Pol lèntia

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Pollentia ruins

Pol lèntia ( Latin Pollentia ) is a former Roman city ​​and an archaeological excavation site on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca . It is located on the northeast coast of the island in the urban and municipal area of Alcúdia in the region ( comarca ) Raiguer .

location

The municipality of Alcúdia forms the northeast of the Raiguer landscape and consists of the peninsula of Cap des Pinar (also called Victoria ), which divides the sea bays of Pollença and Alcúdia, and a zone of the interior of the island, bounded by the municipalities of Pollença in the north and Sa Pobla and Muro in the south. The city of Alcúdia is located roughly in the middle of the municipality, exactly between the two bays Badia de Pollença and Badia d'Alcúdia at the foot of the peninsula. Your port of Port d'Alcúdia , now a tourist resort , is located south of the city on the Bay of Alcúdia .

The ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pollentia were discovered between Alcúdia and Port d'Alcúdia in the 16th century. The area of ​​the ancient settlement stretches between the Carretera del Cementir road (MA-12) and the Camí des Teatre Romà road to the east . In the north the area borders on the Avinguda dels Princeps d'Espanya , the southern bypass of the old town of Alcúdia, in the south it extends almost to the bypass of Port d'Alcúdia (MA-3460).

The systematic excavations, which began in the first decades of the 20th century, today extend to three areas, the northern ancient old town ( sa Portella ) below the church of Alcúdia Sant Jaume ( Església de Sant Jaume ), the Roman forum ( Fòrum ) as the center of the old Pollentia and the theater ( Teatre Romà ) of the ancient city further south-east . The site is partly privately owned and fenced. A concrete path laid out between 2001 and 2002 connects the three excavation sites and can be walked on from the north to visit the ruins for a small entrance fee.

history

Pollentia Banner (2nd - 3rd Century, MAN )

The city of Pollentia was founded around the year 70 BC. Founded around 50 years after the Roman conquest of Mallorca in 123 BC. By the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus (also: Cecili Metel). For centuries it was the most important Roman settlement in the province of Balearica and an important starting point for the Romanization of the archipelago. After the conquest of Mallorca, a total of around 3,000 new settlers, mostly from the year 206 BC. BC Roman province of Hispania , came to the island. On the greater importance of Pollentia (translated "the mighty") compared to the immediately after the Roman victory over the natives in 123 BC. Founded Palma (Palmaria Palmensis, "victory palm") already its name indicates.

By mixing the Romans with the Iberian indigenous population and introducing Latin as the administrative language, Mallorca was Romanised over the years up to the turn of the Christian era . This was apparently done in a peaceful way, as revolts by the local population against the rule of Rome are not recorded. Through the incorporation into the Roman Empire and thus into its culture and infrastructure, combined with the favorable location of the Balearic Islands on several trade routes , the economy of Mallorca and with it that of the capital Pollentia prospered. The city's location in the northeast of the island made it the first port of call for ships from Italy and a stopover for longer journeys through the western Mediterranean.

Capitoline Temple
reconstruction on a display at the excavation site

Pollentia was laid out like many colonial cities of the Roman Empire. In addition to a public square as the center, the forum, business streets, temples, monuments and a theater were built. The rectangular houses with inner courtyards (atrium) were adorned with marble , stucco and mosaics and had baths, water and sewer pipes. The port of Pollentia was located south of the theater in today's Bay of Alcúdia . The city, built at a strategically important point, is said to have occupied an area of ​​around 16  hectares . In the late period of the empire in the 3rd century AD, Pollentia received a city wall. However, they could not prevent the city from being pillaged and destroyed by the Vandals in 426 AD .

In 465 AD the Balearic Islands were then completely incorporated into the North African Vandal Empire and the now Catholic inhabitants of Mallorca were persecuted by the Arian rulers of the Vandals until the Byzantines conquered the islands of the Balearic Islands in 534 AD . It is not known how many people were still living in Pollentia at that time. The settlement is said to have existed almost until the beginning of the Moors' rule in 902 AD. Later, north of the old town of Pollentia, today's Alcúdia was built in new city walls, the name of which is derived from the Arabic Al-Qudya ("the hill"). The old Roman city, still known as Bullansa under the Moors , was forgotten.

Bryant Foundation flagstone

After the ruins of Pollentia were rediscovered by chance finds in the 16th century, such as the veiled head of Augustus, further archaeological discoveries were made in the 17th century when the second city wall ring of Alcúdia was built. Systematic excavations did not begin until the first decades of the 20th century under the direction of Gabriel Llabrés Quintana (1923 to 1927), continued after his death by his son Joan Llabrés Bernel (1930 to 1936). Among other things, bronze objects were discovered, such as the standards of the Collegium iuvenum, Asklepios or a horse's head, which can be viewed today in the Museo Arqueologico Nacional . After the Spanish Civil War , Rafel Isasi continued the excavations from 1939 and Lluís Amorós from 1944. Together with Martí Almagro, Amorós led the excavation of the Can Farolas necropolis from 1949 .

