Aquae Flaviae: a Ruína como Imagem de Cidade

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is the interpretation and hypothetical reconstitution of Aquae Flaviae's urbs and territorium, the roman town from which developed Chaves, in Northeastern Portugal, starting from the drawn study of archeological surveyed structures and evidence revealed from the analysis of its present-day urban layout. The moment is the Roman occupation, within a historical contextualization that intends to cover the successive steps leading to the 21th century contemporary morphology, from its fi rst establishment, around the fi rst and second centuries a.d. The fi rst part seeks to establishing theoretical and drawn basis, following the identifi cation of time and space, which star this investigation. The challenges of site's morphology, and historical moments that have shaped it, are presented chronologically, from general to particular, from the geographical situation - topography, hydrography - of Chaves surrounding meadow, to the town's social condition. Ending with the rigorous exposition of the specifi c elements, we intend to set the basis for this interpretation: the results of revealing archeological surveys of architectural structures dating from Roman times. In the second part, considered practical, we develop the interpretation of the urb's structuring modular layout. We start with the accurate determination of Roman pes measure unit, employed in Aquae Flaviae, and the orientation of its structures and, hence, its streets. Thus, the demarcation of the possible cardus and decumanus massimae, the metropolis' structural axes, and the physical limits of its urban space. Form the pes we determine the passus and the actus, with a proposed design of its insulae. Moving to a more focused frame, we proceeded to the modular division of some urban structures such as, for example, the thermal building of Arrabalde. In the third part, also practical, we address the question of city's complementary territory, bounded by the mountain ranges that defi ne Chaves's alluvial fl oodplain. Since the ager is a complement of the urbs, it makes sense to extrapolate the axes of the second to the fi rst, with an equal previously determined correspondence of the urban unit, this time multiplied to its territorial extent, the centuria. We then proceed to an interpretation for the possible Roman land surveying layout, the centuriato. The fourth part is the refl ection and presentation of conclusions, always through drawings, accompanied by an explanation of our advances , uncertainties and assumptions, present in all stages of this investigation.