Influencias helenísticas en el proceso de urbanización de la ciudad celtibérica de Segeda

The classical writers provide us with detailed information about Segeda. This city was accused of breaking the pacts with Gracchus as a consequence of the synoecism procedure with neighbouring populations and the enlargement of its wall. This was the casus belli for the Roman Senate’s declaration of war on Segeda in 154 BC. Archaeological research has located the town of Segeda and its unfinished wall at El Poyo de Mara (Zaragoza). Archaeologists have confirmed its abandonment in 153 BC and have identified the site of Durón in Belmonte de Gracián as the place where the new population of Segeda II was settled. In this paper we indicate a variety of evidence for the relationship between this city and the Mediterranean cultural network between the end of the 3rd century and the first half of the 2nd century BC. Among the architectural remains discovered, of particular note are the “Strigil House” with its central courtyard, an indication of the influence of Greco-Italic domestic architecture, and the astronomically oriented “Santuario del Sol”. The participation of Celtiberian mercenaries in the Hellenistic wars in Sicily and Magna Graecia is discussed as a possible bridge between these two cultures.