Roman Gallaecia

Roman power reached the northwest through several campaigns, followed by a much longer process of government and social change. Decimus Junius Brutus campaigned in 137 BC; the famous story of his troops fearing the “River of Forgetfulness” concerns the Limia. More than a century later, Augustus’s wars against the Cantabri and Astures in 29–19 BC completed Rome’s conquest of northern Iberia.

The communities around present-day Ourense entered an imperial world of taxation, roads and military service. Braga, Lugo and Astorga became important centres of administration. Gallaecia’s ancient extent was broader than modern Galicia, and its boundaries changed. For the Ribeiro, the most immediate evidence lies in excavated settlements, inscriptions and roads, where we can see how imperial rule reached everyday life.

The Via Nova, numbered XVIII in the Antonine Itinerary, connected Braga with Astorga through the interior of present-day Ourense province. Milestones date its first inauguration to AD 79–80. The road linked military sites, settlements and stopping places; its surviving stones record imperial authority as well as distances. Aquis Querquennis helps explain the work and supplies needed to build and maintain such a route.

Bridges made this network practical. Ponte Bibei near A Pobra de Trives retains three granite arches; O Freixo crosses the Arnoia, not the Bibei. Ourense’s Ponte Vella preserves a long history of rebuilding at a crossing with Roman origins. Following these distinctions gives us a better map of the region: the main Via Nova ran through the interior, while the Miño valley belonged to a wider network of connections.

Ourense’s hot springs are a place where the Roman past can be seen within the modern city. At As Burgas, excavated walls, a bathing area and altars record the use of thermal water and the worship of Revve Anabaraego. The springs brought bathing, healing and religious offerings together; their importance reaches beyond a simple story of public baths.

The present fountains and surrounding buildings belong to later periods, while archaeology reveals the earlier layers underneath. Visiting the interpretation centre and preserved remains makes this distinction visible. Water helps explain the location and long importance of Ourense; the precise origin of the city’s name and the layout of its Roman settlement require more careful treatment than a confident invented name or forum.

Aquis Querquennis, at Porto Quintela in Bande, lies beside the Limia and the modern As Conchas reservoir. The archaeological foundation dates the camp’s establishment to the AD 70s and connects it with construction of the Via Nova. Its approximately 2.5-hectare enclosure could accommodate around 500 legionaries. Current interpretation identifies a cohort of Legio VII Gemina, rather than the auxiliary Cohors I Gallica formerly named here.

The excavated plan includes barracks, headquarters, raised granaries, gates and drains. These remains make military logistics visible: soldiers needed food storage, administration and maintained routes as well as weapons. The camp, roadside stopping place and thermal area should be understood as related parts of a complex. Military occupation appears to have ended during Trajan’s reign; the site’s modern visibility also depends on reservoir levels.

The strongest local connection between Rome and Ribeiro wine is a working installation, not a foundation legend. At Santa Lucía in Astariz, Castrelo de Miño, archaeologists have studied a rock-cut wine press within a settlement occupied across several periods. The 2024 excavation study dates its construction to the late first century AD, with secure use in the second century and possible continuation into the third.

Wine pressing ceased in the late third or early fourth century, although the site continued in use. That distinction lets us tell a more interesting story than an uninterrupted industry from Rome to today: agriculture changed, settlements were reused, and later medieval leases reveal vineyards and named growers in a different economy. Follow those people into the Ribeiro chapter.

Latin spread through administration, trade, inscriptions and military service. The names of people and gods on Roman-period stones show that local traditions remained visible within this new written language. Writing an indigenous name in Latin letters is not necessarily a bilingual inscription: language, naming and identity are related but different questions. Over later centuries, spoken Latin developed into the Romance languages of the northwest, including Galician and Portuguese.

The Castromao tablet offers a precise example of participation in Roman institutions. Its hospitality pact names the Coelerni and Gnaeus Antonius Aquilus in AD 132; it was found during excavations in 1970. The agreement helps us understand a community’s public relationships. It supplies a dated episode in regional history, while later parish and notarial records provide the individual relationships needed for our family tree.

The end of Roman imperial government did not mark the end of settlement in the northwest. Santa Lucía’s late Roman pottery, glass and military fittings show occupation continuing after its wine press stopped working. Santomé near Ourense likewise reveals changing buildings and ways of living across Roman and late Roman phases. Local history becomes clearer when we follow these excavated sequences instead of assuming that every village followed the same path.

In the fifth century, the Suevic kingdom developed within this inherited landscape. Christian institutions, landholding and political authority took new forms. The next chapter follows that transition from Roman Gallaecia into a kingdom centred on Braga, placing Ourense and the Ribeiro within a wider northwest that crossed today’s Spanish–Portuguese border.