{"id":12015,"date":"2024-10-30T12:46:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T19:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/?p=12015"},"modified":"2025-03-22T19:16:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T02:16:02","slug":"colonia-clunia-sulpicia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/30\/colonia-clunia-sulpicia\/","title":{"rendered":"Colonia Clunia Sulpicia, Hispania Tarraconensis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Forum
Forum of Colonia Clunia Sulpicia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most Recent Visit:<\/strong> July 2022<\/p>\n

The exact date of foundation for Colonia Clunia Sulpicia (modern Pe\u00f1alba de Castro) is unclear, but presumably it was sometime between the subjugation of the local Arevaci around 93 BCE and the first appearance of the settlement in the historical record in 75 BCE. The Roman settlement was not built on the spot of an indigenous settlement, but rather on a plateau opposite an Arevaci settlement that seems to have been called Kluniako or Kolounioku, from which the name of the Roman settlement of Clunia would be derived. In the latter stages of his uprising in Hispania and following a costly stalemate at the Battle of Saguntum, the rebellious proconsul Quintus Sertorius retreated to and held up in Clunia in 75 BCE. The city was subsequently besieged by both Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius.  While tying up the two armies there with the siege and inflicting casualties with frequent sallies out of the city, Sertorius orchestrated the gathering of troops elsewhere and broke out of the siege to join them when the support had been mustered. Sertorius\u2019 general and assassin, Marcus Perperna Veiento, apparently took control of Clunia again after murdering Sertorius. After his defeat and execution by Pompey, Clunia was sacked.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The so-called Los Arcos II bathing complex.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clunia was again captured in 56 BCE during a rebellion of the Vaccaei. Proconsul of Hispania Citerior, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos Junior attacked the city and defeated the Vaccaei. Clunia was incorporated into the province of Hispania Tarraconensis by Augustus around 27 BCE, and sometime during the reign of Tiberius or Claudius became the seat of one of the seven conventus iuridici<\/em> the province was apportioned into; Conventus Cluniensis. Also during the reign of Tiberius, the city was given municipium<\/em>. In the waning days of Nero\u2019s rule, it was at Clunia where Galba directed his rebellion against the emperor and where he was proclaimed emperor on June 8, 68 CE. It seems that sometime during Galba\u2019s short reign, Clunia received a colonia<\/em> and was renamed Colonia Clunia Sulpicia in his honor.<\/p>\n

Following this episode, Clunia seems to have been relatively prosperous through the 1st<\/sup> century CE and into the early 2nd<\/sup> century CE. It\u2019s growth, however, seems to have been limited and by the early 3rd<\/sup> century CE was already on a trajectory of decline. This was likely compounded by incursions by the Vandals and Visigoths through the 4th<\/sup> and 5th<\/sup> centuries CE. Eventually Clunia was incorporated into the Visigothic Kingdom in the early 5th<\/sup> century CE, but by the 7th<\/sup> century CE, had largely been abandoned.<\/p>\n