Segobriga

Place Description

Segóbriga, a deserted Roman city with theater, amphitheater, forum, walls, aqueduct and baths, lies about 100 kilometers southeast of Madrid. Livy speaks of it as a noble and powerful town subdued by the Romans in 179 BCE. In the 1st century BCE it grew as a center for trade, cereal and cattle production, and for mining gypsum, lapis specularis, then used for windows. It became a municipium in the time of Augustus. The city reached its height near the end of the 1st century CE, then began a slow decline, but even in Visigothic time it sent bishops to councils.

Within the city, there are remarkably few remains of residences. Presumably the population that filled the theater and amphitheater lived in country villas or closer to the mines. The site has been developed as an archaeological park; the monuments are in remarkably good condition and are eminently visitable.

Places

• Segobriga (Pleiades:266036)
• Segobriga (deserted settlement) (TGN:8712888)
• Tarraconensis (Pleiades:981551)
• Tarraconensis (province) (TGN:6005831)