Torre dels Escipions is a funerary tower built by the Romans on the outskirts of Tarraco

Tarraco

Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona . During the Roman Empire was one of the major cities of the Iberian Peninsula and capital of the Roman province called Hispania Citerior or Hispania Tarraconensis. The full name of the city at the time of the Roman Republic was Colonia...

, ancient Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 city that corresponds to the present city of Tarragona

Tarragona

Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...

 (Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

). The Torre dels Escipions is one of the elements of the Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, declared a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

 by UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

, being identified the tower with the code 875-010.

History

It was built in the middle of the 1st century AD, to six kilometers from the city of Tarraco, capital of the Hispania Citerior

Hispania Citerior

During the Roman Republic, Hispania Citerior was a region of Hispania roughly occupying the northeastern coast and the Ebro Valley of what is now Spain. Hispania Ulterior was located west of Hispania Citerior—that is, farther away from Rome.-External links:*...

, in the course of the Via Augusta

Via Augusta

Via Augusta was a Roman road crossing all the Hispania Province, from Cádiz in the southern tip of current Spain, to the Coll de Panissars, where it crossed the Pyrenees close to the Mediterranean Sea, and joined the Via Domitia...

, the Roman road that crossed the entire peninsula from the Pyrenees to Gades (Cadiz

Cádiz

Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....

) and is one of the funerary monuments of the Roman era that still remain most important in the Iberian Peninsula.

Architectural features

Is a Turriform monument with three floors superimposed on a declining basis. It is built with rectangular blocks. In the intermediate body are two reliefs of the god of Phrygian

Phrygian

Phrygian can refer to:*A person from Phrygia*Phrygian cap once characteristic of the region* Phrygian language*Phrygian mode in music* Phrygian Valley, a historic location in northwestern Turkey...

 Attis

Attis

Attis was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration...

 deity of death and resurrection, son of Pessinunte and also on the same level there is a burial chamber that housed the furnishings of the deceased; at the base measures 4.40 x 4.70 m..

Trivia

Its name comes from a misidentification of the two reliefs of the god Attis

Attis

Attis was the consort of Cybele in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration...

, who for years were identified as those of Scipio

Scipio (cognomen)

Scipio is a Roman cognomen representing the Cornelii Scipiones, a branch of the Cornelii family. Any individual male of the branch must be named Cornelius Scipio and a female Cornelia. The nomen, Cornelius, signifies that the person belongs to the Cornelia gens, a legally defined clan composed of...

brothers.