Les tours rurales et les maisons fortes de l'Hispanie romaine : éléments pour un bilan

Pierre Moret (1)

1 TRACES - Travaux et recherches archéologiques sur les cultures, les espaces et les sociétés

This paper presents a reappraisal of the archaeological and historical problems raised by a series of isolated tower-like strong buildings, concurrently named turres, castella or strong houses, that have been reported from several parts of Hispania during the Republican period and the early Empire. Diversity of local or regional contexts should not preclude the need for a global historical reflection. From this point of view, chronology is a crucial issue on which little progress has been made during the last decade, except on a few sites in Extremadura and Andalusia. A comparative study with other Mediterranean areas reinforces the idea that economic functions, prestige architecture and defensive concerns are closely linked, so that it would not make sense to put forward a unique purpose. Finally we examine two passages of Pliny the Elder (N. H., II 181 and XXXV 169) that have been used -wrongly-to identify some of these buildings, especially in the Baetica, as Hannibal's watch towers.

Mots clés: Rural fortifications; towers; Hispania; Republican period; Roman Empire

Domaines: Archéologie et Préhistoire

Pierre Moret. Les tours rurales et les maisons fortes de l'Hispanie romaine : éléments pour un bilan. V. Mayoral & S. Celestino. Los paisajes rurales de la romanización - Arquitectura y explotación del territorio. Contribuciones presentadas en la Reunión Científica celebrada en el Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Badajoz, 27 y 28 de octubre de 2008, La Ergástula Ediciones, p. 9-36, 2010. ⟨hal-00723938⟩