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Sagunto ( ca-valencia, Sagunt) is a municipality of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, located in the
province of Valencia Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...
,
Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
. It belongs to the modern fertile ''
comarca A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...
'' of
Camp de Morvedre Camp de Morvedre (, es, Campo de Morvedre) is a comarca in the province of Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain. Municipalities *Albalat dels Tarongers *Alfara de Algimia *Algar de Palancia * Algímia d'Alfara *Benavites * Benifairó de les V ...
. It is located c. 30 km north of the city of
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
, close to the
Costa del Azahar Costa del Azahar (, literally in English "Orange Blossom Coast") or Costa dels Tarongers (, literally in English: Orange Tree Coast) is the name for the coast of the province of Castellón in Spain, from Vinaròs to Almenara. Towns on the Costa ...
on the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
. It is best known for the remains of the ancient Iberian and Roman city of ''Saguntum''. The
siege of Saguntum The siege of Saguntum was a battle which took place in 219 BC between the Carthaginians and the Saguntines at the town of Saguntum, near the modern town of Sagunto in the province of Valencia, Spain. The battle is mainly remembered today because i ...
in 219 BC was the trigger 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 ...
between the Carthaginians and the Romans. The municipality includes three differentiated urban nuclei: Ciutat Vella (Sagunto), and . Over half of the population lives in the coastal settlement of Puerto de Sagunto.


History

Gaspar Juan Escolano, in his ''Decades of the History of Valencia'' (1610-11), writes that the first settlers of Sagunto were Armenian families, the Sagas, who came to the peninsula with
Tubal Tubal ( he, תֻבָל, ''Ṯuḇāl'', ), in Genesis 10 (the "Table of Nations"), was the name of a son of Japheth, son of Noah. He is known to be the father of the Caucasian Iberians (ancestors of the Georgians) according to primary sources. La ...
and laid the first foundations of the city naming it Sagunt (Armenian: of Saga). There is also a speculation that Achaeans, probably from the
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
island of
Zakynthos Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; el, Ζάκυνθος, Zákynthos ; it, Zacinto ) or Zante (, , ; el, Τζάντε, Tzánte ; from the Venetian form) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Za ...
, could have founded in the 5th c. BCE the town Zacynthos (now Zakantha or Sagundo), at the foot of the Peñas de Pajarito and on the west bank of river Palancia of the main river Ebro, in Iberia, in the Valencia province ppian, Wars in Spain, 2 where the vestiges of an Acropolis, Temples of Artemis and Aphrodite, and a small Theater still survive. During the 5th century BC, the
Iberians The Iberians ( la, Hibērī, from el, Ἴβηρες, ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (among ...
built a walled settlement on the hill overseeing the plain; a stretch of
cyclopean Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...
limestone slabs from the former temple of Diana survives, close to the modern church of Santa Maria, but the settlement site is still older. The city traded with coastal colonies in the western Mediterranean such as
Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
and, under their influence, minted its own
coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
. During this period, the city was known as ''Arse'' (Ripollès i Alegre 2002). By 219 BC, Saguntum was a large and commercially prosperous town, which sided with the local colonists and
Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...
against Carthage, and drew Hannibal's first assault, his
siege of Saguntum The siege of Saguntum was a battle which took place in 219 BC between the Carthaginians and the Saguntines at the town of Saguntum, near the modern town of Sagunto in the province of Valencia, Spain. The battle is mainly remembered today because i ...
, which triggered the Second Punic War, one of the most important wars of antiquity. After stiff resistance over the course of eight months, related by the Roman historian
Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Ancient Rome, Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditiona ...
and in more detail by
Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...
,Silius Italicus: Punica Saguntum was captured in 219 BC by the armies of Hannibal. Seven years later, the town was retaken by the Romans. In 214 BC, it became a
municipium In ancient Rome, the Latin term (pl. ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ("duty holders"), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privi ...
, was rebuilt and flourished.
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: Hispania ...
was not easily pacified and Romanised, as the Iberian career of
Quintus Sertorius Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...
makes clear. Saguntum minted coins under his protection, but continued to house a mint in later Roman times. The Romans built a great circus in the lower part of the city and a theatre seating 8,000 spectators. Texts found indicate that the city had an amphitheatre and had about 50,000 inhabitants. This prosperity lasted for most of the empire, and is attested by inscriptions and ruins (notably a
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
, demolished by Napoleon's marshal
Louis Gabriel Suchet Louis-Gabriel Suchet (2 March 1770 – 3 January 1826), Duke of Albufera (french: Duc d'Albuféra), was a French Marshal of the Empire and one of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is regarded ...
, who also destroyed the Roman tower of Hercules). Under the
Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
ic
kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...
, Saguntum received its Catholic
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
, a bishop named Sacerdos, "the priest", who died peacefully of natural causes about AD 560. In the early 8th century, the Muslim Arabs conquered Hispania and the city became part of the
Caliphate of Cordoba A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
and at that time the city reached an era of splendor, with baths, palaces, mosques and schools open for its cosmopolitan population. Then, the town was known as ''Morvedre'' (''Morviedro'' in Spanish), a name derived from
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 ...
''muri veteres'' "ancient walls." However, as
Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
grew, Saguntum declined. In 1098, the city was conquered by
El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...
but the Muslims recovered it shortly thereafter. The city had been under the Muslim Arab rule for over 500 years when
James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...
conquered it in 1238. During the
Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, a Spanish attempt to raise the French siege of the castle failed in the
Battle of Saguntum The Battle of Saguntum (25 October 1811) saw the Imperial French Army of Aragon under Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet fighting a Spanish army led by Captain General Joaquín Blake. The Spanish attempt to raise the siege of the Sagunto Castle ...
on 25 October 1811. In the weeks before the battle, the Spanish garrison made a valiant and successful defense; but it surrendered the day after the battle. Historian
Charles Oman Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British Military history, military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. ...
stated that the site was converted into a fortress in 1810–1811 by General
Joaquín Blake Joaquín Blake y Joyes (Vélez-Málaga, 19 August 1759 – 27 April 1827) was a Spanish military officer who served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Peninsular wars. Early military career Partially of Irish descent his mother ...
at the suggestion of British officer
Charles William Doyle Lieutenant-General Sir Charles William Doyle, GCH, CB (1770 – 25 October 1842) was a British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars. Biography Doyle was born in 1770, the eldest son of William Doyle of Bramblestown, County K ...
. At that time, much of the largely intact Roman theater was dismantled to provide stone for restoring the old walls. Saguntum was badly damaged in warfare, but has retained many
Valencian Gothic Valencian Gothic is an architectural style. It occurred under the Kingdom of Valencia between the 13th and 15th centuries, which places it at the end of the European Gothic period and at the beginning of the Renaissance. The term "Valencian G ...
structures. In the late 19th century, a steel-making industry grew up that supported the modern city, which extends in the coastal plain below the citadel hill. The last steel oven closed in April 1984. It has been restored and is now a tourist attraction.


