LUCUS AUGUSTI
(Lugo) Lugo, Spain.
Roman city of Tarraconensis, in the NW. It was founded
by Augustus at the end of the Cantabrian wars, probably
as headquarters for cohorts of veterans. Among other
sources, it is referred to in Pliny (
HN 3.3.28; 4.34.111),
Ptolemy (2.6.24) and often in inscriptions (
CIL II,
2570ff). It was the seat of the Conventus Lucensis, one
of the three into which Gallaecia was divided. Although
the present city is built over the Roman one, the ancient
plan, showing traces of a primitive encampment, is recognizable: the cardo and decumanus, and an area of
250 by 350 m capable of lodging five cohorts, or 2500
men. The population gradually clustered around the
camp, forming the city enclosed within the walls.
The Roman walls are the most complete and best preserved in Spain, and some of the best in the Empire,
although they have undergone several restorations which
have partially altered their original appearance. Their
strong resemblance to the walls of Aurelian in Rome
seems to date them to the 3d c. A.D. Theoretically rectangular in plan, in reality they are in an irregular ellipse
because of the terrain. The perimeter is 2130 m, the
thickness 6 m, and the height 11-14 m. The walk along
the top extends the whole circuit. There are 70 semicylindrical towers. Two of the present gates are Roman
and almost intact: they consist of round arches between
two towers. All the towers were crowned with three
orders of arcades enclosed above by round arches. The
construction material is slate and, on the gates, masonry.
The bridge over the Miño river dates from the period
of Trajan, but various repairs have destroyed almost all
its Roman character. Of the baths there remain only
three vaulted rooms built of ashlar and brick. One of the
rooms was the apodyterium: a series of niches in the
walls covered with round arches must have been used
for checking clothes. In several parts of the city there
are ruins of water tanks and conduits, made of brick
masonry and rip-rap vaults and 1.5 m high. A lost inscription mentioned the existence of a temple to the
goddess Celeste, the Carthaginian Venus, which is believed to have been in the present Plaza de Aureliano J.
Pereira.
Discoveries of sculpture have been few, but there is a
female head in bad condition. Mosaic fragments from
the Temple of Diana, patron goddess of the city have
been found, and many funeral tablets with reliefs and
inscriptions continue to appear in the walls. Most of the
discoveries are in the Lugo Provincial Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. R. Mélida, “Informe sobre las murallas de Lugo,”
Boletin de la Academia de Bellas Artes
(1921)
I; id., Monumentos romanos de España (1925)
I;
I. A. Richmond, “The Town-walls in Hispania Citerior,”
JRS 21 (1931)
PI; M. Vazquez Seijas,
Lugo bajo el Inperio Romano (1939)
I; id.,
Fortalezas de Lugo y su
Provincia (1955)
PI; F. Vazquez Saco & id.,
Inscripciones
romanas de Galicia. II. Provincia de Lugo (1954)
I.
R. TEJA
