Cadiz

• Cadiz is a Port city on the Atlantic, located near the mouth of the river Guadalquivir in Andalucia, Spain. It is the home port of the Spanish Navy.
• Founded in c.1,100 BCE by the Phoenicians from Tyre, Cadiz is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. It was named Gades by the Romans and was in the Province of Baetica.

History

• Hanno the Navigator (5th century BCE) began his journey around West Africa from Cadiz.
• Cadiz held a Temple to Melqart (Hercules) and also an Oracle.
• During the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE) Hannibal made a sacrifice in the Temple before his Crossing of the Alps to invade Italy.
• In 206 BCE, the Romans occupied the city and named it Gades and built the Via Augusta between Cadiz and Gaul.

Roman Sites

• Cadiz Roman Theatre
  • The Theatre was excavated in 1980 in El Populo District of Cadiz.
  • It was built in the 1st century BCE by Lucius Cornelius Balbus (Minor).
  • The Theatre had a capacity for 20,000 spectators making it the second largest Theatre in the Roman World, after Pompey's Stone Theatre in Rome.
  • Cicero in ‘Epistulae ad Familiares’ (Letters to Friends) mentiones Balbus using this Theatre.

Museums

• Museum of Cadiz

Roman Roads

• Via Augusta
  • Cadiz-Seville–Cordoba–Cartagena–Barcelona–Trophy of Pompey

Cadiz