Lucentum ( grc-gre, Λούκεντον, ''Loúkenton''), called Lucentia by Pomponius Mela, is the Roman predecessor of the city of

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...

, Spain. Particularly, it refers to the archaeological site in which the remains of this ancient settlement lie, at a place known as ''El Tossal de Manises'', in the neighborhood of Albufereta.

Ancient history

Diodorus ascribes Lucentum's foundation to the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

leader

Hamilcar Barcas Hamilcar Barca or Barcas ( xpu, 𐤇𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤁𐤓𐤒, ''Ḥomilqart Baraq''; –228BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father-in-l ...

. As a Mediterranean and Iberian commercial center, it had trading contacts with Greece, Phoenicia, and the southern Iberian city of Tartessos, absorbing some of their influences. This unique mixture gave rise to a culture called

Contestani The Contestani were an ancient Iberian (Pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula (the Roman Hispania). They are believed to have spoken the Iberian language. They lived in a region located in the southwest of Hispania Tarraconensis, east of t ...

by Pliny the Elder and

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

. Its ruins include various distinctly Carthaginian features. The Punic town was known to the Greeks as the "White Promontory" or "White Citadel", variously given as ( grc-gre, Ἄκρα Λευκά), (), and ()."Roman Policy in Spain", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'',
209
Livy translated the second sense of the Greek name into Latin, calling the settlement . The Greek probably translated the site's Punic name, although some prefer to imagine it transcribes an Iberian placename involving the words ''lug'' ("water") and ''cant'' ("cliff"). The city enjoyed its peak between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, and the majority of the city's remains bear a Roman stamp. The town was refounded as Lucentum (from Latin ', referring to the same geographical feature, the "white promontory") after P. Cornelius Scipio conquered the area in the course of the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

. Over the years it gained a thoroughly Roman character, complete with baths, forums, temples, sewers, etc. It was one of the major cities of the Roman province of

Hispania Tarraconensis Hispania Tarraconensis was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania. It encompassed much of the northern, eastern and central territories of modern Spain along with modern northern Portugal. Southern Spain, the region now called Andalusia was the ...

. It entered into a decline in the 2nd century and was effectively abandoned by the end of the 3rd century. The chief cause of this decline was competition from the neighboring city of Ilici (today's Elche), which had better water and land communications and began to usurp Lucentum's trade. Eventually, the settlement was completely depopulated, the site used only for a Muslim cemetery during the 10th and 11th centuries.

Modern history

The first modern evidence concerning the location of the ancient city came in 1780, when the Count of Lumiares,

Antonio Valcárcel Pío de Saboya Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, suggested that the ruins of ''Tossal de Manises'', which he personally had excavated for a number of years, were in fact Lucentum. This contradicted the common wisdom at the time, which held that the Roman city was well outside the town of Alicante. Later, the ruins were excavated by Lafuente and Figueras, who found the more ancient Carthaginian city. In the 1930s they were again excavated by a Professor Belda, around which time a necropolis was discovered during road construction. Plànol hipotètic de Lucentum (segle I d

The site contains evidence of both the Iberian and the Roman epochs, although in terms of material recovered and ruins remaining the Roman influences (especially from the 1st century AD and afterwards) predominate. The Roman city was constructed over the Iberian one, of which practically nothing remains except for the walls. The lower level is contemporary with a necropolis excavated in the 1930s to make way for a road, and whose materials are now housed in the

Archaeological Museum of Alicante The Archaeological Museum of Alicante ( es, Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante, ca-valencia, Museu Arqueològic Provincial d'Alacant, abbreviated as ''MARQ'') is an archaeological museum in Alicante, Spain. The museum won the European Mu ...

. Among these, a number of cauldrons stand out as well as Iberian ceramics decorated with geometric shapes, birds, and fish, sculptures, jewelry, amulets of Egyptian origin, terracotta ware, and weapons. Of the jewelry recovered, a type of pendant, possibly for masculine use, is quite notable as it suggests that there was a local workshop whose production made its way into other local burial sites. Finally, the "Kore de Alicante", currently housed in the Archaeological Museum of Catalonia could have come from this site. In the post-war period, the site (located in a privileged place, with an excellent view of the ancient lagoon and bay) was in danger of disappearing, a victim of real estate speculation. However, efforts by those in favor of its preservation, most notably the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

archaeologist

Solveig Nordström Britt Solveig Maria Nordström (12 July 1923 – 21 January 2021) was a Swedish archeologist, who lived and worked in Spain since 1955. Early life Nordstrom graduated from University of Stockholm with a Masters of Philosophy in literary histor ...

, succeeded in defending the site. This effort culminated in the 1961 designation as an "Artistic and Historic Monument", which afforded some legal protection. Unfortunately, the preservation movement could not stop much development around the site, with the result that the ruins are surrounded by tall buildings and is in no way "visually pure". Despite the legal protections which had been won for the ruins, they suffered from neglect and exposure for a number of years, until efforts were finally made in the 1990s to conserve them. This resulted in recent construction, directed by the architect

Rafael Pérez Jiménez Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California * Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israeli manufacturer of weapons and military technology * Hurricane Rafael, a 2012 hurricane Fiction * ...

and the archaeologist Manuel Olcina Doménech, which aims at the definitive and irreversible conservation of what remains of the ruins. Such a recuperation represents a cultural milestone for Alicante.

Lucentum today

Currently, one can visit the archaeological site, which covers an area of some . The most noticeable features are the remains of the fortifying wall (including the foundations of the pre-Roman defensive towers), the baths, the forum, part of the Muslim necropolis, and a multitude of houses. In addition, a part of the ''Tossal de Manisses'' is currently being excavated, which it is hoped will increase the size and importance of the site. The influence of Lucentum is also present in the culture of the area, with many businesses, associations, and sports clubs in the Alicante area bearing the name of the ancient city.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*Conesa, Enrique Llobregat. ''Ilucant : un cuarto de siglo investigación histórico-arqueológica en tierras de Alicante''. 1991 *Conesa, Enrique Llobregat, Manuel H. Olcina Domenech, Rafael Pérez Jiménez. ''Trabajos de consolidación en la ciudad ibero-romana de Lucentum (Tossal de Manises, Alicante)''. *Díaz, Alicia Fernández. ''Algunos restos pictóricos de la ciudad de Lucentum''
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*Ibanez, Miguel. ''Estudio paleopatológico de las cremaciones procedentes de la necrópolis ibérica de la Albufereta'' (Alicante)
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