The Roman city of
Arucci Turobriga, in the
Hispania Baetica, was established during the reign of
Augustus in 15-10 BC, probably as the merger of two older Celtic towns:
Arucci and
Turobriga. This city was located in the plains below current Aroche, by the Ermita de San Mamés. Although it has been speculated that this corresponds to the original Turobriga, it is still unclear whether this is the case, since there are barely any sources on Turobriga apart from a list of towns by
Pliny the Elder and the epithet
Turobrigensis applied to the local deity
Ataegina. Arucci Turobriga was mostly depopulated during the late Roman Empire and was later settled by the
Almohades, who built its castle in the 12th century, during the reign of
Abu Yaqub Yusuf, who also oversaw the construction of the
Giralda in Seville. Similarly to
Moura and
Serpa, Aroche and
Aracena may have been conquered by the
Order of the Hospital and incorporated to the
Kingdom of Portugal during the reign of
Sancho II, circa 1230–1233, although it has been suggested the Christian occupation may have had to wait to the void of Muslim power in the area caused by the
Fall of Seville in the late 1240s. The area, occupied by
Afonso III of Portugal by 1251, was theoretically granted together with Aracena to the
Crown of Castile in 1253, although the effective and definitive transfer happened in 1267 as settled in
Treaty of Badajoz. In fact, Afonso III granted Aroche a
fuero in 1255. ==Demographics==