Igaedis

During the Roman period, Idanha-a-Velha was the capital of a vast administrative territory (the ciuitas Igaeditanorum), and also included a portion of land that today belongs to Spain. It is as yet unclear whether it was occupied in the protohistory period or whether it corresponded to a Roman city built from scratch in the late first century BC. The inscription dated 16 B.C., which records the gift of a sundial to the Igaeditani by a settler of Emerita, shows that Igaedis was the early civitas capital of the province of Lusitania. From this moment, the capital of the Igaeditani appears to have occupied a prominent place in the context of the Roman occupation of the northeastern part of Lusitania, even if neither Pliny nor Ptolemy mentions it. It was located on the main road connecting Emerita and Bracara Augusta (the civitas Igaeditanorum are among the municipia mentioned in the inscriptions on the Alcantara Bridge, CIL II 760). This prominent position is clearly attested by an outstanding epigraphic collection, almost 300 inscriptions, as well as by remains of Roman buildings. Among these, the walls and the forum are particularly relevant. The walls still stand, surrounding the whole area occupied by the Roman city at its latest stage. In the forum, the podium of its main temple, probably dedicated to Jupiter, is the most outstanding element. Recent excavations have ascertained that the forum dates from the Augustan period. Its construction is likely to have started around 4–6 CE, thus coinciding with the process of delimitation of the vast territory of the civitas Igaeditanorum (revealed by two termini augustales) – this being land with a significant number of gold mines. There is only indirect knowledge regarding other public buildings, namely two small temples commissioned by C. Cantius Modestinus which are known from inscriptions to Venus and Mars. Excavations have revealed the remains of a singular building, with rammed earth and adobe walls, dating from the Early Empire. This building was demolished a few years after construction, to be replaced by the forum of the new civitas capital. Excavations are currently centered on the city wall, and the monumental south gate was discovered.

The centrality of this location was long-lasting. Occupied by the Suebi in the first half of the 5th century, the city, since then called Egitania, was chosen as the seat of the bishopric. In 585 it was integrated in the Visigoth kingdom (several Visigoth kings minted gold as currency) and its bishops regularly participated in the Toledo councils throughout the 7th century. Some elements worthy of note from this Suebian-Visigothic period. The results of the excavations carried out in the early Christian baptisteries of Idanha-a-Velha, were recently presented. Chronostratigraphic data (stratigraphic sequence, typological analysis) are compared with radiocarbon and luminescence dates in order to establish a hypothesis concerning the construction date of both north and south baptisteries. The results have shown that the baptisteries are dated earlier than what had been proposed based on their constructive typology. The dates proposed in this article will generate a change in the paradigm established for this type of constructions in the Iberian Peninsula. The remnants of the first Christian temples within the city walls, which are believed to be situated under the current Sta. Maria Church, built on what was left of another church from the late 9th century or early 10th century. It features a mix of Christian and Islamic influences, as it was overtaken by Muslims in the 8th century and was then renamed Laydaniya. It was reconquered by Christian kings (Afonso III of Asturias) in the 10th century and was also an important Templar centre, having been donated by D. Afonso Henriques (first king of Portugal) to the Order of the Knights Templar. In the late 12th century it was no longer the seat of bishopric and lost its importance.

A research project is currently underway in this historic village: The historical village of Idanha-a-Velha: city, territory and population in ancient times (first century BC. - twelfth century AC) ( PTDC/HAR-ARQ/6273/2020) – https://igaedis.uc.pt/. The proposed research seeks to build upon and expand the scale of intervention of a project from a partnership between the University of Coimbra, the Nova University of Lisbon, the municipality of Idanha-a-Nova and the Regional Directorate for Culture–Central Region. It focuses on the study of the old city, its territory and populations, and is based on an innovative, interdisciplinary and diachronic methodological framework: interdisciplinary because it articulates different researchers, pursuing an integrated vision of the past; diachronic because it concerns a long period of time, from the Roman period (first century BC) to the Middle Ages (12th century). Its structure follows 3 research axes: i) the old city: composition of urban morphologies; ii) the territory: from the ancient political geography to the rural settlement and the exploitation of resourc es; iii) the population: from habits to a genetic perspective on its origin and mobility.