Municipium Emporiae
In: Hispania Antigua. Arqueológica: 14, 2022
DOI: 10.48255/9788891327734.08
The origin of the Roman city of Emporiae dates back to the first quarter of the 1st century BC. The Roman presence in the extreme northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, however, had begun long before. The small Greek city of Emporion, an ancient Phocaean foundation from the 6th century BC, had until then fulfilled the functions of an urban nucleus and an active port enclave. Its position as an ally of Rome and the port conditions of its coast favoured the military actions that took place in this area in the context of the Second Punic War, first, and in the repression by M. Porcius Cato of the revolt of the indigenous populations of the territory, a few years later.
After a long period of conquest and administrative and fiscal control of the Hispanic provinces, Rome undertook a policy of creating new urban foundations. However, in this case, the establishment of the new city was preceded by a fortified military installation that occupied a large part of the Emporitan hill to the west of the Greek nucleus during the 2nd century BC, and was probably mainly used for the gathering of auxiliary troops. This historical context and the reactivation of maritime trade made it possible to transform of the old nucleus of the «Neápolis» of Emporion, which completely renewed its urban plan and expanded its port infrastructure on the coast.
The creation of a new city with an orthogonal plan, following Roman models, took place at the beginning of the 1st century BC over the remains of the previous military installation and had the effect of bringing together the settlers of Italian and Iberian origin in the same enclosure. A perimeter wall defined the limits of the pomerium, enclosing a large area with a rectangular plan, of around 22.5 hectares, with a regular urban layout made up of 70 insulae measuring 70 by 35 m. (2 x 1 actus). A peculiar feature of this enclosure is its division into two large areas, separated by an interior wall, probably related to the pre-existing occupation: one to the north, corresponding to a third of the total area and with a more irregular topography, while the two thirds located to the south occupied the flattest part of the hill. The interpretation of this internal division has raised the possibility of a differentiation in the legal status of its inhabitants. Four of the insulae located in the centre of the southern sector were reserved for the forum, which, however, could not complete its monumentalization until the time of Augustus. Until then, this space was used as a large storage area for grain, which was kept in large silos dug into the subsoil.
In 45 BC, the Roman city of Empúries received a deductio of veteran legionnaires from Caesars army, according to the account of Titus Livius (34.9.4). The creation of the municipium Emporiae must be placed, however, at the beginning of the Augustan period, sponsored by magistrates from the sphere of power in Rome who were co-opted as patrons by the city, among whom the figure of Gneaeus Domitius Calvinus particularly stands out.
Topographically, this plural municipium included both the Greek and Roman urban nuclei through the construction of a diagonal wall that united the two enclosures and represented the legal unification of its inhabitants. The ancient Greek city, in fact, began to be relegated to a port quarter, while the main urban functions were concentrated in the Roman town.
The main surface area of this new city has yet to be excavated. Some large domus have been discovered that have their origin in late republican atrium houses that reproduce Italic models in their architecture and decorative schemes. Their subsequent evolution involved the incorporation of garden areas framed by peristyles and of luxurious rooms for representation and banquets decorated with wall paintings and mosaics. With surfaces areas exceeding 3000 m2, these houses can be considered as palaces that were designed for the ostentation of local elites enriched by trade, who also occupied the municipal offices.
Of the public buildings, in addition to those that ended making up the space of the forum, we should make a mention of the baths located in the Insula 30, created in the time of Augustus and which also underwent successive reforms and extensions. However, the germ of the impending crisis began to manifest itself clearly in the course of the 1st century AD. Despite this, the city still went ahead with the construction of two new public buildings outside the walls, an amphitheater and a palestra, next to the south gate of the enclosure. These are constructions with modest architectural characteristics that are especially evident in the amphitheaters wooden stands.
The process of urban crisis led to the abandonment of large sectors of urban area, beginning with the port quarter of the «Neápolis», but also affecting the spaces of the Roman city, and intensifying during the 2nd century AD. Some of its buildings of the forum area collapsed and were not rebuilt, and the great domus in the eastern part of the urban layout were finally abandoned. The city survived until the end of the 3rd century AD, with some of the spaces of the forum being assigned new uses, and keeping the large cisterns for water reserves in operation, as well as some of the halls of the thermal complex.
After the final abandonment of the ancient Greek and Roman urban nuclei, the occupation of the coastal promontory of Sant Martí dEmpúries survived in later centuries, and new habitation areas came into being, such as the one created during Late Antiquity in the Santa Margarida sector, around the buildings linked to the Emporitan bishopric, which was active until the end of the 7th century AD. Its location on the limits of the great estuary that extended to the west of the hill of Empúries is also explained by the disabling of the ancient port spaces that previously existed on the coast. The continuity of these sectors through ongoing occupation allows us to archaeologically document the evolution of Empúries during medieval times.