Igaedis

Abstract

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.