They are León (Legio), Astorga (Asturica Augusta) and Lugo (Lucus Augusti).
León (Legio) was founded around 29 BC. as the camp of the Legio VI Victrix. Later, at the end of the 1st century AD., Legio VII Gemina settled there and made it its permanent base until the beginning of the 5th century.
At present, a large part of the old wall is preserved, enclosing the old town of the current city of León, as shown in the following drawing (blue line indicates the better preserved parts of the wall):
I have had the opportunity of visiting a very interesting museum under the name of “Interpretation Center of Roman León”. I include below several pictures of the various materials on display.
A scale model of the original camp of VI and VII legions:
Two busts of the Roman emperors Galba and Trajan, respectively creator and legatus of Legio VII Gemina:
Part of a well-preserved section of the wall:
A diagram of the structure of the wall and a drawing of its repair at a late stage of the empire (note the very interesting reconstruction of the Roman soldiers of that time):
A scale model showing a section of the wall, as well as part of the permanent legionary barracks (note the use of Asterix figures for the setting, for the enjoyment of Remco and Beano Boy):
The best of all, for my personal taste, were the reconstruction of both the equipment of the Roman soldiers and the barracks for a contubernium of eight legionaries:
In the museum of the Christian temple of San Isidoro de León, there was a tombstone corresponding to a signifier of an Asturian cohort:
There are several examples in León that recall in current life its Roman origin, such as the name of one of the city's High Schools:
Astorga (Asturica Augusta) was born at the end of the 1st century AD. as the camp of the Legio X Gemina and soon after became a civil settlement.
I was able to visit a small museum without too many materials. Some of them were this tombstone corresponding to a tubicen from the Legio X Gemina and a picture showing the reconstruction of a Roman travel carriage:
And last, but no least, I was also in Lugo (Lucus Augusti), founded around 25 BC. by legatus Paulus Fabius Maximus on the remains of an earlier Roman camp. The city is specially known by its Roman wall, unique in the world, which conserves its entire perimeter (about 2 km) and was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Here you can see a model with the ancient Roman city delimited by the wall, another model with a reconstruction of a section of wall and a pair of towers, two images of the real wall and the inner side of one of the best preserved towers:
A picture of the remains of the thermae and other of the Roman bridge over river Duero:
And this is a homage of the city of Lugo to its two founders: at right Emperor Augustus and at left legatus Paulus Fabius Maximus:
(Yes, you are right, the bearded man in shorts and sandals that appears in some photos is Santi himself
).And finally one sample of the Roman influence on the life of the current Lugo; a sign on the door of a bar with the motto: "Those who are going to drink greet you" (a small variant of the classic: "Morituri te salutant" or "Those who are going to die greet you"
):
I hope you enjoy this historical report. Thanks for watching.
Santi.
Moderator
