Most Recent Visit: June 2018 The Roman town of Aquae Sextiae Salluviorum, on the site of present-day Aix-en-Provence, was founded by the proconsul Gaius Sextius Calvinus in 122 BCE, making it the oldest Roman settlement in Gaul. The ‘Aquae’ referred to a hot spring nearby, the ‘Sextiae’ to the name of the founder, and the…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 Many of the sites I visited in my trip through the south of France either weren’t associated with any major or extensively conserved site or were the only remains of a significant urban area. As such, many didn’t warrant their own post, so as I did with the miscellaneous sites…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018 Situated at the estuary of the Rhône River and the lake that bears its name is the second largest city in Switzerland, Geneva (Genève). During the period of Roman control of the area, Geneva was preceded by Genava, also sometimes referred to as Genua. The name seems to be derived…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. I had originally wanted to include the Villa Romana di Patti as part of my post on Tyndaris, as the proximity and travel route of the two complement each other well (Patti works as a good base for seeing Tyndaris, and so visiting works well before or after). My post…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. Now the bustling capital of the Sicily region, Palermo can trace its humble beginnings back to its founding as a Phoenician colony in 743 BCE by merchants from Tyre. Coinage suggests that the Phoenician name for the settlement was Machanath, a Phoenician word for a camp or a place of…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. Nestled in a cool valley about three kilometers to the southwest of the modern town of Piazza Armerina is the Villa Romana del Casale, a large and extravagantly decorated villa. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the villa is world-renowned for the roughly 3,500 square meters of surviving mosaic flooring, though…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. This post will be a bit different, as it’s kind of the mid-point between my usual schedule of updates. Because it’s just a small villa site without too much information available, and rather off the beaten path in the first place, I figured it would be better served as a…
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Continued From Tarraco Part II There are a number of interesting Roman sites in the area around Tarraco, most of them accessible with public transportation from Tarragona. The one exception to this is the Arc de Berà, an arch constructed in 13 BCE at the behest of Lucius Licinius Sura and dedicated to Augustus. This…
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The Roman city of Lucentum, located in an outlying neighborhood of modern Alicante, seems to have begun as a settlement at least as early as the 5th century BCE. The name of that original settlement appears to have been, at some point, Akra Leuka, Greek for “white mountain”, probably in reference to the nearby Monte…
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Quick Info: Zona Arqueológica de Morería Paseo Roma s/n 06800 Mérida Hours: Everyday 09:30-14:00, 17:00-19:30 (16:00-18:30 from Oct. to Mar.) Admission: 6 Euros (15 Euros combination ticket) Basilica de Santa Eulalia Avenida Extremadura 13 06800 Mérida Casa del Mitreo/Los Columbarios Avenida Extremadura 13 06800 Mérida Hours (both sites): Everyday 09:00-21:00 (April to September) Everyday 09:00-18:30…
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