Motya, Sicilia

Most Recent Visit: June 2017. It’s not often that I’ll delve completely off the path of the Romans and do a site that doesn’t even have a period of Roman occupation. In fact, Motya was gone for over 100 years before the Romans even came to the island in force. But, I thought I’d make…

Read More

Eryx, Sicilia

Most Recent Visit: May 2017. Perched at a height of 750 meters, on a mountain overlooking the modern town of Trapani, is the town of Erice and the location of the ancient settlement of Eryx. Though the original settlement was probably founded by the Elymian people of western Sicily, mythological origins are also attributed to…

Read More

Barcino, Hispania Tarraconensis

Most Recent Visit: June 2016 The site of modern day Barcelona seems to have been occupied well before the arrival of the Romans. According to legend, a city was founded on the location by Hercules. Another legend places the name Barcino as being derived from the Carthaginian Barcid family and was founded by Hamilcar Barca….

Read More

Tarraco, Hispania Tarraconensis – Part II

Continued From Tarraco Part I (See Map Here) Located just next to the circus, at Plaça del Rei 5, is the impressive Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona (MNAT). The museum is open in the summer (June 1st to September 30th) on Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 20:30, and from 10:00 to 14:00 on Sundays…

Read More

Saguntum, Hispania Tarraconensis – Part I

Most Recent Visit: June 2016. Up the coast from Valencia about 30 kilometers is the town of Sagunto. From the middle ages until the 19th century, the town was known Morviedro, derived from the Latin muri veteres, a nod to the ample ancient remains here. In the 19th century, however, the name was changed to…

Read More

Edeta, Hispania Tarraconensis

Most Recent Visit: June 2016 The Spanish town of Llíria lies about 25 kilometers to the northwest of Valencia. This area was probably originally settled by the Edetani tribe in the 6th century BCE as part of a larger area of control. The originally settlement of the Edetani, the town of Edeta, was located on…

Read More

Lucentum, Hispania Tarraconensis

The Roman city of Lucentum, located in an outlying neighborhood of modern Alicante, seems to have begun as a settlement at least as early as the 5th century BCE. The name of that original settlement appears to have been, at some point, Akra Leuka, Greek for “white mountain”, probably in reference to the nearby Monte…

Read More

Valentia, Hispania Tarraconensis

Most Recent Visit: June 2016. Today the site of the third largest city in Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona, Valencia’s origins go back over 2000 years to 138 BCE, where, after a protracted war with Iberian forces led by the Lusitanian commander Viriathus, the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Galaico founded the colony of Valentia Edetanorum…

Read More

Augusta Emerita, Lusitania – Part VIII

  Quick Info: Museo Nacional de Arte Romano Calle de José Ramón Mélida, s/n 06800 Mérida Hours: Tue-Sat 09:30-20:00 (9:30-18:30, October through April) Sunday 10:00-15:00 Closed Monday Admission: 3 Euros Continued From Augusta Emerita Part VII As early as the 16th century CE, Roman finds from Augusta Emerita, including statuary and inscriptions, were known to…

Read More

Museo Arqueológico Nacional – Madrid, Spain.

  Most Recent Visit: June 2016 Quick Info: Address: Calle de Serrano, 13 8001 Madrid Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30-20:00 Sunday 9:30-15:00 Monday Closed Admission: 3 Euros After spending the morning and the early afternoon in Alcalá de Henares, I decided to head back to Madrid to see the Museo Arqueológico Nacional to try and take it…

Read More