MIROBRIGA
(Santiago do Cacém) Alentejo, Portugal.
About 138 km SE of Lisbon. Mentioned by
Pliny (
HN 4.22), who refers to them as “mirobricenses
qui Celtici cognominantur,” by Ptolemy (11.5), and in
the
Antonine Itinerary.
On the acropolis is a sanctuary with a temple, possibly
of Aesclepius, that dominates a paved open square. The
buildings N and S of it are not completely excavated so
that their purpose is still unknown. Access to the square
is by two paved ways on the SW side, on one of which
stands another temple with an apsidal end, possible dedicated to Venus. Two inscriptions to Venus and the remains of a statue of the goddess support the attribution of this second temple to her, but unfortunately the exact
finding place of inscriptions and statue is unknown. Another inscription refers to festivals in honor of Aesclepius, and a fourth, found on the acropolis, mentions Mars. Well-paved streets, bordered by shops lead down
from the sanctuary to some baths at the bottom of the
hill. The baths are small but fairly well preserved; beside
them is a small Roman bridge.
About 1 km farther along the road is the circus (360
x 74 m), the only one preserved in Portugal. No residential areas have yet been discovered, and no forum, basilica, or curia. Thus the question arises whether Mirobriga
was a city or simply a rural sanctuary, although the reference in the inscription of Aesclepius to a splendidissima
ordo and its classification as an oppidum by Pliny argue
in favor of a city. Some of the finds are in an unused
chapel near the ruins and some in the Municipal Museum
of Santiago do Cacém.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Fernando de Almeida, “Nota sobre
os restos do circo romano de Miróbriga dos Célticos,”
Revista de Guimarães 73 (1963) 147-54; id.,
RuÍnas de
Miróbriga dos Célticos (
Santiago do Cacém) (1964)
MPI.
J. ALARCÃO
