Centcelles y el praetorium del comes Hispaniarum Asterio en Tarraco

Abstract

This article presents a new chronological and functional interpretation for the Late Roman building of Centcelles (Tarraco), which hinges on an archaeological and architectural analysis of the building, according to the historical and archaeological context of the period. The arguments presented allow one to date the building in the first half of the 5th century, and to identify it as the central area of a Late Roman military camp located next to the urban centre of Tarraco, the city that appears in written sources as being the base for the Imperial armies which tried to reintegrate the whole Hispania to the legitimate power in the West during most of the 5th century. We have at our disposal an exceptional document for the period: Consentius' Epistle 11*, thanks to which we know about the comes Hispaniarum Asterius staying in Tarraco ca. 420 and his residence, the praetorium, where he himself lived together with his daughter and the army which went with him to the campaign. We propose to identify Centcelles with the military base of Asterius and the army in Tarraco. We also put forward some preliminary considerations regarding the decoration of the domed room, still in progress, in accordance with the new function and chronology.