{"id":1348,"date":"2017-03-08T10:09:40","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T17:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/?p=1348"},"modified":"2022-11-25T11:27:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T18:27:58","slug":"complutum-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roamintheempire.com\/index.php\/2017\/03\/08\/complutum-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Complutum, Hispania Tarraconensis (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Manzana<\/a>
Manzana VII of Complutum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most Recent Visit:<\/strong> June 2016<\/p>\n

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Quick Info:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Address:
\nCasa de Hippolytus
\nAv. Madrid, s\/n
\n32315 Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Madrid<\/p>\n

Hours:
\nTuesday-Friday 10:00-14:00
\nSaturday-Sunday 10:00-14:00, 16:00-19:00
\nMonday Closed<\/p>\n

Admission: Free<\/p>\n

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Complutum, located in the modern city of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, doesn\u2019t seem to have featured much in the historical record other than a reference by Pliny the Elder to the Complutenses people, who had Roman citizenship rights and inhabited the vicinity of the Iberus River (Ebro) in Hispania Citerior. The area was originally the site of a settlement of the Carpenti, a Celtiberian people who populated the region starting in the 3rd<\/sup> and 2nd<\/sup> centuries BCE. The Carpenti settlement was probably originally situated on the nearby San Juan del Viso Hill. There doesn\u2019t seem to have been any major actions against the city by the Romans in their conquest of Hispania, but rather the people became gradually Romanized as the Roman influence solidified in the region.<\/p>\n

During the reign of Augustus, the settlement, now a firmly Roman possession, was moved from San Juan del Viso Hill and Complutum was founded in the Henares River valley as an orthogonally planned Roman settlement. A second major stage of building and planning took place sometime in the 60\u2019s CE. Around 74 CE, the city was granted Latin rights and became a municipium<\/em>, probably with the name of municipium flavius complutensis. Complutum remained continuously inhabited through the end of the Roman era and until the Moorish invasions of the 8th<\/sup> century CE.<\/p>\n

\"Frigidarium<\/a>
Frigidarium patio of the Casa de Hippolytus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Getting There<\/strong>: Alcal\u00e1 de Henares is easily reachable from Madrid via the Madrid Cercan\u00edas<\/a> commuter rail system. From Atocha station, one can take either the green C-2 line, in the direction of Guadalajara, or the red C-7 line, which terminates at the Alcal\u00e1 de Henares station. The C-2 line runs more often and starts earlier. Between the two, you won\u2019t wait more than 15 minutes for a train, and possibly as little as 5 minutes between trains during peak hours. The journey takes about 35 minutes, and the return trains to Madrid are just as frequent. The price for a ticket is 2.60 Euro each way. I did not actually take the rail to the Alcal\u00e1 de Henares station, though, which is in the center of the town. Instead I got off at the La Garena station, the stop before Alcal\u00e1 de Henares. The reason for this was, the archaeological park sites are only open between 10:00 and 14:00 from Tuesday to Sunday (though hours are extended with a 16:00-19:00 block on weekends), and are closer to the La Garena station than the Alcal\u00e1 de Henares station. The archaeological museum is closer to the Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, and is open from 11:00 to 19:00. Combined with the later opening time of the museum, and the shorter duration of hours for the two archaeological sites, I thought it made more sense to visit the sites first. Not to mention that in the summer, an afternoon would be much better spent indoors than outdoors.<\/p>\n

 
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