Main sights

* The remains of
Sagunto Castle Sagunto Castle ( es, Castillo de Sagunto; ca-valencia, Castell de Sagunt) is a fortress overlooking the town of Sagunto, near Valencia in Spain. The site's history extends back over two thousand years and includes Iberian, Roman and medieval rem ...
may be seen on top of the hill. It preserves much of its walled ramparts, of Roman and Moorish origin. * A Roman theater, partly restored in late 20th century. It is found on the northern slope of the citadel hill. It was the first official National Monument declared in Spain (1896). * The Gothic ''Església de Santa Maria'' (St Mary's Church), in the ''Plaça Major ''(Main Square). * The ''Palau Municipal'' (City Palace), or town hall; a beautiful 18th century building with a neoclassical façade. * The early Gothic ''Església del Salvador'' (Church of Our Savior). * The narrow streets of the ''Juderia'' (Old Jewish Quarter), on the hillside on the way up to the citadel. * The 13th century Santa Ana convent adjacent to the ''Plaça de Pi''. * The ''Sagunto History Museum'', located in the house of ''Mestre Peña'', a building in the Jewish quarter dating from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The largest collection is from the Ibero-Roman Period. The famed composer Don
Joaquín Rodrigo Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (; 22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the ''Concierto de Aranjuez'', a cornerstone of the classical gui ...
, who composed
Concierto de Aranjuez The ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (, "Aranjuez Concerto") is a classical guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the mos ...
, among others, was born in Sagunt.


Sport

CD Acero Club Deportivo Acero ('Steel Sporting Club' in Spanish) is a Spanish football team based in Puerto de Sagunto (an urban nucleus in Sagunto), in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1919 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 6, hold ...
is the town's
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team. Its stadium is ''El Fornás'', located in El Puerto de Sagunto.


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links

Official website of the city of Sagunto
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