Spain’s raiders of the lost arch

[rangerrebew]

Spain’s raiders of the lost arch

The discovery in the Jaén countryside of the starting point of the 1,500-kilometer-long main Roman road in Andalusia is being described as “one of the most important in the last few decades”

Ángeles Lucas
 

Seville 28 MAY 2018 - 17:29 CEST   


The two bases of the Janus Augustus Arch have been unearthed in the Jaén countryside and are set to alter the way we perceive Andalusia’s Roman past.

This imposing structure, some seven meters high, four meters deep and 15 meters wide, was built from local sandstone in the era of the Emperor Augustus and cemented with Roman concrete, and was “kilometer zero,” i.e. the starting point, for the 1,500-kilometer-long main Roman road in Andalusia, then known as Hispania Baetica. Twenty-one centuries later, the discovery allows a glimpse into the people who crossed under the ancient arch in what is now the city of Mengíbar.

https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/05/25/inenglish/1527248590_878483.html