Costa del Sol Towns
Malaga
in Roman times
Roman Theater
in Malaga
In the place where the city is built, there was a settlement called Turdulo.
Based here, Malaga would trade with the colonies
founded by the Phoenicians of Tire because of the good conditions for the
landing in its natural harbor and the large amount of deposits of silver and
copper, and hence being named Malaga.
After a period of
Carthaginian domination, Malaga became part of Rome. In Roman times the
city (in Latin, Malacca) underwent a notable development, was confederated into
a town and governed by a special code, the Lex Flavia Malacitana. At this stage
they built the Roman Theater and some sculptural pieces are still kept in
the Provincial Archaeological Museum.
The Roman decadence led to the dominance of
the Germanic people who swept over the coast of Malaga in the year 411. With the intention of
rebuilding the Roman Empire, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, conquered among
other territories, Malaga, which was one of the
most important cities of the Byzantine province of Spania,
until they were expelled by the Visigoths in the year 615, after Sisebuto’s
conquest of the king.
