Segobriga in the Real World

Notes:

The following is basically culled from reading the information available at the various sites listed below.  All of the conclusions drawn may not be completely accurate in every detail, but hopefully the overall effect is not horribly divergent from reality.

History in a Nutshell:  Segobriga was originally inhabited by a tribe of Celt-Iberians. They had interaction with other Mediterranean cultures, including the Greeks and Carthaginians. Eventually they were conquered by the Romans, the waning of whose influence coincided with the rise to power of the Visigoths. The Romans had built over the original Celtic settlement, and it is basically these ruins that remain, along with some post-Roman (i.e., Visigothic) structures. Christianity was clearly a strong influence, as Segobriga was an episcopal see during the Roman-Visigothic period. At some point prior to, or perhaps coincident with, the Moorish invasion, the original site was slowly abandoned, such that the modern city of Segorbe is located nearby, but not on top of, the original. It is the church in this city, not Segobriga's, that was converted to a mosque during the Islamic era, then razed and rebuilt as a Christian church following the Reconquista.

Economy and Industry:  There is evidence of farming (agriculture and animal husbandry) and mining in the area.  Research needs to be done into the types of crops, animals, etc. produced in the region.

URLS:

• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/text?lookup=pecs+segobriga (A brief article from the Perseus Project at Tufts University, focusing on the archaeology of the site.)
• http://pages.infinit.net/penmanyo/fotos.htm (pictures of Cuenca, Spain, the region in which Segobriga is located.  Note that the links from this page need to have "www" inserted into the URL as the server's subdomain name.  There is one small picture of Segobriga's theater here.)
• http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/~lcurchin/Spain/tour.html (pictures and some informative text on Roman Iberia.  Includes pictures and commentary on Segobriga's amphitheater and apodyterium (identified as a columbarium in the Perseus Project article), as well as more general commentary and examples of structures from elsewhere in the region.)
• http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13684a.htm (article from the Catholic Encyclopedia describing the modern Spanish diocese of Segorbe, with brief comments on ancient Segobriga.)
• http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14755a.htm (article from the Catholic Encyclopedia on the archdiocese of Toledo.  Segobriga listed as a suffragan diocese prior to the Islamic conquest; no other mention of it is made.)
• http://www.civila.com/hispania/los_iberos/index3.htm (A Spanish article on Spanish archeological sites.  The listing for Segobriga is brief, with no illustrations; the English translation is faulty--a better one is desired.)
• http://www.civila.com/hispania/los_iberos/sedet.htm (another article from the site in the previous entry, this one on the Celtiberian tribe that inhabited the area (the Sedetani).  Again mention of Segobriga is brief, and the English translation is again faulty.)
• http://www.jccm.es/cultura/arqueo/parque4.htm (An article, in Spanish only, on Segobriga.  An English translation would be most welcome; the translation provided by the Babelfish engine at Alta Vista is decidedly quirky.)
• http://members.xoom.com/jjmateo/sego.html (Yet another Spanish-language site on Segobriga.  Again better translations than those provided by Babelfish would be welcome.  Pictures include a plan of the city(!), details of the theater, an aerial view and detail of the amphitheater, details of the spas, and details of the city walls and roads.  A mirror of the site is also available at  http://www.paisvirtual.com/viajes/consejos/jmateo/index.html.)
• http://www.intrstar.net/~wpaper/TheCelts.html (Article on Celts; Segobriga is mentioned only as an example of the etymology of the Celtic placename suffix -briga, "cognate with German -burg and indicat[ing] a strongly defended hill fort.")

Pictures:

A closeup map of Segobriga's location.  References are, I assume, modern; unfortunately no scale is provided.

A map of the plan of the city.  The legend is in Spanish, unfortunately.  My best guesses for a translation:

1. Hispano-Visigothic Basilica
2. Museum
3. Hispano-Visigothic Necropolis (i.e., cemetery)
4. Theater
5. Amphitheater
6. Baths
7. Hermitage
8. Walls
9. ???
10. Temple of Diana
11. Quarry
12. ???

The text at the bottom left of the map reads "Carretera a Quintanar," or Quintanar Highway; that at top reads something like "Rio Cigueta," or Cigueta River.

Aerial overview of the amphitheater.

Large view of the amphitheater.

Smaller detail view of the amphitheater.

An overview of the theater.

A detail of the theater's stage area.

A detail of the theater's seating area.

A large detail of the apodyterium attached to the public bath.

Another detail of the apodyterium.

A detail of the bath itself.