January 2022 – Brian's Spain Domain

History of Spain 101, Ep. 8. Rome: the Builder of Spain

The Iberian and Celtic tribes have been defeated. Hispania has been pacified. The land is slowly feeling the effects of Rome’s prolonged presence on the Iberian peninsula. The process of Romanization has begun. In this episode, we take a look at how the Romans quite literally laid the foundations for many of Spain’s towns and cities, as well as made some important infrastructure contributions. The Romans were brilliant engineers and loved building, and build they did in this land. Check out this latest podcast from the History of Spain 101 and find out more. Enjoy!

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FIESTAS IN SPAIN: The Jarramplas

This unusual-looking character pounding away on a drum as he takes a walloping from an onslaught of turnips is none other than “Jarramplas”, the central figure of the fiestas in a town in the western region of Extremadura known as Piornal. He comes out every January 19 and 20 for the Feast of St. Sebastian, the patron saint of the village. He kicks off a series we’ll be doing on “Fiestas in Spain”; where we will be exploring some of the traditions and their history. Listen and enjoy!

HISTORY OF SPAIN 101, EP 7: The Roman Conquest of Hispania

That macho-looking man represented in the statue is none other than Viriatus, the leader of the Lusitanians, one of the tribes who gave the Romans their stiffest resistance during the prolonged conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. After pushing out the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War, the Romans may have thought that occupying their new territory would be a breeze; but they had another thing coming to them. It woould take two hundred years to subject all the Iberian and Celtic tribes to their authority. Compared to the ten years it took Caesar to conquer Gaul, this must have seemed like an eternity. In the end, it spelled the end of one age for Spain and the beginning of a new one: Romanization. Enjoy!

You can subscribe to our podcasts on Spotify, Amazon and Castos. Or if you wish to support Brian’s Spain Domain, click on our PayPal donate button or check us out at Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/briansspaindomain