Pre-Roman Asturica

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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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, being the only time they are mentioned in the classical sources.^[9] However, although there are reports of several Iron Age settlements around Astorga, the archaeological excavations carried out in the city have not provided evidence to demonstrate a pre-Roman occupation of the hill.^[11] Such hypotheses would have their origin in those ideological foundations, fashionable in the 19th century and part of the 20th century, which sought a Celtic origin for the city.^[12]

The arrival of Rome

The first contact of Rome with the northwest peninsular took place in the 2nd century B.C. with the expedition of Decimus Junius Brutus Gallicus in 138. C., and in the first century B.C. 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 B.C., 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

The first Roman intervention took place in 29 B.C., 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.^[15]

In 26 B.C. 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 B.C. 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.^[15]

Military origin

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.^[13] 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.^[16] 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:^[17]

...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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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.^[18] Other findings that reveal this military origin are ceramic productions of Terra Sigillata Italica, coins, and metallic materials associated with military clothing.^[19] 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 B.C., 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.^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[17]

Early empire: birth of the city

See also: Early Roman Empire

Its birth as a civil nucleus must be traced through the information provided by archaeology.^[22] 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. Also, 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, when the civilian nucleus would have been founded.^[22] 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.^[23]

In contrast to the theories that indicate that the northwest of the peninsula underwent a limited process of Romanization, there is evidence that shows the development of clearly Roman structures; the forum is an example of a public space typical of any Roman city, although designed in its own style. We would find ourselves before a center of state, administrative and fiscal machinery, which would exceed the local level. Likewise, a plaque with an inscription dedicated to Mars Tilenus proves another of the most characteristic elements of Romanization, that is, the assimilation of an indigenous god to another of the Roman pantheon.^[24]

Late empire: the end of Roman rule

With the territorial reorganization that took place in the 3rd century, the city became part of the province of Gallaecia, with its capital at Bracara Augusta. A new wall was also built, with a perimeter of two kilometers, of which remains are still visible in the so-called Roman Gate, but with the end of mining operations in the time of Diocletian, the decline of the city began.^[25]

Apart from the legend that attributes to St. James the Apostle the preaching in these lands and the foundation of the bishopric, the discovery in the vicinity of Astorga of one of the oldest Roman-Christian sarcophagi in the peninsula indicates the presence of an early Christian movement. In the middle years of the 3rd century, it must have been established as an episcopal see, with Basilides being its first bishop, around 249.^[26] This fact is mentioned by Cyprian of Carthage, who points out that in 253-254 Christian communities had been established in Zaragoza, Mérida, Leon , and Astorga. All this, together with the presence of Bishop Decentius at the Council of Elvira in 300, confirms the incipient presence and organization of a Christian community at an early date.^[27]

However, the establishment of Christianity was threatened by the barbarian invasions and, in the religious field, by the expansion of the Priscillianist and Manichaeist doctrines, against which Hydatius or Saint Toribius later fought after the condemnation made at the Council of Saragossa in 380. After the execution of Priscillian in Trier in 385, Bishop Symposium converted to Catholicism, as did his successors Dictinus and Comasius; a Priscillianist stronghold had been organized around them in Astorga in the second half of the 4th century.

After the barbarian invasions, the establishment of the Suevi in the territory of the ancient Gallaecia around 410 put an end to the Roman domination over the city, suffering the first destructions or looting by the Suevi Hermeric.^[28]

Sewer

Such an interesting find was immediately put to use, and today the population has a service that would never have been provided if chance had not come across it.

— Historia de Astorga. León

In 1863 the Roman sewage system was found by chance; specifically it was a collector located between the Plaza de San Julián and Manuel Gullón Street, which on its opposite side poured its waters into the Jerga River. In 1867 another branch was discovered under García Prieto Street (formerly La Redecilla) which flowed into Puerta de Rey. At the end of the century, in 1896, the master builder A. G. del Campo recorded the existence of a paved street associated with a sewer in what would be the first documents relating archaeological discoveries of Roman Astorga.^[33]

It described a construction of masonry walls 1.10 meters high up to the fascia line and 0.60 meters thick. The width of the collector was 0.90 meters and the height of the gallery was 1.50 meters. On the walls, there was a semicircular vault and a concrete slab about 20 cm thick.^[33] At the beginning of the 20th century, two more branches were discovered under Pío Gullón and Santiago streets. In 1946 José María Luego investigated the sewer section under the garden of the Synagogue and, based on the constructive differences between the different branches, established two different chronologies for its sewer network.

