Centum Cellas, also referred to as ''Centum Cellæ, Centum Celli'', or ''Centum Cœli'' (and in pt, Centocelas), is a Roman

villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...

that dates back to the 1st century AD, located in the Mount of Santo Antão in Belmonte, Castelo Branco District,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

History

In the context of the Roman invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, the Villa was supposedly the property of a Lúcio Cecílio (in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: LVCIVS CÆCILIVS), a wealthy Roman citizen, a tradesman of

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

(an abundant metal in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

) who ordered its construction in the 1st century AD.

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

(modern Spain and Portugal) was one of if not the richest Roman province in the case of mineral ore from around the first century BC. Containing deposits of the metals (gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, iron, and mercury), it was very rich in resources. The Romans realised this, and there is evidence of large-scale mining and processing in the region. From its acquisition during the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, Iberia continued to produce a significant amount of Roman metals. Tin was especially important being mined only in Iberia,

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...

. According to certain archeological sources, it was partially destroyed in the 3rd century AD but rebuilt right after. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, over the remnant parts, a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

was built in homage to

Pope Cornelius Pope Cornelius was the bishop of Rome from 6th or 13th March 251 until his martyrdom in June 253. He was pope during and following a period of persecution of the church, while a schism occurred over how repentant church members who had practiced ...

. However, there are no traces of it today. It is also possible that during this time, due to its proximity with the Kingdom of León, the tower was used as a military outpost. In 1188, the place, then named ''Centuncelli'', received a

foral 200px, Foral of Castro Verde - Portugal The word ''foral'' ({{IPA-pt, fuˈɾaɫ, eu, plural: ''forais'') is a noun derived from the Portuguese word ''foro'', ultimately from Latin ''forum'', equivalent to Spanish ''fuero'', Galician '' foro'', ...

by king

Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I of Portugal (), nicknamed "the Populator" ( pt, "o Povoador"), King of Portugal (Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) was the second but only surviving legitimate son and fifth child of Afonso I of Portugal by his wife, Maud of Savoy. ...

. 19th century Portuguese historian Pinho Leal wrote that the tower was renovated in order to be used as a watchtower in either the 13th or 14th centuries.

Structure

The tower-like structure is one of the best preserved Roman monuments in the country. The core building has a rectangular floor plan (13.3 m × 15.5 m) and was two-storey; the second floor is probably a medieval addition. It has multiple entrances with different sizes. Two

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s separate the floors. The tower is 12 m high and originally stood in a building complex (the ''

''). On three sides it was surrounded by extensions, of which only the foundations are visible. The sides were surrounded by rows of three chambers. At the front was the pillared portico of an open courtyard. The construction is of blocks (

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

), which is quite unusual in Europe and reminiscent of Syria and North Africa. The position of the outer openings was dominated by the view that results from this point, located on a Roman road on the one kilometer distant confluence of the rivers Zêzere and Gaia.

Listing

Centum Cellas is listed as a National Monument by the Portuguese Government under the decree nº 14 425, of 15 October 1927, published in the Government's Diary nº 136.

Myths

Much mystery surrounds the function this tower served, having fomented many folk tales and theories throughout the centuries. One of the traditions claims that it was used as a prison. Regarding its primitive function, it is believed that it could have been a ''prætorium'' (a Roman military camp). Meanwhile, several archeological prospection campaigns in the surrounding areas, carried out during the 1960s and 1990s, indicate that the tower was most likely a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

, being an integral part of the ''pars urbana''. Excavations are still ongoing.

References

* Pinho Leal, Augusto Soares d’Azevedo Barbosa de. ''Portugal antigo e moderno: diccionario geographico, estatistico, chorographico, heraldico, archeologico, historico, biographico e etymologico de todas as cidades, villas e freguezias de Portugal e de grande número de aldeias… (12 vols.).'' Lisboa: 1872 e segs.

External links