page_title: Tarraco
section_title: Tarraco during the Roman Republic
hierarchical_section_title: Tarraco / Tarraco during the Roman Republic
caption_attribution_description: Vista del Puente del Diablo cerca de 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: During the following two centuries Tarraco remained a supply and winter base camp during the wars against the Celtiberians, as it was during the Second Punic War. There was therefore a strong military presence during this period, possibly in the highest area of what is currently  the city's historic quarter, called the Part Alta. In 197 BC, all of the conquered areas, even narrow strips along the coast of Spain, were divided between the new provinces of Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior. The capital of Hispania Citerior was principally Carthago Nova but Strabo says that the governors also resided in Tarraco.
  The legal status of Tarraco is not entirely clear. It was probably organized as conventus civium Romanorum (convent = meeting of Roman citizens of the province) during the Republic, with two magistri (civilian directors) at its head. Gaius Porcius Cato, consul in the year 114 BC, chose Tarraco as the place of his exile in the year 108, indicating that Tarraco was a free city or perhaps an ally at that time.
  According to Strabo, one of the "most recent" of the Roman battles took place not far from Tarraco. When Caesar conquered supporters of Pompey in 49 BC in Ilerda (Lleida), Tarraco supported his army with food. It is not entirely clear whether Tarraco received the status of colony at the hand of Julius Caesar or Augustus, but current research tends to assume that was the former who granted it after his victory in Munda, around the year 45BC, and reflected in the epithet Iulia in its formal name: Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco, which would remain for the duration of the Empire.
caption: Roman aqueduct known as El Pont del Diable (The devil's bridge).
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