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A trip to the past

Posted by Santi Pérez on 28 Aug 2021, 19:05

During my holiday travel of eight days by the northwest of Spain, I have visited this year three cities with ancient origins, because all of them were Roman founded.

They are León (Legio), Astorga (Asturica Augusta) and Lugo (Lucus Augusti).

León (Legio) was founded around 29 BC. as the camp of the Legio VI Victrix. Later, at the end of the 1st century AD., Legio VII Gemina settled there and made it its permanent base until the beginning of the 5th century.

At present, a large part of the old wall is preserved, enclosing the old town of the current city of León, as shown in the following drawing (blue line indicates the better preserved parts of the wall):

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I have had the opportunity of visiting a very interesting museum under the name of “Interpretation Center of Roman León”. I include below several pictures of the various materials on display.

A scale model of the original camp of VI and VII legions:

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Two busts of the Roman emperors Galba and Trajan, respectively creator and legatus of Legio VII Gemina:

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Part of a well-preserved section of the wall:

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A diagram of the structure of the wall and a drawing of its repair at a late stage of the empire (note the very interesting reconstruction of the Roman soldiers of that time):

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A scale model showing a section of the wall, as well as part of the permanent legionary barracks (note the use of Asterix figures for the setting, for the enjoyment of Remco and Beano Boy):

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The best of all, for my personal taste, were the reconstruction of both the equipment of the Roman soldiers and the barracks for a contubernium of eight legionaries:

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In the museum of the Christian temple of San Isidoro de León, there was a tombstone corresponding to a signifier of an Asturian cohort:

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There are several examples in León that recall in current life its Roman origin, such as the name of one of the city's High Schools:

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Astorga (Asturica Augusta) was born at the end of the 1st century AD. as the camp of the Legio X Gemina and soon after became a civil settlement.

I was able to visit a small museum without too many materials. Some of them were this tombstone corresponding to a tubicen from the Legio X Gemina and a picture showing the reconstruction of a Roman travel carriage:

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And last, but no least, I was also in Lugo (Lucus Augusti), founded around 25 BC. by legatus Paulus Fabius Maximus on the remains of an earlier Roman camp. The city is specially known by its Roman wall, unique in the world, which conserves its entire perimeter (about 2 km) and was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.

Here you can see a model with the ancient Roman city delimited by the wall, another model with a reconstruction of a section of wall and a pair of towers, two images of the real wall and the inner side of one of the best preserved towers:

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A picture of the remains of the thermae and other of the Roman bridge over river Duero:

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And this is a homage of the city of Lugo to its two founders: at right Emperor Augustus and at left legatus Paulus Fabius Maximus:

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(Yes, you are right, the bearded man in shorts and sandals that appears in some photos is Santi himself :winky: ).

And finally one sample of the Roman influence on the life of the current Lugo; a sign on the door of a bar with the motto: "Those who are going to drink greet you" (a small variant of the classic: "Morituri te salutant" or "Those who are going to die greet you" :mrgreen: ):

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I hope you enjoy this historical report. Thanks for watching. ;-)

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by Peter on 28 Aug 2021, 19:56

Thank you for sharing this with us Santi! It is very interesting! :thumbup:

One remark about the following picture. The head and arms look okay, but the legs need another layer of paint or a wash! :mrgreen:

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:joker: :lol:
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Konrad on 28 Aug 2021, 22:37

Santi Pérez wrote:I hope you enjoy this historical report.


Oh yes,i do!
A very interesting report with many nice pictures and competent explanations.
Really very well done.
As you know, I am very excited about the Romans and their history.
Thank you for this great job. :thumbup:
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Konrad  Germany
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Posted by PaulRPetri on 29 Aug 2021, 01:05

Thank you so much for posting this Santi I loved it!
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Posted by Bluefalchion on 29 Aug 2021, 01:46

Great report. It makes me want to visit this area of Spain, very badly.

And it is quite nice to see what you look like, Santi Pérez my friend!
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Posted by C M Dodson on 29 Aug 2021, 07:39

Excellent reportage.

The Roman buildings were so well built that they have lasted the passage of time, unlike the constructions of today.

You have to admire them.

Best wishes,

Chris
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Posted by MABO on 29 Aug 2021, 08:31

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your report. The reconstructed Roman Equipment is really impressive. And I like the models of the cities of course!
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Posted by Kostis Ornerakis on 29 Aug 2021, 09:55

Thank you for sharing the great report and as Bluefalchion said:
"it is quite nice to see what you look like, Santi Pérez my friend!" :-D
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Kostis Ornerakis  Greece

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Posted by Minuteman on 29 Aug 2021, 10:38

A really interesting historical report, thank you Santi!

