Italica and It's Once Roman Splendor

So I thought I'd catch you up on a trip I went on a few weeks ago. Our group went to a place called Italica, one of the sites of Roman ruins in Spain. Under Roman rule from century III BC to V AD, the territory of Spain was called Hispania. It was a military republic under Emperor Octavius Augustus and was that way for 8 centuries before the Roman empire fell. Italica was founded in the year 206BC by General Publius Cornelius Scipio as a place of settlement for soldiers wounded in the battle of Illipa (info provided by idealspain.com). During that time, the colony of Hispania was helpful in creating commerce of olive oil, apples, wine, cereal, iron, carbon, silver and salt, with salt being one of the richest commodities in that time. But today the ruins at Italica are simply a testament to a once great city of one of the largest and richest empires of all time.


We started our tour by walking through the labyrinth of passages that were once occupied by the gladiators who faught bloodily for the spectators' pleasure. The passages went on for at least a mile it seemed with tiny side alleys for people to prepare themselves or prepare animals for the great event. After leaving the basement of the arena, we finally got to stand outside in the center of the arena and see what the gladiators would've seen as they made their way to be "entertainers."

The arena was huge with a giant hole, so to speak, in the center of the expanse in the shape of strange cross section. If you copy and paste this address into your browser you can see an image of what I mean, http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/302927.jpg. We were told that is where animals were kept and men would fight inside it or die falling into it. I wouldn't want to fall in here, would you?


But it was a sight to behold no matter where you looked. The old ruins, although only appearing as worn rubble, were riddled with the etchings of an ancient past. You felt it in the air, how much history was in this city. We walked next up a long avenue that was once the upper level of what would have been its marketplace and meeting grounds for all the public, which you can see below.


We were taken next to what used to be a family's home. All that is left now is the flooring, most of which is covered in mosaics of what the family might have believed to be their guardian god. For this family (if I remember correctly), they worshipped to the god Neptune, god of the sea. The ruins of the house contain bedrooms and living quarters, bathing areas and what was the kitchen; the garden area was kept intact by the keepers of the Italica ruins. And moreover, the large mosaic that I think was a part of the greeting room, seems to have been cleaned up so that the tiny fragments of stone could be seen once more.


Although I must say that my favorite part of the ruins were the flowers. The roses and other types of flowers were simply gorgeous and smelt so wonderful. I am no botanist myself but I do appreciate a nice smelling flower every once in awhile. And I also enjoying seeing others enjoy themselves, such as my furry friend who just so happened to be soaking up the sun when we arrived. This Roman treasure just sat there and let us pet him; I don't know if he belonged to anyone but he seemed familiar to the old city and lay there as if the proud owner.


But that's about it for my adventure to Italica. It was a beautiful city with history just bursting forth. So if you are ever in Spain and enjoy going to places like this, I whole-heartedly suggest Italica. Until next time, ciao.