Ategua

Ategua is an Ibero-Roman fortified settlement with substantial archaeological remains stretching into the Middle Ages. Ategua was a great city that already existed from the third millennium BCE on, its wall was erected over a plateau that allowed it to control the whole horizon.

The oldest documented archaeological finds at Ategua date from the Late Bronze Age, after which archaeologists have recorded a more or less unbroken stratigraphic sequence up to the 14th century BCE. From the 9th century BCE it was used as a pre-colonial cremation necropolis, and roughly 150 years after thecemetery was abandoned humans established an urban centre on this site,with orthogonal-plan dwellings defended by an outer wall, which remained in use until the 7th century BCE.

The army of Roman Julius Ceaser conquered Ategua in 45 BCE. After that victory, Caesar continued his successfulmilitary campaign across Hispania, vanquishing the supportersof Pompey’s sons at the Battle of Munda and subsequentlyreturning to Rome in triumph.

A group of buildings known as domus provide evidence of urban residential architecture in Roman Ategua. The group includesseveral modest houses built around courtyards with water tanks or wells.

Given its strategic position at a crossroads vital to the defence of Córdoba, the hilltop was occupied by a castle during the final years of Muslim rule. The castle, with an irregular polygonal plan following the contours of the terrain, had a total of 9 towers and two gates. One of these gates was set into the north walland reinforced, in the modern era, with an octagonal tower. The other, directly opposite, faced south and was flanked by two square towers. The castle also had a bastion jutting out from the northwest corner.

This military structure was maintained throughout the late Middle Ages, and over time a population centre grew up around it, but the hilltop was definitively abandoned sometime in the 14th or 15th century. The rectangular building at the southwest corner outside the castle wall was built during the Christian era, in the 13th or 14th century, and the typical market-stall layout leaves no doubt as to its commercial purpose.

References:

• juntadeandalucia.es

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Córdoba, Spain

Details

Founded: 3000-2000 BCE
Category: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Spain