Hispania Tarraconensis
Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of Spain along with the central plateau and the north coast, and part of northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalucia, was the province of Hispania Baetica. On the Atlantic west lay the province of
Lusitania.
Encyclopedia
Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three
Roman provinces in
Hispania. It encompassed much of the Mediterranean coast of
Spain along with the central plateau and the north coast, and part of northern
Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called
Andalucia, was the province of
Hispania Baetica. On the Atlantic west lay the province of
Lusitania.
History
The Imperial Roman province called
Tarraconensis, supplanted Hispania Citerior, which had been ruled by a consul under the late Republic, in Augustus's reorganization of 27 BC. Its capital was at Tarraco .
The
Cantabrian Wars brought all of Spain under Roman domination, within the Tarraconensis. The Cantabri in the northwest corner of Iberia were the last people to be pacified.
Tarraconensis was an Imperial province and separate from the two other Iberian provinces —
Lusitania and the Senatorial province
Baetica, corresponding to the southern part of Spain, or
Andalusia.
Servius Sulpicius Galba, who served as Emperor briefly in 68 – 69, governed the province since 61.
Pliny the Elder served as procurator in Tarraconensis .
The Imperial province of Hispania Tarraconensis lasted until the invasions of the
5th century, beginning in 409, which encouraged the
Basques and Cantabri to revolt, and ended with the establishment of a
Visigothic kingdom.
People
When the Romans arrived in the second century BC, the indigenous Iberian population had been intermixed with Celts for centuries, forming the
Celtiberian culture typical of pre-Romanized Hispania. Phoenician/
Carthaginians colonized the Mediterranean coast in the 8th to 6th Centuries BC. Greeks also had established colonies along the coast. Then Romans from the three legions stationed there added to the cultural mix of the Tarraconensis. Jewish artifacts exist from the 3rd century. Germanic tribes and North African "
Moors" arrived later.
Religion
The most popular deity in Roman Spain was
Isis, followed by
Magna Mater, the great mother. The Carthaginian-Phoenician deities Melqart and
Tanit-Caelestis were also popular. The Roman pantheon quickly absorbed native deities through identification .
Ba‘al Hammon was the chief god at
Carthage and was also important in Hispania. The Egyptian gods
Bes and Osiris had a following as well.
Exports
Exports from Tarraconensis included
timber,
cinnabar,
gold,
iron,
tin,
lead,
pottery,
marble,
wine and
olive oil.
External links
