Spain - Part 2

Mark R. Williams, "The Story of Spain: The dramatic history of Europe's most fascinating country", Chapter 2: The Romans Were Here....

The exact length of time that the Roman Empire existed for is still under debate, but you can estimate it lasted about 16 centuries. So, it is no surprise when I say the Romans were in Spain for approximately six centuries. The map to the left shows the extent of the Roman Empire at its height, and this area includes all of what is present day Spain, Andorra, and Portugal. The approximate dates for Roman Rule of the Iberian peninsula is estimated at 218BC to 409 AD.

Prior to the Romans entering and ultimately taking over the Iberian Peninsula, the area was not in accordance with the other areas occupied by the Romans. There were no aqueducts, large dividing walls to keep armies out, roads, or large bathes. Until the Romans arrived the Iberian peninsula consisted mainly of small peasant towns with no form of organization, and as the Romans would say Barbarian-type civilizations. These Barbarian-type civilizations would continue to give Rome problems even centuries after they had full control of the area.

Some of the roads set up by the Romans, for instance, "Via Herculea, a coastal road from the Pyrenees to Cadiz, and the Via Augusta running through the heart of the country," (Williams, 37) lasted as some of Spain's best roads until the 1920's. What the Romans built can still be marveled at in modern day Spanish cities such as Cadiz, and Seville. The two pictures below show what is left of the old Roman road Via Augusta.

The Romans not only left the mark on Spain in the way of architecture, but also religion. That famous story of the emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea, present day Iznik, Turkey) applies to Spain as well as every other territory of Rome at the time. The Romans tried to impress their religion upon the people of the Iberian peninsula, however they were already grounded firmly in their belief of Christianity. Please do not confuse this with modern day Catholicism, at the time Catholicism did not exist in the way we view it today. This is a period before the time of Constantine. Later around 325AD Constantine would not only say Christianity was okay, but made the newly found Catholicism the main religion of all of Rome's territory. It is important to note that Christianity was a growing religion on the Iberian peninsula that after nearly two centuries of growth would cause turmoil for the Roman empire. It is at this time that Constantine held the First Council of Nicaea (yes, there was more than one meeting). At this meeting the two feuding sides agreed upon the divinity of Jesus and created what we know today as the Catholic Church. Please be aware that Jesus' divinity was not created out of thin air, one side already believed he was divine while the other half of the room did not. To put it bluntly, the louder larger side won, and today Jesus is known as divine by all sides of Christianity. (I will post more on the Romans, Constantine, and the Council of Nicaea as this blog continues. It would be difficult to talk about any type of ancient or current history without mentioning the Romans and the Catholic Church, as they greatly affected every countries history and religion).

Stay tunned for Chapter 3....