ITALICA: TRAVELLING TO CLASSICAL SIGHTS

By an anonymous traveller who enjoys Classics :)

Considering watching processions for hours in Seville is a rather boring activity, I naturally decided to visit the Roman ruins of Italica. Be warned, the following article you are about to read is a classics fan’s attempt to persuade you to visit Italica by providing you with a brief history and overview of my trip. Therefore, if you still haven’t planned your summer holiday or find yourself wandering the streets of Spain with nothing to do, then this is the article just for you.

Italica is now the ruins of what was once a sizeable settlement of the Roman Empire near the nowmodern-day city of Seville, Spain

It is regarded as a significant area in Roman cultural history as it was the supposed birthplace of two emperors and had high military and political status This city was also the first permanent Roman settlement founded on the Iberian Peninsula From this prominent position, it played a major role in the Romanization of the Guadalquivir Valley Italica is also an excellent representation of an architecture that demonstrates the distinguishing characteristics of architecture during Hadrian's reign

A Brief History of Italica

The origins of Italica date back to the Second Punic War Italica was founded by wounded Roman soldiers who took refuge there after returning from the battle of Ilipa against the Carthaginians in 206 BC. This settlement gradually developed into a city with an important status recognised in Rome Three centuries after its founding, Italica became the home of two Roman emperors, Trajan and Hadrian These two emperors also happen to have succeeded each other in 98 AD and were also influential figures in the foundation of western culture Although there had been a previous settlement in the same area, the Roman culture was gradually integrated and persevered as the dominant culture

Italica flourished during the reign of the emperors Trajan, born in Italica, and Hadrian, whose family was from Italica It was also in the 2nd century, during Hadrian’s reign, that Italy acquired the status of a colony As a result of this, the city's name was changed to Colonia Aelia Augusta Italicensium Along with many other areas of the Empire, Italy was impacted by the crises in the third century, a period in which the Roman Empire nearly fell A mere century after this occurrence, the urban growth during Hadrian's reign was virtually abandoned

Italica essentially remained uninhabited throughout the Middle Ages Nevertheless, due to its extensive historical presence, it became a popular muse for many poets and artists Despite this, the site was severely looted until 1911, when a statute was put in place to control archaeological excavations, and 1912, when it became recognised as a national monument

My Visit

After a quick 15-minute drive from the city of Seville, we arrived at the site exited for the visit – me more excited than others It was there we met our very enthusiastic tour guide who had been studying Italica’s history for most of his life!

Following a quick introduction to the history of Italica, he first led us to the amphitheatre which was situated approximately 300 meters outside of the city itself

The work done since the 19th century has made it possible to identify a significant portion of the arrangement of this building, that was one of the largest in the Empire after the Italian amphitheatres of Rome (the Colosseum), Capua, and Pozzuoli

The first level of the sitting decks and a portion of the second remain intact, with the third row being somewhat more deteriorated In addition to this, the fossa bestiaria's (where animals, or beasts, were kept before entering the arena) immense size is still apparent in the arena The cage markings from the animals used in the performances may still be seen on the brick floor of the underground area that was covered

Later, it was mentioned by our tour guide, that an episode from season seven of the game of thrones was filmed there.

Later I learned this was all due to the structure of the amphitheatre and simply because everything inside was covered in shade

As we exited the amphitheatre, after a lengthy period off simply taking pictures, the tour guide took this moment to point out that Italica still had a working drainage and water supply system Still to this day do not understand what fascinated me so much about a what basically was a sewage system, but I’ll say it was probably one of my favourite things I had discovered about italica – Mr Pike can vouch for my absurd fascination as it has been a topic I have repeatedly brought up in class (Mr Pike if you are reading this I do apologise)

The entire city was built specifically using the natural topography of the land (the configuration of an area's natural and man-made physical elements) to install this sophisticated system. I feel that it is worth mentioning that this level of sophistication is typically seen in much larger cities, highlighting Italica’s importance in the Roman empire. A lot of water was channelled via a drainage system underneath the roads At some crossroads there were manholes, which could be accessed to carry out maintenance tasks. One of the many other elements to these systems was a big water tank that was built on a raised area inside the town, close to the northwest of the city, to allow water to reach the nearby buildings and the public fountains situated at the intersection of certain streets But I'll stop talking about this system here otherwise I would not be able to restrain myself from continuing for another three paragraphs.

As our final destination on our tour was the main avenue, or Cardus Maximus, which has roughly five substantial homes belonging to wealthy families that have been excavated; some of these homes feature well-preserved, vibrant mosaic flooring that feature stunning designs of birds, Neptune, and planets My favourite amongst the ones we visited was the house of birds, which is the holder of the floor with the exquisite mosaics depicting birds This large house occupies an area around 1,700 square metres This area is divided in two main spaces: a public area where the clients and people close to the family had access, and another private area restricted to family members The public area was organized around a central courtyard called peristyle, because of the columned gallery which shapes it. The mosaic of the birds is in one of the rooms disposed around the peristyle.

In Conclusion

It was a lovely, enjoyable, and educational trip that I would highly suggest to anyone who is eager to learn (or merely a fan of Game of Thrones) The one thing I regret about the trip is that my family and I did not have time to see the full city, but overall, it was fantastic and the amphitheatre more than made up for it. This concludes, my hopefully convincing, attempt to encourage you readers to visit Italica

Anonymous Traveller <3

Sources: https://www andalucia com/cities/seville/italica htm , https://whc unesco org/en/tentativelists/6376/, information plaques on site and my tour guide