SEGOVIA
Segovia, Spain.
Celtic oppidum,
belonging to the Arevaci according to Pliny (
3.27) and
Ptolemy, although according to Livy (91) it was in the
territory of the Vaccaei. It lies at the confluence of the
Eresma and Clamores, and was a stage on the Roman
road from Miacum to Salmantica. There are few references to it, but during the Lusitanian wars the town
preferred to sacrifice the hostages delivered to Viriatus
rather than break the pact concluded with Rome in 151
B.C. (Frontin. 4.5.22). A battle was fought there in 75
B.C. by Metellus against the defeated Hirtuleius, Sertorius' deputy.
The aqueduct, mentioned in inscriptions as early as
the 1st c. A.D., carried water from the Acebeda for some
16 km and delivered it to the Castellum of Caseron
(
CIL II, 2746, 2751). The arches, 728 m long and of
granite ashlar, cross the valley at an angle; the two tiers
are 30 m high and 5.72 m thick. Outside the town are
two Roman bridges, called Castellano and Lavadores.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
F. Javier Cabello,
Guia de Segovia
(1949); S. Alcolea,
Segovia y su provincia (1958).
M. PELLICER CATALAN
