Editing History of Catalonia (section)

=== Roman times (200 B.C–400 A.D) ===
[[File:Arco de Barà.jpg|thumb|[[Arc de Berà]] ([[Roda de Berà]], Tarragona)]]
Romanization brought a second, distinct stage in the ancient history of Catalonia. [[Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus]] arrived in Empúries in 218 BC, with the objective of cutting off the sources of provisions of [[Hannibal]]'s Carthaginian army during the [[Second Punic War]]. After the Carthaginian defeat, and the defeat of various Iberian tribes who rose up against Roman rule, 195 BC saw the effective completion of the Roman conquest of the territory that later became Catalonia. [[Romanization]] of the region began in earnest. The various tribes were absorbed into a common Roman culture and lost many distinct characteristics, including differences of language. Most local leaders were later admitted into the Roman aristocratic class.<ref name="country">{{cite web |last=Rinehart |first=Robert |author2=Seeley, Jo Ann Browning | title = A Country Study: Spain – Hispania |publisher=Library of Congress Country Series |year=1998 |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/estoc.html |access-date=2008-08-09}}</ref>

Most of what is now Catalonia first became part of the [[Roman province]] of [[Hispania Citerior]]; after 27 BC, they became part of [[Tarraconensis]], whose capital was Tarraco (now [[Tarragona]]). Other important cities of the Roman period are Ilerda (Lleida), Dertosa (Tortosa), Gerunda (Girona) as well as the ports of Empuriæ (former Emporion) and Barcino (Barcelona). As for the rest of Hispania, Latin law was granted to all cities under the reign of [[Vespasian]] (69-79 AD), while [[Roman citizenship]] was permitted to all free men of the Empire by the [[Edict of Caracalla]] in 212 AD (Tarraco, the capital, was already a colony of Roman law since 45 BC). It was a rich agricultural province (olive oil, vine, wheat), and the first centuries of the Empire saw the construction of [[Roman roads|roads]] (the most important being the [[Via Augusta]], parallel to Mediterranean coastline)<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVMJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT33|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6871-1|page=33}}</ref> and infrastructure like [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueducts]].

The [[Crisis of the Third Century]] affected the whole Roman Empire, and gravely affected the Catalan territory, where there is evidence of significant levels of destruction and abandonment of Roman [[villa]]s. This period also provides the first documentary evidence of the arrival of Christianity. Conversion to Christianity, attested in the 3rd century, was completed in urban areas in the 4th century. The first Christian communities in the ''Tarraconense'' were founded during the 3rd century, and the [[Diocese of Tarragona|diocese of ''Tarraco'']] was already established by 259, when the [[bishop]] [[Saint Fructuosus]] (Fructuós) and the [[deacon]]s Augurius and Eulogius were burned alive on the orders of the governor Aemilianus, under an edict issued by the emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]].<ref name="ButlerBurns1995">{{cite book|author1=Alban Butler|author2=Paul Burns|title=Butler's Lives of the Saints|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z6gVpEhXFhUC&pg=PA149|year=1995|publisher=Burns & Oates|isbn=978-0-8146-2377-0|page=149}}</ref>  Although Hispania remained under Roman rule and did not fall under the rule of Vandals, Swabians and Alans in the 5th century, the main cities suffered frequent sacking and some deurbanization. While archaeological evidence shows the recovery of some urban nuclei, such as Barcino (later [[Barcelona]]), Tarraco (later Tarragona), and Gerunda (later [[Girona]]), the previous situation was not restored: the cities became smaller, and constructed [[defensive wall]]s.<ref name="Balil1961">{{cite book|author=Alberto Balil|title=Las murallas bajoimperiales de Barcino|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uFQaAAAAIAAJ&q=Romano|year=1961|publisher=Consejo superior de investigaciones científicas, Instituto español de arqueología "Rodrigo Caro"|page=124}}</ref>