Roman cities of ancient construction sometimes lacked a sewage network; however, in newly founded cities after the conquest, as in this case, the sanitary infrastructure was part of the urban planning. Therefore, Asturica Augusta had a network of sewers to evacuate dirty water from both domestic use and public buildings such as baths.^[34] Their layout coincides with that of the streets, making them important for reconstructing the urban plan. They are in a very good state of preservation so many of the sections are used for the sanitation of the modern city.^[34]

The constructive modality of the different branches is not uniform since in their enclosure it is possible to observe both a semicircular vault and a linteled roof. In some cases the linteled sections are replaced by collectors with vaulted roofs, which would indicate that the flat roof is chronologically earlier: it would represent two different urban phases, one Julio-Claudian and the other Flavian.^[33]

Thermal complexes

The public baths, in addition to being places for personal hygiene and care, served as a center for social relations and occupied an important place in the organization and enjoyment of leisure. As in most Roman cities, Asturica Augusta had facilities of this type, of which two public complexes are currently known as Termas Mayores (Major baths) and Termas Menores (Minor baths).^[35]

In August 1984, the remains of what would be called the Termas Mayores were found.^[33] They were located in the central area of the city, next to the intersection of the two main roads. Two construction periods have been documented: a first phase, between the middle of the first century and the middle of the third century, and a second phase, from the fifth century, after undergoing a major remodeling.^[36]

The accesses were made through its southern and northern limits; the first through a square construction, possibly vestibulum, and the second was verified thanks to the location of the apodyterium.^[37] A large frigidarium has been documented, annexed to four other spaces: three of them with hypocaustum, cella tepidaria and two circular sudatoria, and a fourth, interpreted as apodyterium.

The Termas Menores -discovered in the early 1980s on a site on Padre Blanco Street- is located in the southeastern part of the city. Chronologically, three phases can be distinguished: the first in the middle of the first century, the second at the end of the first or beginning of the second century, and the third in the middle of the second century, when it underwent a major restructuring of the spaces.^[38]

They are in a good state of preservation: frigidarium, tepidarium, sudatorium and two caldaria, as well as the service rooms such as those used for the furnaces or praefurnia.^[39]

Forum

The forum is the most prominent public space in any Roman city and concentrated religious, political and economic activities. Therefore, it was the image that best projected the sense of Romanization, especially in cities located in newly conquered territory. Asturica Augusta is located in an elevated area, at the southern end of the hill where the city is located, and coincides in part with the current Plaza Mayor.^[40] The complex would extend over an area of more than 31,000 meters2 and the buildings, in this area of the city, would follow a north–south axis, unlike the northern area, where they follow a northwest–southeast axis.

The closing of this space repeats the same scheme, as has been found in the different excavations carried out, for example, the site of the Old Hospice, Santocildes Square, Alonso Luengo Street; it has a double portico in which semicircular apses and rectangular exedras open, whose base uses the same construction technique, the opus caementicium. On the western limit, and in an axial position, there is a rectangular room with a semicircular head, which is accessed through an entrance presided by two columns in antis, and whose pavement is made of opus sectile, with a geometric design. Traditionally, this space has been considered an Aedes Augusti, for the official ceremonies of imperial worship,^[41] but later interpretations suggest that it may have been used as the seat of the curia.^[42] In the central area of the forum is the structure known as the Roman Ergastula. It is a gallery covered with a barrel vault and built-in opus caementicium. Its length is 50 meters, its width is 5.30 meters and its average height is also 5.30 meters. Its plan would be U-shaped, being the existing structure at its eastern closure, since from its ends depart foundations in the direction of the current Plaza Mayor. This gallery would be the substructure of a building, perhaps an Ara Augusta, an altar dedicated to the emperor.^[43]

