...is a fortress overlooking the town of Sagunto, near Valencia in Spain. The site's history extends back over two thousand years and includes Iberian, Roman and medieval remains. During the Islamic period, the castle was known as Murbĩtar and Morvedre. The castle was declared a National Monument in 1931.
The sacking of the Iberian settlement by Hannibal in 219 BC led to the outbreak of the Second Punic War. The visible walls are largely Islamic in origin, with substantial modifications taking place after the end of Islamic rule, with the defences being strengthened and modernised. In 1811, during the Napoleonic Wars, the French laid siege to the castle, and were ultimately successful in taking it, after which the defences were repaired.
The castle is located 23 kilometres (14 mi) north of Valencia, upon a flat-topped hill. The hill is the last upthrust of the Sierra Calderona mountains, reaching an altitude of 172 metres (564 ft) above mean sea level.
The original Iberian name for the city was Arse. Sagunto was originally recorded as a Roman municipium in the middle of the 1st century BC, as the Municipium Saguntinum, or simply Saguntum. During the reign of Wamba, king of the Visigoths, the old Roman municipium became referred to as Sagunto, and it continued under this name until 711 AD, and the end of the Visigoth kingdom. During the Muslim domination of Spain, the Mozarabs referred to the town as Murum Veterum, the "old wall", a name already in use by the 11th century. In time this form was contracted and corrupted into forms such as Murvetrum, Morvedre, and Molvedre, and the Muslims modified this into Murbiter. Christian documents from the 11th century use the form Murus Vetulus.
The site occupies a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and is surrounded by defensive walls. The castle is divided into seven main sections or plazas. The principal divisions are the Plaza de Armas, Plaza de Almenara, Plaza de los Nueve Pilares, Plaza de San Fernando, Plaza de los Estudiantes, Plaza de la Ciudadela and Plaza del Espolón. The visible ruins are essentially those of the Muslim citadel, with later modifications under Christian rule, and finally by French engineers during the Peninsular War.
The curtain wall mostly dates to the Islamic period; it descended from the castle to connect to a series of fortifications laid out around the town below. It underwent substantial modifications from the Christian period through to the Peninsular War, with Gothic and Renaissance reworking of Muslim fortifications. A number of towers and bastions survive, mostly dating to the 18th century.
The Plaza del Refectorio is the smallest of the plazas, situated in the centre of the castle upon an elevation that also supports the Reina Gobernadora battery. The Plaza del Refectorio takes its name from a number of vaulted arcades that were used as refectories. Its east side is formed by the refectory building; it is bordered on the south side by the curtain wall, on the west by a ruined double wall and a Roman tower, and on the north by a fortified wall. A corridor running between the Plaza del Refectorio and the battery links the Plaza de Armas with the Plaza de San Fernando.
The Plaza de Armas is accessed via an Islamic arch. Remains of the Iberian defensive wall are visible on the east side of the castle. The foundations of the Roman forum, together with those of some Iberian buildings, and those of a Roman temple or capitolium, are all located in the forum area of the castle,[3] upon the hilltop.[14] The ruins of the Roman buildings are laid out around a square measuring 60 by 36.5 metres (197 by 120 ft). The plaza was fronted on the west side by a basilica that measured 60 by 20 metres (197 by 66 ft). The east side of the square was lined by a row of tabernae (shops). To the south of the plaza is a well-preserved cistern, and the base of the temple or capitolium are on the north side. The temple measured 14 by 12 metres (46 by 39 ft). A complex building was situated on the northeast side of the plaza; it has not been securely identified but it may have been a curia (assembly or court building) or a temple of Augustus. Since it possessed two large parallel chambers, it may have served both functions. The remains of a Roman theatre stand some 50 metres (160 ft) down the hillside to the northwest of the forum.[14] The cistern is likely to have been built when the city was rebuilt after the Second Punic War.
The Roman forum was excavated in 1985. The original forum dated to the Late Republican period, and was largely demolished in the Early Imperial period in order to build a new forum. The replacement was built during the reign of Augustus, and paid for by Gnaeus Baebius Geminus, a local aristocrat. The hilltop was levelled, and retaining walls reinforced by buttresses supported the artificial platform that served as a foundation for the forum. On the north side of the forum, the retaining walls and buttressing are still visible.
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