Cividade de Terroso was an ancient city of the Castro culture in North-western coast of the Iberian Peninsula, situated near the present bed of the Ave river, in the suburbs of present-day Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.
Located, in the heart of the Castro region,Armando Coelho Ferreira da Silva A Cultura Castreja no Noroeste de Portugal Museu Arqueológico da Citânia de Sanfins, 1986 the cividade played a leading role in the early urbanization of the region in the early 1st millennium BC, as one of the oldest, largest and impregnable castro settlements. It was important in coastal tradingMountain, Harry: The Celtic Encyclopedia, Volume V. Universal Publishers (1998), p.1182 as it was part of well-established maritime trade routes with the Mediterranean. Celtic and later Carthaginian influence a well-known, it was eventually destroyed after the Roman conquest in 138 BC. The city's ancient name is not known with certainty but it was known during the Middle Ages as Civitas Teroso (The City of Terroso). it was built at the summit of Cividade Hill, in the suburban area of Terroso, less than 5 km from the coast, near the eastern edge of modern Póvoa de Varzim.
Beyond the main citadel, three of Cividade de Terroso's outposts are known: Castro de Laundos (the citadel's surveillance post), Castro de Navais (away from the citadel, a fountain remains to this day), and Castro de Argivai (a Castro culture farmhouse in the coastal plain). Cividade de Terroso is located just 6,3 km from Cividade de Bagunte both in the North bank of the Ave river.
History Settlement
The settlement of Cividade de Terroso was founded during the Bronze Age, between 800 and 900 BC, as a result of the displacement of the people inhabiting the fertile plain of Beiriz and Várzea in Póvoa de Varzim. This data is supported by the discovery of egg-shaped cesspits, excavated in 1981 by Armando Coelho, where he collected fragments of four vases of the earlier period prior to the settlement of the Cividade.Flores Gomes, José Manuel & Carneiro, Deolinda: Subtus Montis Terroso. CMPV (2005), "Cultura castreja - A Cividade de Terroso", pp.97-131 As such, it is part of the oldest Castro culture settlements, such as the ones from Santa Luzia or Roriz.Póvoa de Varzim, Um Pé na Terra, Outro no Mar
The city prospered due to its strong defensive walls and its location near the ocean, which facilitated trade with the maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, mainly during the Carthaginian rule in the South-eastern Iberian Peninsula.
Viriatus murdered and Revenge
Trade eventually attracted Roman attention during the Punic Wars and the Romans had learned of the wealth of the Castro region in gold and tin. Viriathus led the troops of the Lusitanian confederation, which included several tribes, and hindered the northward growth of the Roman Republic at the Douro iver, but his murder in 138 BC opened the way for the Roman legions. The citadel and the Castro culture perished at the end of the Lusitanian War.Flores Gomes, José Manuel & Carneiro, Deolinda: Subtus Montis Terroso. CMPV (2005), "Introdução", p.12 Some of Viriatus fighters may have sought refuge in the North. These with Grovii and Callacian tribes and following Celtic ways, with their women, wanted revenge for the death of Viriatus. They attacked the Roman settlements in Lusitania, gaining momentum with the support of other tribes along the way, reaching the south of the Peninsula, near modern Andalusia. Endangering Roman rule in large stretches of Hispania.
Roman conquest Decimus Junius Brutus was sent to the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior to deal with it and led a campaign in order to annex the Castro region (of the Callaeci tribes) for Rome, which led to the complete destruction of the city,Flores Gomes, José Manuel & Carneiro, Deolinda: Subtus Montis Terroso CMPV (2005), "Origens do Povoamento" pp.74-76 just after the death of Viriathus. Strabo wrote, probably describing this period: "until they were stopped by the Romans, who humiliated them and reduced most of their cities to mere villages" (Strabo, III.3.5). These cities included Abobriga, Lambriaca and Catania. Lambriaca allied with Rome but rebelled following regional pressure as they were perceived as traitors in the region. It led the rebellion but after months of siege, it asked for mercy as the siege left the city without provision of supplies. All of coast was occupied by the Celts. In Conventus Bracarensis, where the Romans would establish the Augustan citadel of Bracara, there were also the Grovii and the Heleni of Greek origin. The Grovii dwelt on the coast near the rivers "Avo" (the Ave river), Celadus, Nebis, Minius and the Oblivion. The Laeros and the Ulla rivers were in the North reach of this people. The notable citadel of Abobriga or Avobriga, was probably located near the mouth of the Ave River, as its name suggests. According to Pomponius Mela, it was located near Lambriaca, in the lands of the Grovii. A hint which could help to identify Celtic Lambriaca is that it had two areas with cliffs and very easy access from the other two sides.
The important city of Cinania was rich, its inhabitants had several Luxury goods but kept their independence due to the city's strong defensive walls, and despise for Rome. Brutus wished to conquer it before leaving Iberia and not leave that conquest for other officials. He planned a siege. The Romans used catapults to destroy the city's walls and invade the citadel, but the inhabitants resisted the attempted Roman assaults, causing Roman casualties. The Romans had to withdraw. The Canadians used a tunnel, used for mining, for a surprise assault on the Roman camp destroying the catapults. Nonetheless, Appian mentioned two battles led by Brutus, in which women fought alongside the men, both ended in a Roman victory. Archaeological data in Cividade de Terroso and tribesmen's Last Stand behavior, which included their children in one of those battles, highlight the barbarity of the conquest.
