Where do archaeological excavations begin? Usually with a description and photograph of the object. Perhaps the most unusual description was given to the ruins of a Roman colony near Seville: the poet Rodrigo Caro wrote the poem "To the Ruins of Italica" in the 17th century. After that, the ancient settlement began to be explored, and today it is already well known how and when Italica was built — a settlement for Roman soldiers, which later turned into a rather large colony. That is one of the sights of Seville, after visiting which children may become interested in archaeology.
Ancient Roman ruins are not uncommon in Spain: at one time, part of the country was occupied by the Roman Empire. In the third century BC, a settlement for wounded Roman soldiers was built near the modern town of Santiponce on the orders of General Scipio the African.
Over time, the settlement grew to 8000 inhabitants, was named Colonia Aelia Augusta Italica and acquired buildings characteristic of large settlements. The theatre, the ruins of which can be seen on tour, had a seating capacity of 25,000. In the centre of its arena was a pit for naumachia, a gladiatorial battle on the water that simulated a sea battle.
The buildings have hardly survived, but archaeologists found floor mosaics of temples (some can now be seen in the palace of the Countess de Lebriha in Seville). In some places, the foundations of houses that, according to archaeologists, belonged to the local nobility have been preserved. Mosaic drawings or other surviving decorative elements are now used to designate excavated buildings:
- The house of Neptune.
- The house of the peristyle.
- The house of birds.
- The house of the exedra.
And the streets are visible — wide, intersecting at right angles.
Roman Italica is also famous for being the birthplace of two of the "Five Good Emperors". Trajan and Hadrian, natives of the settlement, as emperors, expanded the empire's borders and introduced necessary political and social reforms.
It is thought that the Romans left Italica in the 3rd century A.D. The Visigoths settled on the site of the Roman colony. They built a fortification to keep the Byzantines in fear. The city was finally abandoned when Muslim rule was established in Andalusia.
Today, the ruins of Italica don't look like an unkempt excavation. Instead, it resembles a regular park, where the old buildings' geometry echoes the greenery's. Such cultivation seems to bring life back to a long-abandoned city. However, the greenery doesn't offer much protection from the sun, so make sure you wear sunscreen and headgear.
The Colonia Italica near Seville is not Spain's only open-air museum of antiquities. Roman ruins can also be found near Tarragona, and the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona has some archaeological material from this area.