This whole complex may not have been conceived as a forum since, on the one hand, it occupies an area much larger than the average of the Hispano-Roman cities (11.6% compared to an average of no more than 2%), and on the other hand it seems that some structures were already there before the planning of the city, i.e. its construction may have been contemporary to the camp period, during the presence of the Legion X Gemina. Proof of this could be the sandstone ashlars with the inscription LXG that were used in the construction of a building next to the northeastern portico.^[44]

On the other hand, the archaeological work carried out on the occasion of the rehabilitation of the Gullón Theater made it possible to document,^[45] at the eastern end of the forum, the remains of the basilica: a semicircular apse, with four buttresses on the outside, and at its opening two columns in antis, all in opus caementicium. In another nearby plot, in the Plaza Arquitecto Gaudí, two parallel walls and a foundation cube of an opilar column were found, which would belong to the eastern flank of the building.^[46]

Wall

The archaeological works that have been carried out have provided information about the different defensive enclosures that were built in Roman times. The first would correspond to the fence or vallum built by the legionaries of the Legion X Gemina, of which the moats that were built at its feet have been found, whose purpose was to increase its defensive potential.^[47]

The second fence was a stone wall built once the settlement ceased to have a military character, giving way to a civilian settlement. There is only evidence of this wall in a plot of the city; it was 2.5 meters wide and had circular cubes at intervals, one of them 5 meters in diameter. It was demolished, at least in part, in the third quarter of the first century, at which time a house occupied its space. Its construction would have taken place between the reigns of Tiberius and Claudius, which coincides with the first evidence of civil architecture in the city.^[48]

Political instability in the lower imperial period provoked a process of fortification of urban centers, especially intense in the northwest of the peninsula, although widespread in those located along the most important communication routes.^[46] Although there are different hypotheses, the current thesis defends a chronology for this third fence between the end of the third century and the beginning of the fourth, a time when the crisis of the third century was overcome and economic recovery took place. In the history of this wall, it is worth mentioning the repairs carried out in the 13th century by Bishop Nuño, which may have significantly transformed the appearance of the fortification, and the destruction caused by the Sieges of Astorga during the War of Independence.^[49]

Its structure has two exterior walls that function as formwork for a core built with quartzite blocks mixed with mortar. In the exterior walls, irregular quartzite blocks were used, being substituted in some prestigious places by granite ashlars.^[50] Its layout is conditioned by the topography of the hill, with an irregular trapezoidal floor plan. Its current state of conservation is poor due to the repairs and restorations it has undergone, and what can be seen is the result of the 20th-century works that hid the original walls. The original layout of the towers has also been modified.

Of all the accesses it had, the only one documented from the Roman period is the one located at what is traditionally known as the Iron Gate. It was excavated in the 1970s and re-excavated in the 1990s.^[51] It has two semicircular towers of 8.20 meters in diameter made of opus quadratum, at least in its lower part, which leave a four-meter span through which a paved road ran. Other doors were Puerta de Rey, Puerta del Sol, Puerta del Obispo and Postigo de San Julián.

Domestic architecture

None of the dwellings found could be excavated in their entirety, nor could any structure related to artisanal activity be identified. This is due to the problem of obtaining, in a complete way, the plan of the ancient buildings: the plot of the modern city is not similar to that of the Roman period.^[52]

Among all the known asturian domus a series of them stand out for their construction and for the ornaments that were part of the building. All of them used stone to build their walls, although it must have been shared with other types of materials, such as adobe or rammed earth. The stone used was mainly quartzite from the Cape Series, and slate from Luarca. Both are easily found in the surroundings of the city, due to the fact that such geological formations predominate in the area.^[52]

Another series of materials were also used for construction; in the surroundings of Astorga clay abounds, whose use is proven both in adobe and rammed earth and for the union of the walls. Although the existence of ceramic potteries is not known, it must be thought that tiles and bricks were manufactured in the area around the city and then used in construction. This is evidenced by the numerous tiles (tegulae) and imbrices (imbrices) found in the archaeological works; the brick (later coctus) is abundant, as for example in the thermal complexes, at the time of raising the pillars of the hypocaust.^[47]

The first excavations of a domestic ensemble took place in 1954 in Santocildes Square by José María Luengo. The first news of such a finding are collected in 1921 but it was not until the middle of the century when the General Commissariat of Archaeological Excavations included the intervention in its National Plan. A house was found in which two complete rooms and part of three others were found.^[53] Most of its walls preserved paintings in situ, a group called Pinturas Pompeyanas, dating from the first half of the second century.

