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Greek Spain – Segobriga (Sekobirikes)
Bronze As 26mm (10.28 grams) Struck circa 120-30 B.C.
Reference: Vico Segrarra-2179; Burgos 1714
Certification: NGC Ancients Ch VF 4375823-427
Male head right; palm at left; dolphin to right.
Warrior with lance on horseback right.
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Segóbriga was an important Roman city, and is today an impressive site located on a hill near the present town of Saelices. Archaeology has revealed the remains of important buildings which have been conserved and are visible today in the Archaeological Park.
The first mention we have of Segóbriga is a brief reference by the Greek geographer Strabo, that Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius fought in the Wars of Sertorius, in the Celtiberian region around Bílbilis and Segóbriga. This ancient area of the Olcade tribe was thus razed in these wars and replaced by Roman Segóbriga.
Writing in the first century BC, Sextus Julius Frontinus mentions Segóbriga twice. He describes the attack by the Lusitanian Viriatus against Segóbriga (146 BC) which was allied to Rome:
1) “Viriatus, arranging his troops in ambush, sent a few to steal cattle from the Segobrigenses; they like to go in large numbers to punish, they ran, fleeing …”
2) “Viriatus turned back and ran into unsuspecting Segobrigenses, when most were busy at their sacrifice”.
Pliny mentions the exploitation of lapis specularis, a variety of translucent gypsum much appreciated at the time for the manufacture of window glass and an important part of the Segbriga economy. This material was mined in “100,000 places around Segóbriga” and Pliny assures us that “the most translucent of this stone is obtained near the city of Segóbriga and extracted from deep wells”.
After the Roman conquest in the Celtiberian Wars of the early second century BC, Segobriga must have been a hill fort or Celtiberian town. After the wars of Sertorius, it became the centre of its part of the plateau and controlled a large territory.
In the time of Augustus around the year 12BC, it ceased to be a stipendiary city which paid tribute to Rome, and became a Municipium, governed by Roman citizens of important status, which led to an economic boom. A program of monumental building was completed in the Flavian period of the 80’s AD, and public buildings and the city wall can be admired today. The city was an important centre of communications. At this time the city was allowed to issue currency in its mint.
Archaeology indicates that in the third century the wealthy elite were still living in the city, but in the fourth century they abandoned its attractions, evidence of inexorable decline and its gradual conversion into a rural centre.
The city was surrounded by a wall of 1300m length with several gates, the main gate directly accessing the Forum.
The Forum was rectangular and surrounded by a colonnade supported by large columns. It was the most important social and political centre of Segóbriga.
Early history of the Iberian Peninsula
Before the Roman conquest the major cultures along the Mediterranean coast were the Iberians, the Celts in the interior and north-west, the Lusitanians in the west, and the Tartessians in the southwest. The seafaring Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks successively established trading settlements along the eastern and southern coast. The first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries), were founded along the northeast coast in the 9th century BC, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians.
The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, apparently after the river Iber (Ebro). In the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia, struggling first with the Greeks, and shortly after, with the newly arriving Romans for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern-day Cartagena).
The peoples whom the Romans met at the time of their invasion in what is now known as Spain were the Iberians, inhabiting an area stretching from the northeast part of the Iberian Peninsula through the southeast. The Celts mostly inhabited the inner and north-west part of the peninsula. In the inner part of the peninsula, where both groups were in contact, a mixed culture arose, the Celtiberians. The Celtiberian Wars were fought between the advancing legions of the Roman Republic and the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior from 181 to 133 BC. The Roman conquest of the peninsula was completed in 19 BC.
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