The Roman buildings look remarkable, and have clearly been well preserved and restored. Magnificent building and engineering.

The museum also looks very good. And what is more, it looks as if the sun was shining for your holiday. Hope you enjoyed all of the eight days. :-D
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Posted by Kekso on 29 Aug 2021, 14:29

It seems you had great time indeed. Thanks for sharing a bit of atmosphere with us.
And Peter stole my joke... I was about to say something like "cool statue, nicely painted" :xd:
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Kekso  Croatia

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Posted by blacksmith on 29 Aug 2021, 17:15

It's very interesting, thank you for sharing it.
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blacksmith  Spain
 
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Posted by Michael Robert on 29 Aug 2021, 17:26

Hi Santi,
me too, I like your report a lot. I am also a Roma fan, although I haven't yet gone around painting them in good numbers. One day...
Just think, all these Roman antiquities in Spain. Where I grew up in Mainz / Germany they have a big number of Roman ruins and finds as well. They are even building the new enlarged Roman museum now. Just imagine the distances. You can see similar technology and styles there.
Thanks a lot for the great contribution
Michael
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Michael Robert  France

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Posted by santifernandez on 29 Aug 2021, 17:35

Great report,nice places.
Santi.
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santifernandez  Spain
 
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Posted by Rich W on 31 Aug 2021, 23:04

Thanks for sharing Santi.
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Posted by Susofrick on 01 Sep 2021, 07:55

Huge thanks for sharing! Back to the old times at the forum with vacation pics! Like it a lot! I am very interested in photos like this. Very cheap travel when someone else do it for you! :-D
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 01 Sep 2021, 20:00

Thank you very much for your kind comments, dear colleages Peter, Konrad, PaulRPetri, Bluefalchion, Chris, MABO, Kostis, Minuteman, Kekso, Javier, Michael, Santi, Rich and Susofrick. :love1:

I'm very satisfied that you liked so much both the historical report of my vacation trip...and my real image. :winky:

As I have said sometime before, thirty-three years dedicated to teaching have helped me to present any type of information to any kind of public in the most didactic and pedagogical way possible. And if this works for my teenage students, I'm sure it works for older people as well. ;-)

Peter wrote:Thank you for sharing this with us Santi! It is very interesting! :thumbup:
One remark about the following picture. The head and arms look okay, but the legs need another layer of paint or a wash! :mrgreen:...

You're right, Peter, and I have two options. The first is to sunbathe a lot to get more brown legs. The second is to give them another coat of paint. I think I will choose the second one, mainly because it's faster and more comfortable for me. :mrgreen:

Best regards to all. :-D

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 02 Sep 2021, 19:39

I like a lot this report, impressive museum and walls.
It will be a must if I'll travel in that zone !
Thanks Santi for this
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Iceman1964  Italy
 
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 09 Sep 2021, 19:53

Iceman1964 wrote:I like a lot this report, impressive museum and walls.
It will be a must if I'll travel in that zone !
Thanks Santi for this

I'm glad you have liked so much my historical report, Iceman1964. ;-)

I guess (from the flag of your profile) that you are from Italy. If I'm right, you have the immense luck of living in the country with the most and best preserved Roman remains all over the world. :drool:

Well, the reality is that due to the enormous extent of the Roman Empire, many countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East can also enjoy similar remains. The proof is the places I have visited this summer. I recommend that you visit them if you ever travel to that area of Spain in the future. :winky:

My best regards. :-D

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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Posted by Iceman1964 on 16 Nov 2021, 19:28

Santi, it's true what you write, living in Europe we don't completely understand the luck we have to see so many historical sites still alive . In my town near Milan (surely not a metropolis and surely not so historically important in Italy...) we have parts of roman walls , a still complete monument of the 5th century, medioeval houses and the castle, and I can walk in it every day....
Probably in Italy we have so many monuments and artifacts that we are not capable to show them in the proper way, and many of them are hidden or in ruin.
I had not yet the fortune to visit properly Spain (I was there when teenager, and when you're young ancient monuments are not the priority :-D ), but I have seen in Germany, France and UK that all ancient monuments are very well presented and explained !!
ciao
Enrico
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Iceman1964  Italy
 
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Posted by Santi Pérez on 20 Nov 2021, 15:02

Let us thank God for being European and living in Europe, Enrico. It's true that each region of the world has its own vestiges of its ancient civilizations, but for lovers of the Roman Empire it's an advantage to live in someone of its ancient domains. :mrgreen:

Best regards. :-D

Santi.
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Santi Pérez  Spain
 
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