The Roman Ruins of Itálica

The history here is so diverse, that said, we had no idea we'd have the opportunity to spend an entire day in Roman times. We did so only a few miles away from Sevilla in Itálica.

The ruins of ancient Itálica, the first Roman city founded on the Iberian Peninsula (and the very first established outside Italy), are extensive and, in parts, quite spectacular. Broad paved streets lead to the remains of houses set around beautiful mosaic-laid patios and, best of all, a stunning 25,000-seat amphitheater, one of the largest ever built. The city, founded in 206 BCE and later the birthplace of emperors Trajan and Hadrian, enjoyed a golden age in the 2nd century CE, when many of its finest buildings were constructed.

Itálica (named after the Itálica Peninsula from afar) was founded during the Second Punic War, which fought Rome against Carthage. The Romans, who were victorious, built a hamlet to serve as a resting site for soldiers injured during the Battle of Ilipa. This was the beginning of Itálica, which flourished until the 4th century, when the Roman Empire began to fall.

We spent a lot of time exploring the massive amphitheater, envisioning spectators watching gladiators and exotic wild beasts combat. We walked into the passages where the warriors once walked and stood in the lions’ lair.

This image reproduces a wall painting discovered in this area of the gallery during excavations in 1862. It is goddess Hecate who emerges into a single divinity with the bodies of the goddesses Luna and Diana. The size of the painting, and its location, lead researchers to believe that it could be part of a chapel of worship dating between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

Steve is standing in front of the sanctuary of Nemesis, the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris; arrogance before the gods. We learned so much.

Since it was a Friday, we had the opportunity to see students, of various ages, from archeologists to school aged gladiators.

"This room conserves the remainders of a collective latrine. Here we can find a continuous bench built in stone placed against the wall, with holes for its use as a toilet, it is placed above a running water drain used to evacuate the residues. Next to it were situated buckets with toilet brushes, made with natural sponges and wooden handles, used for the subsequent cleaning of the users. The room is decorated with a mosaic pavement on which we can see comic scenes of pygmies fighting against cranes, something usual for this kind of facilities. It was surrounded by a canal in which flowed running water to clean the room and the toilet brushes."

It's incredible that the bakery was almost as it was.

There are 33 different species identified in the House of Birds.

The Casa del Planetario (House of the Planetarium), with a mosaic depicting the gods after whom the seven days of the week were named, was so well preserved.

The entire time we were here we couldn't believe what a historic treasure this was, just outside of the huge city. It was also incredibly economical. With roundtrip bus rides for six, adult coffees upon arrival, entrance tickets to the archeological site, and ice cream bars for all after being good all day, the 27€ cost seemed unbelievable.