The Roman Ruins of Cerro da Vila are the remnants of a historical villa in the
Algarve
The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese).
The region has it ...
region of southern
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 ...
. Its vestiges lie in the vicinity of the resort and marina of
Vilamoura
Vilamoura is a coastal resort in the Loulé municipality in Algarve, Portugal. It is one of the three corners of Algarve's Golden Triangle. Vilamoura comprises one of the largest single tourist complexes in Europe and with about 2,000 hectares ...
, in the civil parish of
Quarteira
Quarteira ( or ) is a Portuguese civil parish, in the municipality (''concelho'') of Loulé in the Algarve.Detail Regional Map, Algarve-Southern Portugal, The population in 2011 was 21,798, in an area of 38.16 km².
History
The settlement o ...
, municipality of
Loulé Municipality
Loulé () is a city and municipality in the region of Algarve, district of Faro, Portugal. In 2011, the population of the entire municipality was 70,622 inhabitants, in an area of approximately . The municipality has two principal cities: Loulé ...
.
History
The area around Vilamoura, in which the remains of this Roman villa can be found, has been occupied with human activity for thousands of years.
[Cerro da Vila Museum and Archaeological Site (2011)] Graves dating back to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
were discovered in the municipality in the Casão vineyard.
The Romans where the first to establish a settlement of any size within the locality;
during the 2nd century, the region of the Algarve fell under the domain of Rome, under the rule of
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14). The region was integrated into the
Province of Lusitania, in reorganized into three
civitas
In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...
: Balsa (
Luz de Tavira
Luz de Tavira is a former civil parish in the municipality of Tavira
Tavira () is a Portuguese town and municipality, capital of the ''Costa do Acantilado'', situated in the east of the Algarve on the south coast of Portugal. It is east of Far ...
), Ossonoba (
Faro) and Ciuitas, whose capital was either Cilpes (
Silves Silves may refer to :
Europe
* Silves, Portugal, municipality and former bishopric in Algarve, southern Portugal
** Silves (parish), a civil parish in the municipality of Silves
** Castle of Silves, a medieval castle in civil parish of Silves
...
) or more probably at Lacobriga (
Lagos
Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
).
Cerro da Vila was situated in the Ossonoba territory and had a port, serving the fertile lands irrigated by a dam two kilometres from the settlement.
[
Following its construction, the villa was periodically occupied by ]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 ...
sMoorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
) forces.[ Consequently, in 2000, an interpretive centre, under the supervision of architect Fernando Galhano was constructed to support tourism, to be operated by the IPPR (later the Instituto Gestão do Patrimonio Arquitectónico e Arqueológico-IGESPAR).][
]
Architecture
The ruins are located in a semi-rural area; the archaeological station is situated 1500 metres west of the parish seat in Quarteira
Quarteira ( or ) is a Portuguese civil parish, in the municipality (''concelho'') of Loulé in the Algarve.Detail Regional Map, Algarve-Southern Portugal, The population in 2011 was 21,798, in an area of 38.16 km².
History
The settlement o ...
.[
These are the ruins of Roman villa constituted by two residences (the principal along the harbour), baths, necropolis, dams and fish salting stations.][ Of the two residences and baths, the only remnants are compartmentalized walls, including the impluvium, atrium and tablinum.][ There exists friezes of marble and fragments of painted stucco that decorated the walls, as well as the remains of poly-chromatic mosaic pavements. Two rectangular tanks serve the fish salting "buildings".][Paço and Farrajota (1966)] The necropole, which includes the remains of mausoleums and burial tombs, came much later and only recently has been unearthed and investigated.[
]
References
;Notes
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Roman villas in Portugal
Archaeological sites in the Algarve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerro da Vila