Pax Julia

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Pax Iulia (also known as Colonia Civitas Pacensis) or later Pax Augusta was a city in the Roman province of Lusitania (today situated in the Portuguese municipality of Beja).

History

File:Iberia 17BC.svg]]

The region was inhabited during 400 BC by Celtic tribes, but there are indications that Carthaginian settlers occupied the territory, from the writings of 2nd century scholars Polybius and Claudius Ptolemy.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}.

In 48 BC, it was renamed Pax Iulia (referring to the "peace of the gens Julia") by Julius Caesar following the peace between Rome and the Lusitani. The settlement became the centre of the conventus iuridicus Pacensis, (in the Roman province of Lusitania), since it was located on a strategic roadway junction with connection Myrtilis Iulia (a harbor city along the Guadiana river).

Sometime between 31 and 27 BC, during the reign of the emperor Augustus, the city was granted the status of municipium following the Battle of Actium, and the colonists ascribed to the gens Galeria.{{citation |first=António Marques de |last=Faria |url=https://independent.academia.edu/AntonioMarquesDeFaria/Papers/535471/Sobre_a_data_da_fundacao_de_Pax_Iulia |title=Sobre a data da fundação de Pax Iulia |publisher=Conimbriga |issue=28 |pages=101–109 |year=1989 |accessdate=2 November 2011 |language=Portuguese}} It was at this time that a new designation began to appear: Pax Augusta (referring to the peace of Augustus) as mentioned by Strabo.{{cite web |first=António Marques de |last=Faria |url=https://independent.academia.edu/AntonioMarquesDeFaria/Papers/527506/De_novo_em_torno_da_fundacao_de_Pax_Iulia_um_exercicio_de_controversismo_ |title=De novo em torno da fundação de Pax Iulia: um exercício de "controversismo" (António Marques de Faria) - Academia.edu |publisher=Vipasca |issue=6 |year=1997 |pages=171–185 |language=Portuguese |accessdate=2 November 2011}}

=20th century=

Archaeological excavations during the 20th century uncovered the remains of a large Roman temple, {{convert|30|x|19.4|m|ft}}, dating to the first century AD located within the settlement's forum, with several inscriptions, Roman arches, fortifications and an aqueduct.{{Cite news |last=Luís Miguel |first=Lourenço |date=2009 |title=Arqueologia: Templo romano descoberto em Beja é o maior de Portugal e um dos maiores da Península Ibérica |work=Expresso |url=http://expresso.sapo.pt/arqueologia-templo-romano-descoberto-em-beja-e-o-maior-de-portugal-e-um-dos-maiores-da-peninsula-iberica=f528497 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404163628/http://expresso.sapo.pt/arqueologia-templo-romano-descoberto-em-beja-e-o-maior-de-portugal-e-um-dos-maiores-da-peninsula-iberica=f528497 |archive-date=4 April 2012 |url-status=dead}} Possible locations for the theater and amphitheater were deduced from the urban layout.

File:Arco Romano.jpg|Roman arch from Beja

File:Beja46.jpg|Roman oil lamps; Rainha D. Leonor Museum

File:Beja50.jpg|Terra sigillata (ceramic ware made of porous clay fired at low heat); Rainha D. Leonor Museum

File:Barragem romana N S Represa.JPG|Roman dam, Cuba Municipality, Beja

File:São Cucufate.jpg|Roman Ruins of São Cucufate, municipality of Vidigueira

References

=Notes=

Category:Roman sites in Portugal

Category:Roman towns and cities in Portugal

Category:Beja, Portugal