Carthago Nova

We knew there was a lot of Roman history in Cartagena, Spain.  What we did not realize due to our ignorance before we came was that the original, Roman name was Carthago Nova, or in English New Carthage.  I went to see the Carthaginian Ruins in Tunisia almost 20 years ago and can remember that visit well.  Between that trip and just generally being interested in history, I knew the importance of Carthage.  But I had no idea that the Romans founded a New Carthage.

There were some fascinating remains and ruins that we got to explore here with the girls while learning a lot more about Roman history.  The Roman Theatre is very well preserved, though obviously has deteriorated and a lot has been lost to the ravages of time.  We walked through the museum to learn more about Roman culture in general and about the Roman Theatre in particular before walking into the impressive theatre itself.  We marvelled over the incredible feat of how they could have possibly built such a large and impressive structure with such minimal modern technology.  From the functional grand scale of how to build such a monumental building with no machinery to lift and place heavy materials to the intricately carved ornamental details.  It was so impressive.  I truly believe there are few, if any, artists today that can compare to the artists they had in past eras.  These thoughts are not unique to this Roman theatre, as we have wondered the same things while touring cathedrals and other historic architectural marvels.  Nevertheless, was something we all contemplated in awe!

There is also a large archaeological park, which has a variety of Roman remains.  There was the museum with the various vessels, especially amphorae, and other everyday objects that we walked through first.  We then progressed out of the building via an actual Roman road into the open where there were ruins from various buildings from the inner core of the Roman town.  There were the main government buildings including a forum, a building where the senate would convene, and other various remains.  The Hall of the Curia was mostly still intact, but little remained from the majority of the other important governmental buildings and areas.

Moving beyond this area, we reached the remains of the Temple of Isis.  Katia is utterly obsessed with Greek Mythology and was excited to see her first temple, even if it was a Roman one rather than a Greek one.  We were all entranced with how impressive this building would have been and just how revered the gods were.  This was definitely something to whet her appetite for now, and if anything, it has made Katia even more excited for our upcoming two months in Greece, where we have promised to spend a lot of time exploring with her!

From the temple, we reached various public buildings that housed a variety of things.  At times there were residential apartments on the upper levels and shops on the main level.  At times it was more of a public building, where people would congregate and socialize while going about business in the buildings.  Some impressive remains show what windows, paintings, shrines, room layouts, etc were like at the time.  Especially considering that this building ceased being functional due to fire destroying it.  Given the time elapsed since the devastating fire, it’s remarkably well-preserved ruins.

Walking along the Roman road to the next building, admiring the grooves you can still see in the paving stones from carts that traversed this 2,000 years ago, and being able to look up above you at the hill with the windmills for grinding flour for the Romans, you reach another important building from the Roman era:  the bathhouse.  We have seen a variety of Roman bath remains in our travels this year and in the past.  But this is one of the most impressive bathhouse remains we have seen along the way.  It was a large building, and plenty remained intact.  Including a tavern in the back corner for eating while visiting the baths, where the cooking area was still clearly visible.

All in all, Cartagena is impressive for the wide variety of Roman remains they have here.  It’s possible to get a very clear impression of what a Roman town was like.  How the town was laid out, what the buildings were like, how community and town life functioned, the social aspect of town life in Roman times, and so much more.  Typically in our travels, we have seen bits and pieces of Roman remains and history, or remains that are more spread out across a vast area.  So, this felt like a unique and informative experience to learn more about Roman history. 

We appreciated all the plaques, which we spent literally hours reading to gain more in-depth knowledge than just stopping to glance at these various buildings and moving on.  The girls are developing a huge appreciation for history, and seem especially interested in Roman, Greek, and medieval history so far.  They cannot get enough of learning about these periods.  They insisted on reading every single word on every single plaque to make sure they knew as much as possible, and they still walked away with incredibly insightful questions that I just could not answer for them!  I do believe we will need to try to find some more Roman historical sites to satisfy their curiosity before our return to Canada!