Suburban area

In the area outside the walls, several interventions have been carried out; at the foot of the western wall, a wall was found whose construction required a hollowing out of the geological substratum. This trench must have functioned as a dump, since a large quantity of materials and levels of ash were found.^[59] As for the wall, contemporary to the Alto-Imperial wall, it would have served as a containment for the materials dragged from the upper part of the city and the slope of the hill.

Several necropolises have also been documented outside the city walls, mainly as a result of chance finds. In 1888 was located southeast of the city, in Prado Otoño, a masonry tomb inside which was a glass cinerary urn. In 1923 several tombs were found, made with tegulae, in the northern corner, next to Puerta de Hierro. In 1935, in the Royal Moldería, several burial and cremation burials were found. Another report indicates the existence of a late Roman burial next to the disappeared convent of San Dictino.^[60] Another discovery was made in the eighties, in the Colegio Santa María Madre de la Iglesia, where a tombstone was found associated with a cremation necropolis.^[61]

In 2002, an archaeological intervention was carried out in Via Nova street, during the gas pipeline works, which allowed the documentation of a funerary enclosure. Three tombs were found, made of brick, which housed two men and a woman and contained the remains of grave goods. Another burial was composed of boulders, which sealed the burial of a fetus. Two cremations were also documented, one infant in a ceramic vessel and the other evidenced by an ash stain associated with materials.^[46][62]

Area of influence

Within the sphere of influence of the city, the archaeological interventions in the castro de la Magdalena -or de la Mesa-, located in the district of Castrillo de los Polvazares, stand out. The first phase was carried out in 2006 as part of the Vías Augustas II project, financed by the European Social Fund for Regional Development.^[63] The site documentation, topographic survey and archaeological excavation were carried out. The land was acquired by Caja España and, through a collaboration agreement with the Astorga City Council, the use of the land was granted for 30 years, until 2035.^[64]

In 2008, the Instituto Leonés de Cultura agreed to continue the actions and to process an agreement between the City Council and the Diputación Provincial de León. The sectors excavated during the first campaign were expanded and a geomagnetic survey of the surroundings of the castro was carried out.^[65] The third campaign was carried out in 2010 and was financed by the Junta de Castilla y León and the City Council.^[64]

Thanks to the different campaigns, evidence was found of a prehistoric settlement whose occupation is chronologically located between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. The settlement would have been composed of huts, of which only the imprint of the place where the posts would have been. Two storage structures excavated in the ground were also found. It was later occupied in Roman times, when it was organized around road axes.^[64] In the upper part, several phases of occupation were defined. The first, before the change of era, with combustion levels, castreño material and Italic terra sigillata; the second, in the middle of the first century, with the construction of a wall, streets and several buildings; finally, the third phase, in the second or third centuries, with the destruction of the wall.^[64]

Roman and Greek gods

The city of Astorga began its life with the Roman camp, so in the religious theme the Roman gods or the adopted Greek gods were welcomed. We have special news of those who had their cult in the city:

• Mars -from the beginning of the 3rd century-, since he was the god of war who helped the camp. In Astorga he was known as Gradivo -the god who also makes the harvest grow- and also as Sagato -in allusion to the sagum or campaign cloak worn by the soldiers-.^[69]
• Mercury, god of commerce and roads. He appears in Astorga only once on a secondary road that goes from this city to the gold mines of Las Médulas.^[70]
• Cult to the emperor and cult to the empress. It is natural that this cult existed since it was the capital of the Juridical Convent, where a large number of officials lived. Particularly noteworthy are the dedications to Julia Domna, who was considered and respected as mother of the emperor, mother of the senate, of the camp and of the homeland. This cult was consummated through the goddesses Minerva and Juno.^[71]
• Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, appears in Astorga with the novel title of Invicta.^[72]
• Apollo, god protector of the emperor, appears in Astorga assimilated as Granno, Celtic god that means garnet or shining like the garnet or shining like the sun. This Celtic god had a sanctuary in Trier.^[73]

The god Aesculapius and his son Telesphoros, related to medicine and healing, were also found in Astorga.