page_title: Tarraco
section_title: Origins and the Second Punic War
hierarchical_section_title: Tarraco / Origins and the Second Punic War
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the roman city of Tarraco, modern Tarragona (Catalonia). Deutsch: Lageplan der römischen Stadt de:Tarraco, heute Tarragona (Katalonien). Español: Mapa de la ciudad romana de Tárraco, hoy Tarragona (Cataluña). Català: Plànol de la ciutat romana de ca:Tàrraco, avui Tarragona.
context_page_description: Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona. It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Citerior during the period of the Roman Republic, and of Hispania Tarraconensis following the latter's creation during the Roman Empire.
  In 2000, the archaeological ensemble of Tarraco was declared a World heritage site by UNESCO.
context_section_description: The municipality was inhabited in pre-Roman times by Iberians who had commercial contacts with the Greeks and Phoenicians who settled on the coast. The Iberian colonies were mainly located in the Ebro Valley. Evidence of Iberian colonies in the municipality of Tarragona has been dated to the 5th century BC.
  References in the literature to the presence of Iberians in Tarraco are ambiguous. Livy mentions an oppidum parvum (small town) called Cissis and Polybius talks about a polis called Kissa (Κίσσα). Tarraco is mentioned for first time shortly after the arrival of Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus at Empúries in 218 BC at the start of the Second Punic War which began the Roman conquest of Hispania. Livy writes that the Romans conquered a field of Punic supplies for Hannibal's troops near Cissis and took the city. A short time later, the Romans were attacked "not far from Tarraco" (haud procul Tarracone). But it remains unclear whether Cissis and Tarraco were the same city. A coin found in Empúries bears the inscription Tarakon-salir (salir probably means silver). The coin, engraved in keeping with other Empúries models at an undisclosed location, is generally dated to 250 BC, certainly before the arrival of the Romans. The name Kesse appears on coins of Iberian origin from the 1st and 2nd century BC that were marked according to Roman weight standards. Kesse may be equated with Cissis, the place of origin of the Cissisians mentioned by Pliny.
  In 217 BC reinforcements arrived from Italy under the command of Publius Scipio, and he and his brother Gnaeus Cornelius are attributed with the fortification of Tarraco and the establishment of a military port, and as Pliny the Elder said: Tarraco Scipionum opus, Tarraco was work by the Scipios as Carthage was by the Carthaginians. The Roman city wall was probably constructed on top of the more ancient wall characteristic of the Iberian stonemason.
  After the death of the Scipio brothers, Tarraco was 25-year-old Scipio Africanus's (son of Publius) winter base between 211 and 210, and where he met the tribes of Hispania in conventus. The population was largely loyal to the Romans during the war. Livy called them allies and friends of the Roman people (socii et amici populi Romani) and the fishermen of Tarraco (piscatores Tarraconenses) served with their boats during the siege of Carthago Nova.
  The conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans took over 200 years.
caption: Plan of Tarraco in imperial times showing the main buildings
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