In 2012 an international symposium entitled ¿Crisis urbana a finales del Alto Imperio? La evolución de los espacios cívicos en el Occidente romano en tiempos de cambio (s. II–IV) took place in Cartagena, designed to analyse the dimensions of the so-called ‘Third-century Crisis’, its origins and consequences. This volume, the first of two outputs from this conference, is dedicated to the political unit of Hispania Tarraconensis and, more specifically, to the evolution of the territory's cities from the historiographical landmark of the third century. Oddly, however, the first paper considers the archaeology of towns in Italy's Cispadana; although an interesting analysis, it might have been better placed as an end paper, reflecting on differences or similarities between that territory and the Hispanic province in this period.
Apart from this article, and one on wall painting and its evolution in Hispania, the rest of the contents are devoted to various major cities of Tarraconenesis: Iulia Livica, Baetulo, Tarraco, Dertosa, Edeta, Colonia Iulia Ilici Augusta, Carthago Nova and the city (whose ancient name is unknown) at Los Bañales de Uncastillo. The latter, in fact, is one of only two examples of towns in the interior: a likely municipium sited in the modern province of Zaragoza, recent work here has demonstrated an abandonment of some areas of the urban sector, chiefly public spaces, from the late-second century. The second of the interior towns, Iulia Livica, is distinctive for being located in a high mountainous area. The related article emphasises how the end of some urban centres should not have meant the inevitable end of the civitas as a political entity or the failure of the economic prosperity of the territory in which it was situated, pointing to this core area of the Pyrenees as a good example.
The monograph mainly provides a vision of the cities of the Catalan coast – Baetulo, Tarraco and Dertosa – that supports the idea of a general decline in the third century a.d., but in many cases with some intense transformations coming already in the second century, such as the abandonment of the theatre of Tarraco c. a.d. 150. Another example is the suburban port of Dertosa, which fell redundant until the fifth–sixth centuries when it resumed with a completely different function: a funerary area. The analysis of Baetulo highlights urban transformations similarly from the second century: the theatre was built in the early decades of that century when the city's drainage system was renewed; from c. a.d. 200, certain sectors of the city were being abandoned; but the mid-third century sees many signs of recovery. The general context of these three cities, each with different evolutionary characteristics, recalls the hypothesis of G. Alföldy (‘Hispania bajo los Flavios y Antoninos: consideraciones históricas sobre una época’, in M. Mayer, J.M. Nolla and J. Pardo [edd.], De les estructures indígenes a l'organització provincial romana de la Hispania citerior. Homenatge a Josep Estrada i Garriga [1998], pp. 11–32), namely that the gradual worsening of living conditions affected not only the Citerior province but the entire peninsula, and was ‘active’ since the Antonines.
It is important to recognise that the continuity of these towns, often into hugely busy modern cities, prevents systematic excavations of key ancient spaces. Sometimes the final results are limited to specific sites or rescue excavations, which can be valuable or else too limited. A good example comes in the article about the evolution of the amphitheatre of Carthago Nova, which ended up being the bullring of the city after various vicissitudes. Noticeably, the archaeological data for the building are very limited; a few indirect references, with no secure archaeological support, push the authors to state that this building no longer served as an entertainment venue from the mid-second century.
A more thorough review of materials and stratigraphy comes, however, in the examples of Edeta and Ilici. The ceramic contexts associated with levels of clogging up and disuse in public and private spaces are the main object of study, although the results are uneven. In Edeta a widespread decline of the town from the mid-third century is claimed, culminating at the beginning of the next century with almost complete abandonment. In Ilici, however, the archaeological data indicate some continuity into a relatively thriving fourth century, affecting both city and territory.
The volume is an interesting study of the towns of this province (though one should note the absence of important examples like Caesaraugusta, Barcino or Valentia) at the critical time span that begins for many of them in the second century and ends, in this monograph, in the fourth century. But there are issues here: as is usual in studies of the Late Roman Empire, there is rarely a single pattern or model at work, requiring us to study urban sites as autonomous examples, then to look for similarities and general patterns that can be extended to other cities. This situation can sometimes result in different interpretations of the same archaeological phenomenon. As shown in this book, a process of ‘reorganisation’ in a town discussed in one study could be interpreted as a notable ‘decline’ in another city by another author. Nevertheless, apart from the different interpretations, the book makes available a great quantity – and quality – of data regarding urban transformations in this period that should force us to rethink some of the traditional ideas relating to the critical third century in the Iberian Peninsula. As Alföldy already identified, so we also should see that many of the third-century's difficulties had begun up to a century earlier.
