Bilbilis

Recent excavations have uncovered many of the remains visible today which dominate the surrounding area and are testament to the city's rich past.

The indigenous Celtiberian settlement[2][3] of Bilbilis was situated on the heights of Cerro de Bambola[4] and part of San Paterno, lying to the North of ancient Segeda and 60 km SW of the Roman colony of Col. Caesaraugusta (modern Zaragoza) in NE internal Spain.

Their earliest coin issue includes a male head facing right, with dolphin to the left of the portrait on the obverse, while the reverse depicts a horseman carrying a spear and the inscription Bilbilis.

These date from the late 2nd to the early 1st century BC and a number of these form part of the Iberian coin collection in the British Museum.

[6] The first contact between the eventual conquerors of the area, the Romans, and the Lusones occurred around the 2nd century BC, when Quintus Fulvius Flaccus journeyed from the Mediterranean coast of Spain into the hinterland, a region referred to as Celtiberia.

Dr. Paul L. Maier puts forth a thought-provoking history of how Sejanus played a role in the life of Jesus in his book Pontius Pilate[citation needed].

He often praised his own country in his poems, for example the sulphurous springs of Aquae Bilbilitanorum[8] situated approximately 24 km west on the Roman main road which are still used as spas (Alhama de Aragón).

The topography of the terrain imposed a terraced layout with steep streets, hills and ramps, in contrast to the usual rectangular grid of a Roman town.

Baths were also built, and a complex nymphaeum based on a network of hydraulic tanks adapted to the contour of the land that provided the city with a permanent water supply.

[citation needed] The forum is a practically square area located in front of the temple in the upper part of the city and is decorated with marble and statues, and framed by porticos, a basilica, curia, and crypto-porticus.

Many rooms were decorated with high quality frescoes probably made by a team of Italian artists who toured several places in the Ebro valley.