View Of The Roman Wall Of Lugo From The 3rd Century, With The Towers Of The Cathedral Standing Out Behind It. Galicia, Spain. Stock Image

The Wall surrounds the heart of Lugo, the ancient Lucus Augusti, founded in 15 BC by Paulo Fabio Maximus in the name of the Emperor of Rome and was the capital of one of the three Roman legal convents (together with Astorga and Braga), which made up the province of Gallaecia and extended to the River Duero. This city played a key role in a region that was then extremely rich in gold, which Rome exploited to the point of exhaustion for the benefit of the imperial treasury. Three centuries later, the urban structure of the city was modified and shifted slightly to the north. These were critical times from a political and military point of view and it was at this time that this fortification was erected. The wall occupied an area of ??topographically irregular terrain, higher to the northwest and sloping to the southeast. The reasons for this layout, which left out important residential areas of the ancient Roman city and instead protected open land, remain an enigma.