Claudia Baelo
Baelo Claudia was a Roman city located in the Bolonia cove, in the current town of Bolonia, about 22 km northwest of the city of Tarifa, in the province of Cádiz (Spain).. It is located within the current natural park of the Strait. The study of its architectural remains shows its Roman origin at the end of the II century BC. C., and since that time great wealth has been observed that makes it an important economic center within the Mediterranean area. Asset of Cultural Interest, its publication as a Monument appeared in La Gaceta de Madrid, in 1925.
History
...Baelo is a port where it usually embarks to Tingis, in Mauritania. It's also an emporium that has salazone factories...Strabon (year) 18 d.C.)
The city was born at the end of the II century BC. C., being the heir of an older Bastulo-Punic settlement (Bailo, Baelokun), and its existence is closely related to trade with North Africa (it was the main seaport that linked with the city of Tangier in Morocco). It is possible that Baelo Claudia had some functions as an administrative center, but fishing, the salting industry and garum (a sauce derived from it) were the main sources of wealth. The Roman emperor Claudius gave him granted the rank of municipium (Roman municipality).
The life of these populations reached its full splendor between the centuries I BC. C. and II, its decline beginning in the second half of the century II, when a large tidal wave devastated a large part of the city. Adding to its disastrous effects were the crisis of the 3rd century and the incursions of hordes of pirates, mainly Mauritanians and Germans. Although it experienced a slight resurgence in the III century, the city was definitively abandoned in the VII.
This was a port city dedicated mainly to fishing and preserving tuna by salting it, as well as to the production of garum. These activities took place during the summer months and attracted numerous seasonal workers to the city, a fact which partly determines the characteristics of some of its buildings.
Since the end of the century I its prosperity has gradually declined, coinciding with the crisis in the production of its factories, the invasions of North Africa (II century), the plundering of the Germanic hordes (III) and above all, a seismic movement that, with a tsunami, ruins the buildings erected during the imperial era; a factor that accelerates the process of abandonment that it had already been suffering the city, and despite which its commercial relations managed to maintain until the century V At this time its name must have already been Belona, documented as such in the Middle Ages, and later as Balonia and finally Bologna.
Archaeological remains
The figure of Jorge Bonsor is key in the recovery of the site.
In its urban layout the two main classic roads of the Roman city can be distinguished: the decumanus maximus, which ran from East to West and at whose ends the entrance gates to the city were located., and the cardo maximus, which crosses it at right angles and therefore in a north-south direction.
At the meeting of these two main streets was the forum or main square, whose current pavement is the original Tarifa slabs preserved since the century I, and around which the main public buildings were distributed. This was an open plaza with porticoes on three sides, from one of which you could access three of them: the temple of the emperor, the curia, and another that served as a meeting room. The main building, located in the background, is the basilica, intended for various purposes and especially as the headquarters of the courts of justice; and on the left side there were small rectangular constructions made with stones: the stores or tabernae.
The most representative elements that constituted the essence of a Roman city are preserved in the site. This had:
- A fence or wall, reinforced with more than forty vigía towers, of which the main gates of the city are preserved, which was directed to Gades, to the west, and that which was directed to Carteia (near San Roque). Towards the East, he existed a third door north of the city, called the Door of Asido.
- Administrative buildings such as the curia (local site) or the municipal archive.
- A public square (foro).
- A palace of justice (judgmental bassilica), located in the forum in front of the temples. It has rectangular plant and measures 19.5 by 35.5 meters. It was presided over by a statue of Emperor Trajan over three meters high.
- Four temples: three dedicated to each of the components of the Tríada capitolina (Jupiter, Juno and Minerva) and one dedicated to the goddess Isis, related to the isic cult on the peninsula. A similar provision has only been found in the city of Sbeitla in Tunisia.
- The biggest building in Baelo Claudia is the theatre, with capacity of up to 2000 people, where all the actors were men, even in women's roles, that to interpret masks were placed, as the character they represented.
- Remains of stores can also be seen (tabernae), the market (macellum), enclosed enclosure intended for the sale of meat and grocery in general and formed by fourteen shops and an inner courtyard; and the thermals (Termae).
The city's water supply was carried out through four aqueducts. You can also see the industrial area with remains of the facilities for the manufacture of garum, streets, aqueducts, remains of the system sewage, etc. In no other Roman site on the Iberian Peninsula is it possible to extract such a complete vision of Roman urbanism after visiting it as in Baelo Claudia. This is its main interest, also highlighted by the spectacular landscape that surrounds the city.
The site today
The archaeological complex has been accompanied since 2007 by a museum, incorporated into the Institutional Headquarters and Visitor Center of the Baelo Claudia Archaeological Complex, the work of architect Guillermo Vázquez Consuegra, and a landscape action project has been carried out in the cove of Bolonia (drafted and executed by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage between 2010 and 2013). Likewise, the University of Cádiz carries out studies of the site, giving rise to new discoveries, such as the only copy of Polykleitos' Doryphorus in Hispania, or a tomb of a noblewoman (one of the few in Hispania dedicated to a woman). Part of the episode Queen Victoria Syndrome (2022) was filmed here, from the fifth season of the Netflix series The Crown.
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