Lucus Augusti
LUCUS AUGUSTIa town in Gallia Narbonensis, and east of the Rhone, which Tacitus (Tac. Hist. 1.66) calls municipium Vocontiorum;and Pliny (Plin. Nat. 3.4) names Vasio ( Vaison) and Lucus Augusti the two chief towns of the Vocontii. Lucus is placed in the Itins. on a road from Vapincum ( Gap) to Lugdunum ( Lyon): it is the first stage after Mons Seleucus, and lies between Mons Seleucus and Dea Vocontiorum (Die). The name is preserved in Luc. This town has been destroyed by the fall of a rock, which, having stopped the course of the Drôme, has caused the river to spread out and form lakes which have covered part of its territory: there remains, however, in the neighbourhood and at the outlet of these lakes a place which preserves the name of Luc.(D'Anville, Notice, &c. ) It is stated in the Guide du Voyageur(Richard et Hocquart), that on the mountain called the Pied de Luc, in the commune of Luc-en-Diois, there are considerable remains of old buildings. The column of the public fountain of this little place is a fragment of an old capital, and the basin is a sarcophagus of a single stone.There is an inscription on it in Roman characters.
[G.L]LUCUS AUGUSTI(Λοῦκος Λὐγούστον, Ptol. 2.6.24: Lugo), a city in the centre of Gallaecia, in Hispania Tarraconensis, was originally the chief town of the insignificant tribe of the CAPORIbut under the Romans it was made the seat of a conventus juridicus, and became one of the two capitals of Gallaecia, and gave its name to the Callaïci Lucenses. [GALLAECIA] The Conventus Lucensis, according to Pliny, began at the river Navilubio, and contained 16 peoples, besides the Celtici and Lebuni; and though these tribes were insignificant, and their names barbarous, there were among them 166,000 freemen (Plin. Nat. 3.3. s. 4, 4.20. s. 34). The city stood on one of the upper branches of the Minius ( Miño), on the road from BRACARAto ASTURICA( Itin. Ant. pp. 424, 430), and had some famous baths, of which there are now no remains. (Florez, Esp. S. vol. xl., xli.; Ukert, vol. ii. pt. 1, p. 437).
[P.S]Roman city of Tarraconensis, in the NW. It was founded by Augustus at the end of the Cantabrian wars, probably as headquarters for cohorts of veterans. Among other sources, it is referred to in Pliny (HN 3.3.28; 4.34.111), Ptolemy (2.6.24) and often in inscriptions (CIL II, 2570ff). It was the seat of the Conventus Lucensis, one of the three into which Gallaecia was divided. Although the present city is built over the Roman one, the ancient plan, showing traces of a primitive encampment, is recognizable: the cardo and decumanus, and an area of 250 by 350 m capable of lodging five cohorts, or 2500 men. The population gradually clustered around the camp, forming the city enclosed within the walls.
The Roman walls are the most complete and best preserved in Spain, and some of the best in the Empire, although they have undergone several restorations which have partially altered their original appearance. Their strong resemblance to the walls of Aurelian in Rome seems to date them to the 3d c. A.D. Theoretically rectangular in plan, in reality they are in an irregular ellipse because of the terrain. The perimeter is 2130 m, the thickness 6 m, and the height 11-14 m. The walk along the top extends the whole circuit. There are 70 semicylindrical towers. Two of the present gates are Roman and almost intact: they consist of round arches between two towers. All the towers were crowned with three orders of arcades enclosed above by round arches. The construction material is slate and, on the gates, masonry.
The bridge over the Miño river dates from the period of Trajan, but various repairs have destroyed almost all its Roman character. Of the baths there remain only three vaulted rooms built of ashlar and brick. One of the rooms was the apodyterium: a series of niches in the walls covered with round arches must have been used for checking clothes. In several parts of the city there are ruins of water tanks and conduits, made of brick masonry and rip-rap vaults and 1.5 m high. A lost inscription mentioned the existence of a temple to the goddess Celeste, the Carthaginian Venus, which is believed to have been in the present Plaza de Aureliano J. Pereira.
Discoveries of sculpture have been few, but there is a female head in bad condition. Mosaic fragments from the Temple of Diana, patron goddess of the city have been found, and many funeral tablets with reliefs and inscriptions continue to appear in the walls. Most of the discoveries are in the Lugo Provincial Museum.
BIBLIOGRAPHYJ. R. Mélida, “Informe sobre las murallas de Lugo,” Boletin de la Academia de Bellas Artes (1921) I; id., Monumentos romanos de España (1925) I; I. A. Richmond, “The Town-walls in Hispania Citerior,” JRS 21 (1931) PI; M. Vazquez Seijas, Lugo bajo el Inperio Romano (1939) I; id., Fortalezas de Lugo y su Provincia (1955) PI; F. Vazquez Saco & id., Inscripciones romanas de Galicia. II. Provincia de Lugo (1954) I.
R. TEJA