Corduba - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD

Corduba
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Ancient Corduba Capital of the very important and wealthy province of Baetica in Hispania. Corduba was a Iberian and Roman city in the ancient Roman Empire.

Corduba The modern Cordova; one of the largest cities in Spain, and the capital of Baetica, on the right bank of the Baetis. It became a Roman colony B.C. 152, and was the birthplace of the two Senecas and of Lucan. - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Corduba CO�RDUBA
CO�RDUBA (Κόρδυβα, Κορδύβη, Κορδούβα: Eth. and Adj. Cordubensis: Cordoba or Cordova), one of the chief cities of Hispania, in the territory of the Turduli. It stood on the right bank of the Baetis (Guadalquivir), a little below the spot where the navigation of the river commenced, at the distance of 1200 stadia from the sea. [BAETIS] Its foundation was ascribed to Marcellus, whom we find making it his head-quarters in the Celtiberian War. (Strab. iii. p.141; Plb. 35.2.) It was occupied from the first by a chosen mixt population of Romans and natives of the surrounding country; and it was the first colony of the Romans in those parts. Strabo's language implies that it was a colony from its very foundation, that is, from B.C. 152. It was regarded as the capital of the extensive and fertile district of Baeturia, comprising the country between the Anas and the Baetis, the richness of which combined with its position on a great navigable river, and on the great high road connecting the E. and NE. parts of the peninsula with the S., to raise it to a position only second to Gades as a commercial city. (Strab. l.c., and p. 160 )

In the great Civil War Corduba suffered severely on several occasions, and was at last taken by Caesar, soon after the battle of Munda, when 22,000 of its inhabitants were put to the sword, B.C. 45. (Caes. B.C. 2.19; Hirt. Bell. Alex. 49, 57, 59, 60, Bell. Hisp. 32--34; Appian, App. BC 2.104, 105; D. C. 43.32.)

Corduba was the seat of one of the four convents juridici of the province of Baetica, and the usual residence of the praetor; hence it was generally regarded as the capital of the province. (Plin. Nat. 3.1. s. 3; Appian, App. Hisp. 65.) It bore the surname of PATRICIA (Plin. l.c.; Mela, 2.6.4), on account, as is said, of the number of patricians who were among the colonists; and, to the present day, Cordova is so conspicuous, even among Spanish cities, for the pride of its nobles in their �azure blood� that the Great Captain, Gonzalo de Cordova, used to say that �other towns might be better to live in, but none was better to be born in.� (Ford, Handbook, p. 73.)

In the annals of Roman literature Corduba is conspicuous as the birthplace of Lucan and the two Senecas, besides others, whose works justified the epithet of �facunda,� applied to it by Martial (Mart. 1.62. 8):--�Duosque Senecas, unicumque Lucanum Facunda loquitur Corduba.�

(Comp. 9.61, and the beautiful epigram of Seneca, ap. Wernsdorf, Poet. Lat. Min. vol. v. pt. 3, p. 1364.)

Numerous coins of the city are extant, bearing the names of CORDUBA, PATRICIA, and COLONIA PATRICIA. (Florez, Med. de Esp. vol. i. p. 373, vol. ii. p. 536; Mionnet, vol. i. p. 11, Suppl. vol. i. p. 23; Sestini, p. 46; Eckhel, vol, i. p. 18.) There are now scarcely any remains of the Roman city, except a ruined building, which the people dignify with the title of Seneca's House. (Florez, Esp. Sagr. vol. x. p. 132; Mi�ano, Diccion. vol. iii. p. 170.) The city is one of Ptolemy's places of recorded astronomical observations, having 14 hrs. 25 min. for its longest day, and being distant 3 2/5 hrs. W. of Alexandria. (Ptol. 2.4.11, 8.4.4.)  - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed.

C�rdoba (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkor�oβa]; also Cordova; Qurṭuba قرطبة) is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of C�rdoba. An Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it was capital of an Islamic caliphate. During this time Cordoba was one of the largest cities in the world whose name continues to represent a symbol of Islamic conquest to many faithful Muslims around the world. Its population in 2008 was 325,453.

Today a moderately-sized modern city, the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when Qurṭuba (قرطبة), the thriving capital of the Caliphate of C�rdoba, governed almost all of the Iberian peninsula. It has been estimated that in the latter half of the tenth century C�rdoba, with up to 500,000 inhabitants, was then the most populated city in Europe and, perhaps, in the world...

History
The first historical mention of a settlement dates however to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir, when the general Amilcar Barca baptized it Kartuba, from Kart-Juba, meaning "the City of Juba", the latter being a Numidian commander who had died in a battle nearby.

C�rdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 BC. In 169 the Roman consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. Between 143 and 141 BC the town was besieged by Viriatus. A Roman Forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC.

At the time of Julius Caesar, C�rdoba was the capital of the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior Baetica. Great Roman philosophers like Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger, orators like Seneca the Elder and poets like Lucan came from Roman Cordoba. Later, it occupied an important place in the Provincia Hispaniae of the Byzantine Empire (552-572) and under the Visigoths, who conquered it in the late 6th century.

It was captured in 711[4] by a Muslim army: in 716 it became a provincial capital, depending from the Caliphate of Damascus; in Arabic it was known as قرطبة (Qurṭuba). In May 766, it was elected as capital of the independent Muslim emirate of al-Andalus, later a Caliphate itself. During the caliphate apogee (1000 AD), C�rdoba had a population of roughly 400,000 inhabitants,[5] though estimates range between 250,000 and 500,000. In the 10th-11th centuries C�rdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world, as well as a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. The Great Mosque of C�rdoba dates back to this time; under caliph Al-Hakam II C�rdoba received what was then the largest library in the world, housing from 400,000 to 1,000,000 volumes.

After the fall of the caliphate (1031), C�rdoba became the capital of a Republican independent taifa. This short-lived state was conquered by Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad, lord of Seville, in 1070. In turn, the latter was overthrown by the Almoravids, later replaced by the Almohads.

During the latter's domination the city declined, the role of capital of Muslim al-Andalus having been given to Seville. On 29 June 1236, after a siege of several months, it was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile, during the Spanish Reconquista. The city was divided into 14 barrios and numerous new church buildings were added.

The city declined especially after Renaissance times. In the 18th century it had reduced to just 20,000 inhabitants. Population and economy started to increase only in the early 20th century.

With one of the most extensive historical heritages in the world (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO 17 December 1984), the city also features a number of modern areas, including the districts of Zoco and the railway station district, Plan RENFE.

The regional government (the Junta de Andaluc�a) has for some time been studying the creation of a C�rdoba Metropolitan Area that would comprise, in addition to the capital itself, the towns of Villafranca, Obejo, La Carlota, Villaharta, Villaviciosa, Almod�var del R�o and Guadalc�zar. The combined population of such an area would be around 351,000.  - Wikipedia