Sagunto Castle

The castle is located north of Valencia, upon a flat-topped hill. The hill is the last upthrust of the Sierra Calderona mountains, reaching an altitude of above mean sea level. ==Etymology==

The original Iberian name for the city was Arse. Sagunto was originally recorded as a Roman municipium in the middle of the 1st century BC, as the Municipium Saguntinum, or simply Saguntum. During the Muslim domination of Spain, the Mozarabs referred to the town as Murum Veterum, the "old wall", a name already in use by the 11th century. In time this form was contracted and corrupted into forms such as Murvetrum, Morvedre, and Molvedre, and the Muslims modified this into Murbiter. Christian documents from the 11th century use the form Murus Vetulus. ==Description==

The site occupies a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and is surrounded by defensive walls. The castle is divided into seven main sections or plazas. The visible ruins are essentially those of the Muslim citadel, with later modifications under Christian rule, and finally by French engineers during the Peninsular War. Plaza del Refectorio The Plaza del Refectorio is the smallest of the plazas, situated in the centre of the castle upon an elevation that also supports the Reina Gobernadora battery. The Plaza del Refectorio takes its name from a number of vaulted arcades that were used as refectories. Its east side is formed by the refectory building; it is bordered on the south side by the curtain wall, on the west by a ruined double wall and a Roman tower, and on the north by a fortified wall. A corridor running between the Plaza del Refectorio and the battery links the Plaza de Armas with the Plaza de San Fernando. Roman remains The Plaza de Armas is accessed via an Islamic arch. Remains of the Iberian defensive wall are visible on the east side of the castle. The foundations of the Roman forum, together with those of some Iberian buildings, and those of a Roman temple or capitolium, are all located in the forum area of the castle, The ruins of the Roman buildings are laid out around a square measuring . The plaza was fronted on the west side by a basilica that measured . The east side of the square was lined by a row of tabernae (shops). To the south of the plaza is a well-preserved cistern, and the base of the temple or capitolium are on the north side. The temple measured . A complex building was situated on the northeast side of the plaza; it has not been securely identified but it may have been a curia (assembly or court building) or a temple of Augustus. Since it possessed two large parallel chambers, it may have served both functions. The remains of a Roman theatre stand some down the hillside to the northwest of the forum. The cistern is likely to have been built when the city was rebuilt after the Second Punic War. The Roman forum was excavated in 1985. The original forum dated to the Late Republican period, and was largely demolished in the Early Imperial period in order to build a new forum. The replacement was built during the reign of Augustus, and paid for by Gnaeus Baebius Geminus, a local aristocrat. The hilltop was levelled, and retaining walls reinforced by buttresses supported the artificial platform that served as a foundation for the forum. On the north side of the forum, the retaining walls and buttressing are still visible. ==History==

The site was apparently first settled by the Iberians in the early Iron Age. These early inhabitants belonged to the Edetani tribe. As the Carthaginian Empire expanded, the inhabitants formed a defensive alliance with Rome. The Carthaginian general Hannibal sacked the Iberian settlement in 219 BC, an action that led to the outbreak of the Second Punic War. 8th century Arab records from the reign of Abd al-Rahman I (ruled 755–788 AD) indicate that Sagunto fell within the jurisdiction of Tortosa at that time, rather than that of Valencia. Muslim historian Ibn Hayyan recorded that the castle was taken by force in 929–930, and mentions it again, under its Arab name, as submitting to the sultan Abd-ar-Rahman III in 933 AD. Sagunto Castle was used as a fortress by the Muslims to defend the regions of Catalonia and Valencia. It was seized and occupied by El Cid from 1098 to 1102, who incorporated it into the Kingdom of Valencia. By the mid-13th century, the castle was garrisoned by Christians, although the majority of the town's inhabitants were still Muslims. By the early 14th century, Sagunto (still known as Morvedre) had a growing Jewish population, resulting in the establishment of a Jewish cemetery under the castle walls in 1328. Peter IV of Aragon reinforced the castle defences in the 14th century. In 1363, King Peter of Castile took the castle after laying siege to it. Andriani withstood the siege and several assaults, although Suchet was ultimately victorious. After taking the castle, Suchet ordered it to be repaired and strengthened the defences. but left few records of his investigations. == Citations ==

• Agència Valenciana del Turisme (2016). Castillo de Sagunto . Valencia, Spain: Generalitat Valenciana. Archived from the original on 2016-09-06. Retrieved 2017-03-28. • Aranegui Gascó, Carmen (1984). La cisterna del flanco septentrional del foro de Saguntum () . SAGVNTVM, 18, pp. 195–203. Valencia, Spain: Departament de Prehistòria i Arqueologia de la Universitat de València. . . • Baixauli i Bach, Vicent (2013). Alberg per a estudiosos i viatgers al Castell de Sagunt () . Valencia, Spain: Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de València, Universitat Politècnica de València. • Carruana Martínez, José Ángel; Manuel Civera i Gómez (2000). El gliptograma de la porta nord de la Plaça del Refectori del Castell de Sagunt . Revista ARSE, 34, pp. 17–30. Sagunto, Spain: Centro Arqueológico Saguntino. • Centro Arqueológico Saguntino (1972). Aspectos gráficos del Castillo de Sagunto . Revista ARSE, 12, pp. 35–36/67-68. Sagunto, Spain: Centro Arqueológico Saguntino. • Chabret, Antonio (2008) [1901]. Sagunto. Nomenclator de las calles, plazas y puertas antiguas y modernas de la ciudad . Valladolid, Spain: Editorial MAXTOR. . • Collins, Roger (1998). Spain: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. . • Franco Sánchez, Francisco (2006). Sagunto/Murbĩtar en el período islámico: Su historia a través de los textos . De Murbiter a Morvedre. Valencia and Alicante, Spain: Fundación Bancaja and Universidad de Alicante. . • Gates, David (2001) [1986]. The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. Cambridge, Massachusetts, US: Da Capo Press. . • Mateu y Llopis, Felipe (1983), Del Municipium Saguntinum al Morvedre mozárabe (). Revista ARSE, 18, pp. 23–28/361-366. Sagunto, Spain: Centro Arqueológico Saguntino. • Meyerson, Mark D. (2004). Jews in an Iberian Frontier Kingdom: Society, Economy, and Politics in Morvedre, 1248–1391 (). Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. . . • Tourist Info Sagunto. Sagunto Histórico: 26 Castillo (). Sagunto, Spain: Oficina de Turismo. Retrieved 2017-03-30 ==Further reading==