The last urban stage under the Roman mercy policy
Roman mercy is recorded by the establishment of Brutus's peaceful settlements. Sometime later, the Cividade was rebuilt and became heavily Romanized, which started the cividade's last urban stage. Upon return, Brutus gained an honorific Callaecus on the fifth day before the Ides, the festival of Vesta in the month of Junius. A celebrated milestone refers that Brutus victories extended to the ocean. Brutus is also referred by Plutarch as "the Brutus who triumphed over Lusitania" and as the invader of Lusitania.
Citadel exodus The region was incorporated in the Roman Empire and totally pacified during the rule of Caesar Augustus. In the coastal plain, a Roman villa that was known as Villa Euracini was created, hence it was a property of a family known as the Euracini. The family was joined by Castro people who returned to the coastal plain. An early fish factory and salt evaporation ponds were built near the new villa, and a later one with a cetariæ and a housing complex, with one of those buildings dating to the 1st century. The Romans built roads, including Via Veteris, a necropolis and exploited the famed local mines, that became known as Aqualata. From the 1st century onward, and during the imperial period, the slow abandonment of Cividade Hill started.
An 18th century legendary city In the Memórias Paroquiais (Parish Memories) of 1758, the director António Fernandes da Loba with other clergymen from the parish of Terroso, wrote: This parish is all surrounded by farming fields, and in one area, almost in the middle of it, there is a higher hill, that is about a third of the farming fields of this parish and the ancient say that this was the City of Moors Hill, because it is known as Cividade Hill.
The Lieutenant Veiga Leal in the News of Póvoa de Varzim on May 24 of 1758 wrote: "From the hill known as Cividade, one can see several hints of houses, that the people say formed a city, cars with bricks from the ruins of that one arrive in this town."
20th century archaeology
Cividade was later rarely cited by other authors. In the early 20th century, Rocha Peixoto encouraged his friend António dos Santos Graça to subsidize archaeology works.
In 1906, excavations began on June 5 with 25 manual workers and continued until October, interrupted due to bad weather; they recommenced in May 1907, finishing in that same year. The materials discovered were taken to museums in the city of Porto.
After the death of Rocha Peixoto, in 1909, some rocks of the citadel had been used to pave some streets in Póvoa de Varzim, notably Rua Santos Minho Street and Rua das Hortas. Occasionally, groups of scouts of the Portuguese Youth and others in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s, made diggings in search for archaeology pieces. This was seen as archaeological vandalism but continued even after the Cividade was listed as a property of Public Interest in 1961.
In 1980, Póvoa de Varzim City Hall invited Armando Coelho to pursue further archaeology works; these took place during the summer of that year. Result were used for Coelho's project A Cultura Castreja do Norte de Portugal. Archaeological surveys led by the same archaeologist resumed in 1981, leading to the discovery of a grave and tombstones, which helped to comprehend the funerary rituals; housing, yards and walls were also surveyed, which were the main focus for the 1982 archaeological surveys along with the recovery of Decumanus street (East-west). Archaeology works resumed in 1989 and 1991. The city hall purchased the acropolis area and constructed a small archaeological museum in its entrance.
In 2005, groups of Portuguese and Spanish (Galician) archaeologists had started to study the hypothesis of this cividade and six others to be classified as World Heritage sites of UNESCO.Casa de Sarmento - Centro de Estudos do PatrimónioArqueologia - Candidatura apresentada - São seis os Castros a património mundial - correiodamanha.pt The Rede de Castros do Noroeste, the Northwestern Castro Network, was established in 2015 grouping the most important sites in Northern Portugal including Cividade de Terroso but also Cividade de Bagunte, Citânia de Sanfins, Citânia de Briteiros, Citânia de Santa Lúzia and a few other sites.
Defensive system
The most typical characteristic of the castros is its defensive system. The inhabitants had chosen to start living in the hill as a way of protection against attacks and lootings by rival tribes. The Cividade was erected at 152 metres height (about 500 feet), allowing an excellent position to monitor the entire region. One of the sides, the north, was blocked by São Félix Hill, where a smaller castro was built, the Castro de Laundos from the 2nd century B.C., that served as a surveillance post.
The migrations of Turduli and Celtici proceeding from the south of the Iberian Peninsula heading north are referred by Strabo and were the reason for the improvement of the defensive systems of the castros around 500 BC.
Cividade de Terroso is one of the most heavily defensive Castro culture citadels, given that the acropolis was surrounded by three rings of walls. These walls were built at different stages, due to the growth of the town.
The walls had great blocks without mortar and were adapted to the hill's topography. The areas of easier access (South, East and West) possessed high, wide and resistant walls; while the ones in land with steep slopes were protected mainly by strengthening the local features.
That can easily be visible with the discovered structures in the East that present a strong defensive system that reaches 5.30 metres (17 feet 5 inches) wide. While in the Northeast, the wall was constructed using natural granite that only was crowned by a wall of rocks.