The city was founded on the site of a
Celt-Iberian settlement by the Romans with the name
Augusta Bilbilis and was the birthplace of the poet
Martial in 40 CE. The site of the ruins of Augusta Bilbilis are approximately four kilometers to the north of the modern city of Calatayud. The modern town was founded by the
Moors around the Ayyub castle, circa 716 CE.
Colegiata de Santa Maria la Mayor The name Calatayud came from the
Arabic ''
, "the qal'a'' [fortress] of
Ayyub". The ancient inhabitants of Bilbilis moved to the new site. Occupying a strategic placement between the central
meseta of Spain and the
Ebro valley, the city retained its importance in succeeding centuries. By the eleventh century a substantial
Jewish community was present, surviving the
Reconquista until the expulsion of the Jews of Spain in 1492. Judaica texts from this era refer to Calatayud as , or (Qalʿah
Ayuv, Qalʿ Ayuv, Qalʿiya Ayuv). The city was conquered from the Muslims by
Alfonso I of Aragón in 1119. Many surviving examples of
mudéjar church architecture show that the Islamic influence lives on. During the
Peninsular Wars a notable siege of French-occupied Calatayud led to its capture by
guerillas in 1811. The city was the capital of
its own province in 1822–23, during the
Trienio Liberal. The town suffers from
sinkholes. ==Main sights==