User:Fabiovg/Begastri

Begastri is an archaeological site located in the town of Cehegín, in the Region of Murcia , Spain. Just 3 km away from the town center, in the so-called Cabezo Roenas. It is the origin of the current town of Cehegín. The site is the subject of archaeological excavations by the University of Murcia. It is a settlement of Iberian origins, later Roman municipality, which after the arrival of the Visigoths was transformed into an episcopal city. His bishops appear in some of the Visigoth councils of the seventh century.

Archaeology
Excavated under the direction of Professor Antonino González Blanco. In recent times and after his retirement, the work of archaeological direction is carried out by Francisco Peñalver Aroca, José Antonio Molina Gómez and José Antonio Zapata Parra. The architect who leads the consolidation works is Juan Antonio Durán Blázquez.

In 1980, a long administrative process began that culminated in the year 2002 with the declaration, by the regional government, of the BIC (Well of Cultural Interest ) with the category of an archaeological zone. According to this decree, the archaeological zone is defined and justified by constituting its immediate scope capable of containing some element of the site and forming its visual and environment in which any intervention that is carried out may involve an alteration of the conditions of perception of the property and of the character of the space that surrounds it.

History of the deposit
The deposit is a small oval-shaped head whose plain top is surrounded by a solid wall of ashlars, torreated and in which three of its doors are known so far. The occupation of the site extends, as far as it's known, from the Iberian period until the eleventh century AD.C., in which Begastri moved to the current historical helmet of the near Cehegín, probably due to the pressure by the Arabs that inhabited this second city. Begastri reached its peak in late antiquity when, apparently, served as bridgehead of the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo against the Byzantine province, whose administrative capital was in Carthago Spartaria (now Cartagena ). This is so much so that when Cartagena is devastated by the Visigoths, Begastri becomes the most important city in the area.

Towards 1920, the Cabezo was cut in which the acropolis is located in two parts to trace a track through which the railroad had to pass * (today abandoned and used as a greenway) that linked Caravaca with Murcia; the people who worked in that work at that time still remember having buried "many stones with letters" in a nearby chasm. As a result of this, part of the city and part of the south walled area was lost forever, some of whose ashlars can still be seen on the hillside.

The layout of the abandoned Murcia-Caravaca railway affects the hill on its southern flank, revealing the disposition of the materials that constitute it in the open trench. To the East and in its surroundings the paths of the Escobar and the old path or the Camino Real de Granada intersect.

The identification of this episcopal headquarters raised some problems until the end of the 19th century, when the appearance of an epigraphic inscription in Cabezo Roenas de Cehegín cleared all doubts. The uncertain identification of this place gave name to the Alicante town of Bigastro, where some 18th century scholars believed that this ancient city was located. In Hispania Visigoth it was the episcopal headquarters of the Catholic Church, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Toledo that included the ancient Roman province of Cartago in the diocese of Hispania.

Important discoveries
Some of the most interesting finds made in this site, as well as in its environment, can be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Cehegín.

A local and regional emblem found in the site is the Monogrammatic Cross of Begastri, one of the oldest in Spain. The chrismon is a bronze cross whose arms hang an alpha and an omega; the head contains the monogram of Christ attached to a chain to another smaller cross inscribed in a circle. Two dolphins with iron welding were found next to this cross that could possibly hang on the ends. If the cross is located in the Visigothic world, the dolphin could be considered as a savior of souls. These types of crosses were used in the consecration of churches and altars and are usually found in late-Roman necropolises of the 4th and 5th centuries.

Structure of Begastri
The hill where the city of Begastri is located is defined as an ovoid-looking acropolis. The plant of the acropolis of the deposit is approximately an ellipse of about 50 meters of minor axis and a little bit over 150 of major axis. There is also an extension of that walled area that was built around the 6th century or perhaps a little later and that closes a good part of the hill slopes inside the fortified area and which we call the second ring of walls. It is possible that they will discover further remains of the wall that further expand the defended area.

Walls
The Eastern Gate is preceded by a monumental entrance to the acropolis of the classical Roman era that was later walled in in the late antiquity period. The first wall is one of the most imposing examples of fortified cities in late antiquity in Spain.

The Iberian settlement had a wall of cyclopean rigging that can be seen in some areas below the late Roman. The Pax Romana of the post-republican and imperial times made the maintenance of a wall with the urbanism of a Roman town surely unnecessary and incompatible, so there would probably be little remains of the Iberian wall during the high Roman period.

Therefore the general hypothesis being put in work is that the main wall of Begastri is made in a late period. At the end of the period of Peace that characterized the Roman Empire and guaranteed the absence of invaders, the city was once again walled up. This wall is between 4-5 m tall and it is due to a first fortification after the threat of the barbarian invasions of the North of Hispania that devastated towards the south the peninsula.

The second line of walls known is the result of the invasion of the peninsular south by the Byzantine Empire, this time during the Visigothic domination, which will end with the annihilation of Cartagena. Unlike Cartagena, Begastri maintained and enhanced its status and in the absence of archaeological documentation that confirms otherwise, it is to be assumed that it should not have been conquered, or at most it was a short period of time under domination. However, future excavations will shed light on this issue with greater certainty.

The later Muslim rulers would not allow the doors and towers that fortified the city for strategic reasons to be repaired. The new Cehegín became the main nucleus of population.