Roman Basin
Roman Basin
The province of Cuenca has many Roman settlements and cities in its territory, some of which are mentioned in classical texts and which are or have been the object of archaeological excavations.
The three main and best known cities are Ercavica, Segobriga y ValeriaThese are located respectively in the three natural regions of the province: La Alcarria, La Mancha Alta and La Serranía de Cuenca. In any case, these are not the only Roman cities in the province, as ancient sources mention others whose specific location is still unknown, such as Istonium, Alaba, Libana and Urcesa, mentioned by Strabo.
Alongside these cities, rural settlements were located on their territories, called villaeThese were sumptuous rural dwellings owned by a wealthy landowner from which a farm or livestock farm was usually managed. In addition, the territory was home to the vicus o pagusThese are agglomerations of dwellings of a certain size, administratively dependent on the Roman cities, of which we have some examples such as the pagus Oculensisfrom which the current name of Uclés derives, or the vicus de la Fuente Vieja, in Almonacid del Marquesado, just to cite two examples close to Segobriga.
The Roman map of the province of Cuenca is completed with the communication routes that crossed the province and which allowed the Mediterranean coast to be linked to inland cities. The main road was the one that linked Carthago Novathe administrative capital of some of the Roman cities of Cuenca, with Complutum and which intersected in the area around Pozoamargo with the track that headed to Caesaraugusta.
Next to these roads were the so-called mansions, a kind of inn that provided services to those who travelled along them and to their carts and animals. One of them must have been located in the area around Pozoamargo. Another mansio is that of Urbiaca on the road to Caesaraugusta identified with Noheda in Villar de Domingo García, an exceptional villa from the Late Roman period to which a rich collection of mosaics belongs. This road passed near Albendea, where there is a mausoleum, that of Llanes, of the family that owned a villa, which has not been preserved.
Mausoleum of Llanes
Popularly known as the "hermitage of Llanes", it is actually and originally a funerary monument built in the 4th century AD, linked to a Roman villa of which it formed part and whose remains are scattered around a hundred metres from the pantheon.
It was built to serve as a burial place in Roman times; the building has been used for various purposes up to the present day. Once it lost its function as a burial place, a baptistery was built in its crypt in the Visigothic period in order to perform baptism ceremonies.
With the passing of time it was used as a place of worship and in the Modern Period it was transformed into a church in the Modern Period, with the addition of a section for its enlargement, preserving the original vault. It has a three-lobed shape, made up of three semicircular apses or exedrae and has a crypt that was accessed via a staircase. It has a Greek cross floor plan with an altar and a baptistery when it became a place of Christian worship.
How to get there: https://goo.gl/maps/zZu3HB69N4ChoZqB9
More information: https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/patrimonio/catalogo-patrimonio-cultural/mausoleo-ermita-de-llanes
Ercávica
The archaeological site of Ercávica, located in the municipality of Cañaveruelas, is an example of a Hispano-Roman city created during the Romanisation of the interior of Hispania.
Ercavica is located on a hill known as Castro de Santaver, on the left bank of the river Guadiela, a tributary of the Tagus. The hill offers an excellent strategic position and visual control of the area, with the section of a road linking it to the Segobriga y Segontia (Sigüenza).
Ercavica appears in history through the account of the Roman historian Titus Livius. Thus, in 179 BC, during the campaign waged by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus against the Celtiberian communities, it was subdued when it surrendered after five days of siege.
The Ercavica romana is a city founded ex novoThe Roman features are clearly evident, such as a regular urban layout with an orthogonal disposition, and the public and private buildings typical of a Roman city.
The archaeological remains date its foundation to the 1st century BC, when the city was at its peak, coinciding with the High Imperial period (1st and 2nd centuries AD), which gave way to a period of gradual decline, in which Ercavica did not escape the processes of change and crisis in which the cities of the Roman Empire were immersed.
During the Visigothic period, the city was an episcopal see, now under the name of Arcávica, and the attendance of several bishops, presbyters or vicars at the Toledan Councils between 589 and 693 has been recorded.
Archaeological work at Ercávica dates back to 1972, and the buildings and complexes excavated, which can currently be visited, are among the archaeological sites that can be visited in the Autonomous Community of Castilla La Mancha.
How to get there: https://goo.gl/maps/QSdJLapS4RhET2Qe9
More information: https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/patrimonio/yacimientos-visitables/ercavica
Roman Villa of Noheda
The archaeological site of Noheda is identified with a Roman villa from the 1st century BC-6th century AD, and is located just 18 kilometres from the city of Cuenca. It is also close to the Roman cities of Segobriga (58 km), Ercavica (44.5 km) and Valeria (43.5 km).
The archaeological site exhumed from 2005 onwards from the Late Roman period includes several rooms from the pars urbanused as a dwelling and a thermal complex. The so-called Sala Triabsidiada stands out due to the exedrae that crown three of its sides. The floor of this room, which covers an area of about 300 m2, is paved with mosaics, while the base of the walls is decorated with marble brought from the quarries located in the Mediterranean. The decorative programme is exceptional and today it is one of the largest known mosaics of the Roman Empire. The main scene, made of vitreous-paste tesserae, depicts a wedding procession and other secondary scenes, including a scene dedicated to the god of wine, Bacchus.
In the different interventions carried out at the site, different rooms of the house have been exhumed and documented, and archaeological remains of very different types have been recovered.
Today, the site has an Interpretation Centre that provides further information on the site.
How to get there: https://goo.gl/maps/8xceJ6MLczMLMP6n9
More information: https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/patrimonio/yacimientos-visitables/villa-romana-de-noheda
Valeria
The Valeria site, which can be visited, was a Roman city located next to the town of Valeria, in the municipality of Las Valeras (Cuenca).
Well connected with Ercavica y Segobriga through the Complutum a Carthage NovaThe city was probably founded between 93-92 BC by the proconsul of Hispania Citerior Gaius Valerius Flaccus. BC by the proconsul of Hispania Citerior Gaius Valerius Flaccus. It is known that it was granted the Latin right probably granted by Augustus around 24 BC, which led to the city being rearranged and monumentalised according to the new status and to the category of municipality, reaching its maximum splendour between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. This great stage, which marked the definitive monumentalisation of the forum, and the construction of the splendid judicial basilica and the unique monument of the ninfeo.
In Visigothic and medieval times the city, despite the disappearance of the Roman Empire and its decline, was an episcopal see until 1182, when it disappeared with the creation of the new diocese of Cuenca.
The archaeological site has a Visitor Reception Centre, which has a small museum and a shop with publications and souvenirs from the site, as well as all the tourist information about the town.
How to get there: https://goo.gl/maps/a7b3mT3PAqYjkErf6
More information: https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/patrimonio/yacimientos-visitables/valeria
Pozoamargo
The locality of Pozoamargo and its environs have been identified with the mansio Ad Puteas mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus, made during the reign of the Emperor Caracalla (211-217 BC). The remains of the Roman road, which has recently been restored, date from this period.
These documentary references, together with archaeological research, point to its importance as a stopping place on the Roman road which linked Complutum with Carthago Nova.
How to get there: https://goo.gl/maps/ZXCrYFiDzDadVuna7
More information: https://pozoamargo.dipucuenca.es/index.php
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.
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