Tarraco - Low Empire

Low Empire

After the imperial administration reforms of Diocletian, the peninsula is a diocese divided into six provinces that were much smaller than before. Tarraco continued being capital, but in a much smaller province. The buildings destroyed during the invasion of the Franks were slowly rebuilt or replaced by new ones. Between Diocletian and Maximian (286 to 293) was built a portico of Jupiter that may be part of a basílica.

In 476, following the collapse of Roman defenses along the Rhine, Tarraco was occupied by the Visigoths and the King Euric. There is no evidence of destruction and apparently the capture of the city was relatively quiet. Is probable that Visigoths took over the existing structures by imposing a thin upper class, which the existence of Christian tombs in this period seems to confirm. The end of the ancient history of the city came with the arrival of the Muslims in 713 or 714.

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