Editing Tarragona (section)

===Rome===
Tarraco lies on the main road along the northeastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.<ref name=AntIt>[[Antonine Itinerary]] pp. 391, 396, 399, 448, 452.</ref> During the [[Roman Republic]], the city was fortified and much enlarged as a Roman colony by the brothers [[Publius Cornelius Scipio (consul 218 BC)|Publius Cornelius Scipio]] and [[Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus]], who converted it into a fortress and arsenal against the [[ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]]. The city was first named [[Tarraco|Colonia Iulia Urbs Triumphalis Tarraco]] and was capital of the province of [[Hispania Citerior]]. Subsequently, it became the capital (''[[conventus iuridicus]]''<ref>Pliny ''l. c.''; [[Tacitus]] ''Ann''. i. 78; [[Gaius Julius Solinus]] 23, 26; Polybius x. 34; Livy xxi. 61; [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] p. 637.</ref>) of the province named after it, [[Hispania Tarraconensis]].<ref>[[Ptolemy]], ii. 6. § 17</ref>

[[Augustus]] wintered at Tarraco after his Cantabrian campaign, and bestowed many marks of honour on the city, among which were its honorary titles of ''Colonia Victrix Togata'' and ''Colonia Julia Victrix Tarraconensis''.

According to Mela, it was the richest town on the coast,<ref name="l. c">''l. c.''</ref> and Strabo represents its population as equal to that of Carthago Nova (now [[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]).<ref name="l. c"/> Its fertile plain and sunny shores are celebrated by [[Martial]] and other poets; and its neighbourhood is described as producing good wine and [[flax]].<ref>Mart. x. 104, xiii. 118; Sil. Ital. iii. 369, xv. 177; Plin. xiv. 6. s. 8, xix. 1. s. 2.</ref> The city also minted coins.<ref>Grut. ''Inscr''. p. 382; Orelli, no. 3127; coins in Eckhel, i. p. 27; [[Enrique Flórez]], ''Med.'' ii. p. 579; Théodore Edme Mionnet, i. p. 51, Suppl. i. p. 104; Sestini, p. 202.</ref>

An inscribed stone base for a now lost statue of [[Tiberius Claudius Candidus]] was found in Tarragona during the nineteenth century. The 24-line Latin inscription describes the governor and senator's career as an ally of the future Roman emperor [[Septimius Severus]], who fought in the civil war following the assassination of [[Commodus]] in 192 AD. This important marble block was purchased by the [[British Museum]] in 1994.<ref>{{CIL|2|4114}}; [https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=443817&partId=1&searchText=Tarragona&page=2 British Museum Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326124011/http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=443817&partId=1&searchText=Tarragona&page=2 |date=26 March 2017 }}</ref>