In 1952, an American foundation, the William L. Bryant Foundation , acquired the Teatre Romà property and the Can Domènech building , where a Spanish-American archeology center was set up next to its headquarters. From 1952 the excavations of the theater were carried out by the archaeologists Lluís Amorós, Martí Almagro and Antoni Arribas. The foundation carried out further systematic excavation campaigns from 1956 to 1997, including by Miquel Tarradell, Daniel Woods, N. Doenges, Glòria Trias, M. Rocas and R. Ulrich, until the municipality of Alcúdia carried out this in the form of a work camp and then the archeology course Antoni Arribas Palau took over. In the 1960s and 1970s, work concentrated primarily on the area of Sa Portella and the north-western area of ​​the Fòrum , also known as Camp d'en França . Since the 1980s, the central and eastern part of the Camp d'en França with the Capitoline Forum, a group of small commercial shops and a network of streets have been exposed.

description

Sa Portella (The Old Town)

Sa Portella

The archaeological site of sa Portella is 80 meters south of the town church of Alcúdia ( Sant Jaume ) on Carretera Cementiri . The entrance to the ruins of Pollentia is, however, on Avinguda dels Princeps d'Espanya northeast of sa Portella .

The northern excavation area of ​​Pollentia is characterized by several houses (domes) of the ancient Roman city, which were laid out at right angles on streets. The best preserved house is the House of the Two Treasures ( Casa dels dos Tresors ). It was laid out around an inner courtyard ( atrium ) and the columns of the entrance area, a portico ( porticat ), have been preserved to this day.

Opposite on the other side of the street was the building known today as the House of the Bronze Head ( Casa del Cap de Bronze ), in which the bronze head of a girl ( Cap de Nina ) was discovered. It was a mansion with a portico. The remains of the House of the Northwest ( Casa Nord-oest ) are the worst preserved . The Roman city wall from the 3rd century AD, which is only preserved as a fragment at this point, was built on its foundations.

Fòrum (Roman Forum)

Remains of buildings at the forum

The former center of the city of Pollentia, the Roman Forum ( Fòrum Romà ), is located about 200 meters southeast of sa Portella . Archaeological excavations continue to take place here, so that some of the areas currently being worked on are protected from the weather by tarpaulins. Some of the building remains found here were saved from further deterioration by means of applied concrete.

This main square of the ancient Roman city was only opened to the public in recent years. It was a meeting place and a civic and administrative center of Pollentia. The ruins of the 1st century BC lie on him. A Capitoline temple ( Capitoli ) built on a pedestal and two other religious buildings to the east of this.

To the west of the main temple, separated from it by a street running in north-south direction, was a trading and craft district. Here small shops ( tabernae ) were grouped on the narrow streets. To the south of the Capitoline Temple there was a 5 × 3 meter building of an aedicule , which was the only building in the city that was oriented towards the four cardinal points. Other finds indicate that a necropolis was built on most of the Forum's buildings after the destruction of Pollentia .

Teatre Romà (Roman Theater)

Teatre Romà

The former Roman theater ( Teatre Romà ) of Pollentia is another 400 meters in a south-easterly direction, accessible via the concrete path connecting all three excavation sites . It dates from the 1st century AD and was outside the urban settlement areas at that time. The theater consisted of the semicircular tiers, the orchestra and the rectangular stage .

The ten rows of stone seats ( càvea ) that can still be seen today were, with the exception of the lowest, carved out of the rock using the natural slope of the terrain. The first row around the also semicircular orchestra consists of large brick sandstone blocks. Between the rows of seats, three stairs, also carved into the rock, lead upwards from the third row. According to various hypotheses, there was a wooden upper part of the spectator tiers above the rows of rocks.

The semicircular orchestra has a diameter of five meters. It is separated from the stage by a rock proscenium with five holes that may have been used to anchor a stage frame . Nothing has survived from other parts of the stage. Based on its small size, the Teatre Romà can be expected to seat around 2000 people. The two larger holes in the stone steps come from artificial caves that were created as burial sites before the theater was built in the pre-Talaiotic culture , the holes in the rock of the stage from graves created there after the theater was abandoned.

Archaeological Museum

The Monographic Museum of Pollentia (Museu Monogràfic de Pol lèntia) was established in 1987 in the former 16th century hospital of the city of Alcúdia (L'Hospitalet) on Carrer Sant Jaume . There the found objects of the ancient Roman city are exhibited, which have been secured in the various archaeological sites of Pollentia since 1926. These include valuable grave goods, ceramic and bronze vessels from different eras, glasses, amphorae, coins, stone tablets, marble work and mosaics. The Consorci de la Ciutat Romana de Pol lèntia offers group tours both through the museum and the archaeological sites.

supporting documents

  • “Alcúdia”, information brochure about the city and municipality, Municipi Ecoturistic
  • "Pol·lèntia", overview folding plan of the excavations, Consorci de la Ciutat Romana de Pol·lèntia
  • "Pol·lèntia", Ajuntament d'Alcùdia ( Memento from December 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  • "Mallorca", authors: Heide Wetzel-Zollmann / Wolfgang Wetzel, Verlag Herder Freiburg im Breisgau 1991

Web links

Commons : Pol lèntia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 39 ° 50 ′ 58 ″  N , 3 ° 7 ′ 20 ″  E