Within the context of the I+D+i Project El tejido balneario durante época romana y tardoantigua en Hispania (15387/PHCS/10) (2014-2017), coordinated by G. Matilla Séiquer (professor of Ancient History at the University of Murcia) and funded by the SéNeCa Foundation (Science and Technology Agency of the Region of Murcia), a research book was carried out, focused specifically on the most significant mineral-medicinal sites of the Iberian Peninsula.
This book entitled Ancient thermalism in Hispania. An analysis of spas in Roman and late Roman times in the Iberian Peninsula has been coordinated by G. Matilla Séiquer and S. González Soutelo, and it was published by the prestigious CSIC publishing house within the collection of the Anejos del Archivo Español de Arqueología (2017, nº 78). It includes a significant number of contributions of a large number of specialists in different topics related to ancient thermalism in the Iberian Peninsula.
This book has been structured in five chapters: 1) The first one was focused on the discussion about the concept, definition and hierarchical criteria of Roman spas, based on Hispanic examples; 2) The second one was devoted to recent excavations or revisions that have been carried out in the Peninsula in recent years, mainly in Chaves-Aquae Flaviae (Vila Real); Las Burgas in Orense; the ‘Carlos III’ Spa in Trillo (Guadalajara); the thermal spa of Archena (Murcia), the thermal spa of Alange (Badajoz); Isla Plana building (Cartagena); Alhama de Murcia and Fortuna (Murcia), among others, described by the directors and researchers of these sites; 3) The third is dedicated to the relationships between spas, cities and territories, with the Roman road network, from the Roman period to Al-Andalus; 4) The fourth is devoted to the society and religion surrounding the mineral-medicinal waters in Hispania; 5) The fifth and last chapter includes one of the main objectives of the research project: the ‘Spa Map of Hispania’. This is a brief description of 152 healing springs with very different types of remains of hte Roman times, based on the consultation of multiple bibliographies and visits to most of these sites.
After its publication on paper in 2017, it is finally available online on the website of the CSIC publishing house, where you can find the contents of this publication and download it free of charge.
We hope that, with this new step favoured by the CSIC publishing institution, the research on ancient thermalism developed in the Iberian Peninsula in recent years will be more accessible.
Happy reading! Enjoy! 😉
