; specifically, he pointed out, among others, a gold torque of unknown origin deposited in the National Archaeological Museum, two bronze ring fibulae, typically Roman, Iberian coins from private collections and a boulder with a hemispherical hole carved in it.

Another argument for its pre-Roman condition is its mention in one of the classical sources that refer to the city, the Geography of Claudius Ptolemy ; in Book II he mentions Asturica as a city of the Asturians, specifically the capital of the Amachus, the only time they are mentioned in the classical sources. However, although there are reports of several Iron Age settlements around Astorga, the archaeological excavations carried out in the city have not provided evidence of pre-Roman occupation of the hill. Such hypotheses would have their origin in those ideological foundations, fashionable in the 19th century and part of the 20th century, that sought a Celtic origin for the city.

The first contact of Rome with the northwest peninsular took place in the 2nd century BC with the expedition of Decimus Junius Brutus Gallicus in 138. C., and in the first century BC with those of Publius Licinius Crassus and Julius Caesar. C. After the integration of the Vacceans and Celtiberians into the Republic, only the coastal strip at the foot of the Cantabrian, where the Cantabrians and Asturians were located, remained unconquered. At the end of the 1st century BC, the war episode took place, after which the whole northwest was subdued. This was part of Augustus ' political program; after coming to power, he carried out a reform of the army, entrusting it with the protection of the borders, which were delimited through various campaigns, and in this context the action of Rome in the northwest peninsular took place. The conflict was described by various classical sources, such as Florus, Orosius, and Dion Cassius, and among its causes were strategic, the personal prestige of the emperor, and economic ones.

The first Roman intervention took place in 29 BC, led by Titus Statilius Taurus, which was followed by others in the following two years, until 26 when Augustus arrived in person. The military troops that participated belonged to the Legio I Augusta, II Augusta, IV Macedonica, V Alaudae, VI Victrix, IX Hispana, and X Gemina. In total, adding legionaries and auxiliary corps, there were about 77,000–80,000 men.

In 26 BC the Bellum Cantabricum began, with Segisamo as a base camp. In the eastern zone, the Romans followed the course of the Pisuerga and subdued Vellica (Monte Cildá); they continued towards the north, up to Aracillum and Mons Vindius, where the Cantabrians had taken refuge, and there they defeated them. In the western zone, under the orders of Publius Carisius, they took Lancia and later they went to the west, where the confrontation of Mons Medullius took place, which meant the defeat of the Asturians. Finally, in 19 BC Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa arrived, who together with Silio Nerva directed the last campaign of the war, after which the dominion of the whole northwest peninsular culminated.

The city's foundation is linked to the territorial organization carried out by Augustus after the end of the Cantabrian Wars, who applied a set of administrative, political, and fiscal measures to consolidate Augustus after the end of the Cantabrian Wars, who applied a set of administrative, political, and fiscal measures with the aim of consolidating his power in the newly annexed territories. The first to point out its possible military origin was Manuel Gómez-Moreno at the beginning of the 20th century, who indicated Legio X Gemina as the detachment installed there. Later it was Adolf Schulten who placed Legio X in Asturica based on the reconstruction of the military actions against the Asturians, five epitaphs of soldiers of that legion, and a text by Floro that would refer to the demilitarization of the camp:...he ordered them to dwell and reside in his camp, located in the plain, to hold their assemblies there and to adopt it as their capital.

Likewise, José María Luengo considered Legio X responsible for the city's foundation, in whose construction its soldiers would have participated. Francisco Javier Lomas also related the city to the legion based on Floro's text. For his part, R. F. J. Jones proposed a first camp of the legion in Asturica before being transferred to Caldas de Reyes, where two epigraphs linked to soldiers of the legion were found, and both Mauricio Pastor and Alain Tranoy pointed out the presence of the legion by the epigraphs alluding to its soldiers. Patrick Le Roux was of the opinion that the Astorga camp would belong to the period of wars, being moved to the Vidriales valley, Petavonium, after the end of the wars, and that the epigraphs of soldiers would refer to the detachment dedicated to the construction of the city. Finally, Tomás Mañanes also indicated the presence of Legio X in the epigraphs of the soldiers and a possible camp base in the urban planning of the present city.

This military origin has been confirmed by archaeology. In addition to the camp base in the current urbanism, in the northwestern area of the hill, two parallel moats were found, fossae fastigatae type, which would correspond to the defensive system of the legionary camp, and which present an analogy with similar findings excavated in the British and Germanic limes. Other findings that reveal this military origin are ceramic productions of Terra Sigillata Italica, coins, and metallic materials associated with military clothing. The size and depth of the ditches and the existence of wooden constructions seem to indicate that it was a camp not involved in the military actions of the wars, that is to say, it would be later than these. This would be corroborated by the chronology of the archaeological materials found, since they do not date from before 15–10 BC.

Therefore, on a strategic hill, on the border between the countryside of the Duero basin and the mountains of León, around 15–10 BC, a military garrison was installed whose mission was the surveillance and control of the newly conquered territory, still in the pacification phase. Its importance would be confirmed by its inclusion in the network of roads. The military unit that settled there was the Legio X Gemina, with a long history in Roman history. It participated in the Gallic War, being Julius Caesar 's favorite legion, and in the invasion of Britannia but aligned against Augustus so it was disbanded. Once rebuilt, it fought in the Cantabrian Wars and remained in Hispania until 63 (with camps in Asturica and Petavonium ). After five years in Carnuntum, in the Danubian Limes, in 68 it returned to Hispania, from where it left again in 70 for Arenacum and Noviomagus, in the Rhenish Limes, to, around 103, settle in Aquincum. Finally, in 107, it moved to Vindobona, where it remained until the end of the Empire.

Its birth as a civil nucleus must be traced through the information provided by archaeology. Between 1990 and 1992 the Domus del Pavimento of Opus Signinum was excavated, in which the camp structures were replaced by civil ones at the end of the reign of Tiberius and the beginning of Claudius ' reign. In addition, between 1993 and 1996 a site was excavated between Blanco de Cela and Río Eria streets, where evidence of the first urban fortification was found; the remains of the camp fortification, the first urban wall and a house were found superimposed. In them, the filling of the camp moat is also produced at the end of the reign of Tiberius, but especially under the rule of Claudius. Therefore it would not be in the time of Augustus but in the time of Tiberius that the civilian nucleus would have been founded. This pattern is repeated in the different excavations carried out, in which a military horizon is amortized for its later transformation into a civilian nucleus, something that possibly took place coinciding with the capital of the conventus and the exploitation of the mining resources of its territory.