The present webmap shows the urban communities, or civitates, of Roman Spain and Portugal as published in the book Urbanism in Roman Spain and Portugal. This was the result of the doctoral work by Pieter Houten within the frame of the ERC-project "An Empire of 2000 Cities" (E2kC).
The map shows the different statusses of the civitates of Hispania. The magnifying glass gives you the option to search modern place names. With the binoculars you can search for ancient place names.
When hovering over the places a pop-up will show the following:
- ID the ID of each place used within E2kC;
- Pleiades ID the ID used within the Pleiades database (https://pleiades.stoa.org/). Note not all places are found in PLeiades;
- Name The ancient name is preferred;
- Status this is a abbreviated form of the statusses found in the legend to the right.
The map shows the juridical status of the communities on the Iberian peninsula based on the available information using epigraphic and literary evidence. The main categories are:
The self-governing communities were granted a legal status: colonia, municipium or civitas. Simply put, the coloniae (plural) are cities founded by the Romans by settling (deductio) colonists (coloni). Yet, in later periods, we see that the colonial status is granted without the deduction of coloni; these are honorifi c colonies. The municipia (plural) were existing communities incorporated within the Roman legal system. To further complicate matters, the coloniae and municipia were granted rights of either Roman citizenship or a lesser form, which is Latin citizenship (ius Latii). The communities not granted the status of colonia or municipium were regarded as civitates peregrinae (communities of foreigners). However, as we can see in Pliny, these civitates could obtain diff erent rights. Most were stipendiary (tribute paying); however, some were oppida libera (free towns) and as such exempted from taxes. The development and extent of these statuses and privileges is a debate in itself
- colonia these are founded by settling (deductio) colonists (coloni) in a new or near an existing city. Yet, in later periods, we see that the colonial status is granted without the deduction of coloni; these are honorifi coloniae (plural).
- municipium civium Romanorum the municipia (plural) are existing communities incorporated within the Roman legal system by granting them rights. The highest municipal right is that of civium Romanorum, or Roman citizenship.
- municipium Latinum contains the communities with Latin citizenship. This means that only the local magistrates and their offspring gain Roman citizenship. This type of municipium is the mst common on the Iberian Peninsula thanks to the grant of Ius Latii by the Flavian emperors. In rare cases the epigraphy mentions them as Municipium Flavium, more often we find evidence for the voting tribe Quirina, which is linked to the Flavian emperors.
- municipium these are the communities for which we have clear indications that they held municipal rights but we are uncertain whether they were civium Romanorum or Latinum. Most likely they are of the Latin category.
- civitas these are self-governing communities for which we have no evidence of their status. They are considered self-goverining as they hold magistrates or refer to themselves as civitas or res publica. These include the civitates peregrinae (communities of foreigners). However, as we can see in the Naturalis Historia by Pliny (Book III and IV), these civitates could obtain different rights. Most were stipendiary (tribute paying); however, some were oppida libera (free towns) and as such exempted from taxes. The development and extent of these statuses and privileges is a debate in itself.
In addition to the certain categories we have to add the doubted categories. The uncertain Municipia civium Romanorum are the Oppida Latina as mentioned by Pliny in his Naturalis Historia, which I believe became Roman municipia in the Julio-Claudian period. The unceratin Latin municipia have the Quirina tribus attested, but do not mention municipium in the epigraphic record. As we cannot be sure that the inhabitants enlisted within the Quirina tribe belonged to the community, we must remain careful attributing the municpal status to these communities. The uncertain municipia are mentioned by Pliny with a status or they have an attested tribus. The uncertain civitates have indirect evidence for a self-governing status, either they have magistrates or refer to res publica. With these categories we can assign a status to all self-governing communities.
If you spot any mistakes or can offer ways to imporve the map, please inform me via the Issues section of this page. Thank you!