Roman city
The theatre
One of the most outstanding monuments of Segobriga is the Theatre, although it is one of the smallest in Hispania. Its construction must have begun in the time of Tiberius and it was inaugurated in the time of the Emperor Vespasian, around 78 AD. A large monumental inscription found among the ruins of the theatre confirms this, of which some fragments have survived and can be seen today in the building.
The grandstand or caveaThe well preserved city was divided into three parts, separated by corridors to differentiate between the classes of inhabitants. The upper part rested on the wall above a vaulted corridor under which a street ran.
Retains the orchestraIt has a semicircular floor plan, with three steps for the authorities and a space for the musicians. The scaena he stage, intended for performances, was made of wood on stone pillars, behind which rose a monumental stage decorated with marble columns and sculptures, presided over by the goddess Roma.
The wall and main gate
The urban space of Segobriga was surrounded by a wall, 1,300 metres long, built around 50 BC. It has been excavated on the northern side next to the theatre and the amphitheatre, although most of its layout can be seen in the ground.
The layout of its gates was conditioned by the topography of the hill on which it was built. Several main city gates are known to have opened into the city walls. They have an angled structure and are located at the cardinal points: one possibly to the north next to the theatre baths, another to the northeast, a third to the west and a fourth located to the south of the city, although the latter has not been excavated. Only the so-called northern gateway lacks this layout, and it retains a concrete base on which ashlars were laid. It was built in the late-Augustean period as a monumental access to the forum built when it became a Latin municipality. The sewers for the drainage of the city run underneath it.
The cryptoporticus of the forum
The design of the city of Segobriga The construction of the buildings on a hill made it necessary to carry out terracing work, cutting away the natural rock and building substructures to raise the ground to the desired level. One of these cryptoporticoes was built in the forum in the Augustan period to reach the level of the square and serve as a foundation for the double arcaded gallery that would have been built on the site during the reign of Augustus.
It was accessed from the kardo maximus The design of the building is based on a construction divided into two naves by an alignment of seven ashlar pillars, which are still preserved today. They were used to support the beams of the upper floor slab and for the foundations of most of the columns of the interior portico of the forum, rising 4.5 m in height.
It is difficult to say what it was used for from the surviving remains, but it may have been used as a tabularium or administrative archive of the city or perhaps a simple warehouse.
The thermal baths of the theatre
They are located between the theatre and an east-west street, next to the northern wall, occupying an area of 350 m². They were built in the second half of the 1st century BC.
The changing room with its lockers, a circular dry sauna, where there was a basin for cooling off with cold water, and a room with a hot water bath, which had an underground chamber underneath it, or hypocaustum where the hot air from a furnace circulated. Next to the gate of the wall were the latrines, the gutter of which drained to the outside.
The Forum Basilica
The eastern side of the forum was occupied by the civil basilica, where major commercial transactions took place and where the magistrates administered justice. It is one of the largest administrative buildings in the city. It was built between 15 BC and 10 AD.
The building has three naves with a peristasis of 12 x 4 Corinthian columns. At the ends of its main side it housed two small templetes or aedes Augusti dedicated to the cult of the Julio-Claudian emperors and their family. It had a covered upper floor above the central colonnade.
The façade of the basilica opened onto the forum square through eleven gates. They were reached by independent flights of stairs, which were separated by pedestals of equestrian statues.
The Forum
The civic centre was designed with a practically quadrangular plan as a square surrounded by a double porticoed gallery on three sides, presided over by a basilica to dispense justice to the east and a temple to the west. The curia for the meetings of the local senate was located to the south of the southern portico, next to the tabernae with commercial functions in their initial phase.
The Forum was built around 15 BC, in the time of Augustus, as part of the city's monumental urban development programme. It was financed, among others, by Proculus Spantamicuswho paid for the ground of the uncovered square, engraving his name in memory of it in a long inscription of gilded bronze letters, installed on its pavement.
The forum constituted the most representative space of the city and its elites, where statue pedestals with inscriptions recorded the memory of their origins and collective tradition. The oldest monuments remained over time in the same place where they were erected. This was a way of ensuring that the community's history was not forgotten by contemporaries and future generations.
The basilical hall
In Vespasian's time, a large building was erected in front of the forum, which was used for the commercial transactions of the lapis specularis. It was located in a well-connected site in the centre of the city, with direct access from the main street via a large staircase, now lost. It had three naves, supported by 10 Corinthian columns. The central nave, which was wider, ended in a large apse that was accessed by three steps, where the "crystal" sales operations were closed. In the Visigothic and early medieval periods, the building was used for private purposes, far removed from its original function. Archaeological evidence indicates that it was used to enclose livestock, as evidenced by two ashlars hollowed out in the form of troughs for watering troughs.
The monumental baths
The Monumental Baths were built in the 1st century AD and were intended for bathing and hygiene, recreation and business. It was the largest complex of baths in the city.
Access was via a stepped street. A small doorway led to an uncovered rectangular courtyard with columns, which served as a palestra. It was a meeting place, an exercise area and a place to prepare for bathing. Two side doors led to the changing room or apodyteriumThe only place in the building where it was possible to immerse oneself in water was the swimming pool in the centre, as the rest of the facilities only had small metal or marble bathtubs. Then it was on to the frigidarium or cold room, at tepidarium or warm room, al caldarium or hot room and al laconicum or dry sauna, located under the hermitage.
To the north were the service rooms, such as woodsheds and ovens for heating the baths.
The mining prosecutor's house
An inscription in the Greek language dedicated to Zeus Megistos by Caius Iulius Silvanusfound in the excavations carried out in the monumental thermal baths of Segobrigadocuments the presence of this state official in the city where he had a house, although the date of the text of the beginning of the 3rd century AD does not allow us to link him to the control of the mining operations of the lapis specularisThe production for export would have ceased by that time.
Silvanus built his house next to the monumental baths. So far we know of three rooms in his luxurious house. Room 1 had a religious character and must have been the site of the altar dedicated to Zeus Megistos. In room 2, part of a mosaic of black and white tesserae was found, which decorated the floor and whose original is on display in the Interpretation Centre. Room 3 has a large continuous bench attached to one of the walls, which may have formed part of a kitchen.
The amphitheatre
Built in Vespasian's time opposite the theatre, both buildings flanked the main entrance to the city. It has an irregular elliptical shape and is 75 m long. It could have seated 5,500 spectators. Its south side is partially dug into the rock, while the north side was raised from the ground with large masonry walls up to a height of over 18 metres.
The arena, which was accessed through two large doors, was separated from the stands by a high podium for the safety of the audience. A covered corridor connected the doors and linked the rooms for the beasts destined for the shows. The grandstand was divided into twelve sections by transverse staircases that connected with the outer doors, for the accommodation and evacuation of the spectators. As in the theatre, the stands were also divided horizontally by a wall, known as the balteus, which divided the spectators according to their social class. The seats in the lower part were made of stone, while those in the upper part were made of wood.
- The Theatre
- The wall
- The cryptoporticus
- The thermal baths of the theatre
- The basilica and the forum
- Basilical Hall
- The monumental baths
- The house of the procurator
- The amphitheatre
Ctra. Carrascosa de Campo a Villamayor de Santiago, s/n, E-16430 Saelices (Cuenca).
Telephone Interpretation Centre: 629 75 22 57
Mail: segobriga@dipucuenca.es
Credits:
Design and implementation: Tragsa Group. Contents: Rosario Cebrián Fernández (Lecturer in Archaeology at the UCM) with the collaboration of the Tragsa Group.
All content and images on this website are protected by copyright. Use without consent is prohibited.
