byzantines

Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Byzantines (did not) leave their mark

The following text was written in May 2000. It turns out that the ruins that are known as the Byzantine Walls had absolutely nothing to do with the Byzantines.

Local guide and history expert Anna has pointed out that the attribution to the Byzantine period of these remains was all a mistake.

When they were found no-one in Cartagena apparently realised that anything was left of the huge Roman theatre of the city. This is now being busily restored and there is an article on the theatre elsewhere on this site. However, when the big pieces of stonework were found the discovery of the theatre hadn’t been made.

An expert was called in and he suggested that the remains were part of Byzantine defences, even though they were at the bottom and not the top of the hill.

Subsequently, when the Roman theatre was discovered it became clear that the huge foundations and walls were actually a part of the porticoes of the theatre garden and the entrance.

The Byzantines were in control of Cartagena for a brief period, however, and here is how the original text of this article read. It appears now the stuff about the Byzantine walls is all rubbish. Just to confuse the tourists, if you want to have a look at these fascinating remains you still must look for what is titled the Byzantine Rampart Museum.

Original text of article:

Even the Byzantines enjoyed living in Cartagena for a relatively short time. Explaining how they got here and how the left is of almost Byzantine complexity.

However, visitors today can see in an underground vault in the centre of the city the remains of the Byzantine citadel and walls that were built over the mosaic pavement of a first century BC Roman house.

When the Roman Empire split in two, the eastern division was centered on Byzantium, or Constantinople, now Istanbul, in the eastern Mediterranean. It’s generally held to date from about the year 330 when Constantine I, the first Christian empire moved the capital to Byzantium. It was in 395 when Theodosius formally divided the empire between his two sons. Barbarians sacked Rome 14 years later but Byzantium continued to flourish in the east.

In 409 the barbarians crossed the Pyrenees into the former Roman lands in Spain. The people who sacked Rome were the Visigoths but, as barbarians went, they were relatively civilized and soon became allies of Rome. When the last remnants of the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 the Goths found themselves in charge of a huge area which ran from the Loire River to what is now Gibraltar. They co-operated with native tribes and, although relatively small in numbers, flourished in their settlements which included Cartagena. They were soon enthusiastic Christians, although there were problems with the Arian heresy.

By the middle of the sixth century, Byzantium was flexing its muscles and looking enviously at Spain. The emperor Justinian fought the Vandals, who had crossed to North Africa and took Ceuta on the Gibraltar Straits. This remains a part of Spain today. Then they took Málaga and Cartagena, which they intended to use as bases to extend their power inland. They controlled most of the southeastern coast and the Balearic Islands and set up a new Byzantine Province named Spania. In 552 Córdoba was named its capital. The Visigoths capital was at Toledo and warfare for control of Spain continued.

In 572 the Visigoths recaptured Córdoba and the Byzantines fell back to the Mediterranean and Cartagena became the new capital of the province. In 580, Hermenegild, the son of the Visigoth ruler, Leovigild, raised a revolt and appealed to the Byzantines in Cartagena for support but the rebellion fizzled out. The dispute was nominally about religion and the rift between Arians and Catholics. The Visigoths called a council in Toledo in 587 and formally adopted Catholicism.

Those unhappy Visigoths who still supported the Arian point of view rebelled but they were quickly defeated. The Carthaginians, observing the power of the Visigoth king Reccared reinforced Cartagena. The king died in 601 and his 18-year-old son, Liuva II, wasn’t as keen on fighting the Byzantines as he should have been according to Visigoth nobility. The more aggressive Witteric took over the throne in 603 but the Byzantines still kept hold of Cartagena. Witteric was assassinated in 610, Gundemar took over and he died in 612. Then Sisebut became king.

Amidst all this bloodshed, the great scholar and bishop of Seville, Isidore, who was born in Cartagena, was writing his great work Historia Gothorum. Two of his brothers and a sister also became saints.

In 615 Sisebut succeeded in making the Byzantines surrender Cartagena and he ordered that their city walls be destroyed. Byzantine rule was at an end although, of course, some Byzantines were left stranded in Spain under Visigoth rule. Cartagena had been under Byzantine rule for 64 years.

The remains of the Byzantine defences are what can be seen today beneath a modern building.

The site was first used by the Romans, and a rich merchant or official built a comfortable house, or domus, which featured lavish mosaic pavements. With the increasing wealth and prominence of Cartagena, a huge Roman theatre complex was built at about the time of the life of Christ. See the article elsewhere on this site about the theatre.

There was a grand and impressive portico at the entrance to the theatre gardens which led into the theatre itself. This was composed of a colonnade – or row of columns supporting an entablature, probably made up of an architrave, a frieze and a cornice. The footings for this grand structure were laid over the old Roman house, and the mosaics.

Rome fell and at the end of the second century the theatre was badly damaged by fire. When the Byzantines arrived, their citadel and walls were erected over the remains of both the original Roman house and the theatre.

Excavations were carried out in the area in 1983, before the discovery of the ruins of the Roman theatre. The remains from so many centuries are now very well displayed beneath a modern building – the Municipal Exhibition Hall. A metal walkway leads around the outer walls of the basement and visitors can peer down through the centuries to the mosaics, still with dolphins laid down some 2,000 years ago. The larger coloured stones in the patterns seem rather crude in comparison to the normal delicate nature of Roman mosaics. Perhaps they are repairs? The remains of the later structures are seen running across the mosaics.

The Byzantine Rampart Museum is open from Tuesday to Saturday, from10.30am to 1.30pm and from 5pm to 8.30pm. Closed Sunday, Monday and public holidays. Telephone 968 507 966. Entry is free. It is quite difficult to find. Although it is very close to the old Roman theatre you can’t get to it from the public entrance to that. No signs give any clues as to where it is.

You need a map or a guide.

Start at the newly-restored Town Hall near the waterfront. Opposite and slightly to the left of that, with your back to the Town Hall, you will find the Calle Cañon. Walk up there to the end and turn left into Calle Aire. Turn first right into Quatro Santos and walk along to the first crossroad. Note the statues in first floor niches on the buildings. There are three of Cartagena’s four most famous saints, including Isidore. There used to be four niches but a building has been knocked down. At this small crossroad, turn right and walk a little way up. You will see the Roman theatre. The building right behind you, on the right, houses the Byzantine Rampart Museum. It has glass doors and there may be an art exhibition on display. Go in and go down the steps into the basement. People who know where they are going can walk directly here from the old town hall in two minutes. Those who don’t can spend a good hour wandering around and asking for directions as few locals seem to have ever heard of the place let alone visited it.

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