Roman | home
History of Extremadura | Prehistoric | Roman | Middle Ages | Conquistadors | Modern History | Religious History | Changing Times
Extremadura first came into contact with Roman civilization between the years 155 and 152 B.C. when the local Lusitananians and Vetonians began to defend themselves against Roman invasions. After the arrival of the Roman representative Quinto Cecilio Metelo in the year 80 B.C., the military outposts of Metellinum (Medellín), Castra Caecilia (Cáceres), and Vicus Coecilius (Baños de Montemayor) were established. At the site of present_day Cáceres, the colony Norba Caesarina was founded in 34 B.C. The real establishment of Roman society in all of the province of Lusitania (including what is now Extremadura) began in the the year 25 B.C. with the founding of the city Emérita Augusta (Mérida), built as a home base for the Roman legions VAlauda and X Gémina, who had fought against the Asturs and Cantabrians in the north of the peninsula. In a short time, Mérida came to be the most important Roman city of the Iberian peninsula, and the 8th most important in all of the empire. An important point along the Vía de la Plata, the Roman highway which joined Asturias to Andalusia, was the magnificent bridge which crossed the Guadiana River at Mérida. Another important Roman bridge was built in the year 106 A.D. in Alcántara in the north of Extremadura. Antonio Muñiz Sánchez, in the book Todo Extremadura says: “Due to its history, its setting, and indisputable right, Mérida has the calling to be the spiritual and historic capital of the entire region of Extremadura, thus recuperating the splendor and importance of its ancient and glorious past.”