Destinations Menu
RSS
SPAIN | Valencia, Spain Travel Guide
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
3 Of 7
Sagunto
Sagunto (Sagunt)
With crisp views of the irrigated Valencian farmlands, known as huertas, Sagunt is a town notable for playing a crucial role in Spanish history and with more than one interesting archeological site to show for it. As early as the fifth century BC, Iberians settled and fortified the hill overlooking the town, atop which is perched a ruined castle. In 219 BC Hannibal, commander of the Carthaginian Empire, laid siege to the town – which at the time was allied with Rome – for a period of eight months. Food supplies were cut and the noble townsfolk chose to die of starvation rather than surrender their home. All of the town’s inhabitants are said to have died, the last of which allegedly threw themselves atop massive bonfires in the penultimate days of the siege. The event spawned the Second Punic War, a devastating mess for the Carthiginians and a turning point for the victorious Romans, who would thereafter control the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. Saguntum, as it was then called by the Romans, came to serve as an important outpost of Hispania located on the heavily traveled Roman route, the Vía Augusta, which can still be seen today.
The first-century AD Teatro Romano ( 96 266 55 91, free admission), built into a hillside with great natural acoustics and declared a national monument in 1896, is today a controversial site. It was recently restored using modern materials and now serves as a venue for concerts, plays and the town’s annual theater festival, Sagunt a Escena.
The ruined Castle, site of the earliest Iberian town, stretches for almost a kilometer atop a serrated hill overlooking modern Sagunto. It occupies seven distinct fortified areas, each proof of a different period and culture that occupied Sagunto, from the Iberians to the Carthaginians, Romans, Moors and Christians.
In town, take a stroll through La Judería (Jewish Quarter), a quiet labyrinth of cool whitewashed houses, arches and narrow alleys and stroll around the other Roman ruins in town, including the Temple of Diana, from the fifth-sixth century BC, and the gateway to the third-century BC Roman Circus, long since vanished.
Explore the Destination
Amenities and Resources
Overview
Hotels(8)
Restaurants(9)
Attractions(22)
Activities(1)
Map 
Weather Forecast
- Reported on:
Wed, 04/24/2024 - 17:00
- Reported on:
Trending Themes:
Guides to Popular Ski Resorts
-
Ischgl is a small mountain village turned hip ski resort, with massive appeal among the party-hearty young crowds. It is... Read More
-
Andorra la Vella is its own little world, and not just because it’s a 290-square-mile independent principality (a fifth the... Read More
-
Bariloche (officially San Carlos de Bariloche) is the place to be seen. It is to Argentina what Aspen is to the... Read More
-
Aspen is America's most famous ski resort. And that's an understatement. For, as a ski complex, Aspen is unsurpassed. Its... Read More
-
Zermatt is a small but glamorous mountain resort town, with a population of approximately 5,700. It is one of Switzerland's... Read More
-
St. Moritz is a glitzy, alpine resort town in the celebrated Engadin Valley of Switzerland, with huge notoriety as the... Read More
-
Lake Tahoe is the premier lake resort of America, and the largest alpine lake in all of North America. It is an absolutely... Read More
-
St. Anton, Sankt Anton am Arlberg in German, is Austria's premier ski-bum resort! It's actually a small village cum... Read More
-
Kitzbühel, a small, Tyrolian resort town in the Kitzbüheler Alps, comes with international renown and huge snob appeal, and... Read More