The Romans in Chaves, Portugal
Religion
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Part of Roman road near Chaves
No
one knows when the first Roman legions entered the region of
Chaves. After the Second Punic War
(218-201 BC), Rome dominated the eastern and southern seaboards of the
Iberian Peninsula, and Celtic peoples who had partially absorbed the
indigenous population occupied the west.
A Celtic federation, the Lusitani, resisted Roman penetration
under the brilliant leadership of Viriathus; but after his assassination
(c. 140 BC), Decius Junius
Brutus was able to march northward through central Portugal, cross the
Douro River, and subdue the Gallaeci.
After the founding of Lusitania by Augustus in 25 BC, the north
of Portugal became a separate province called Gallaecia.
The
principle of this inflexible occupation was this:
Justice could only be administered by whoever represented the
juridical spirit of Rome. As
a corollary, it was necessary to have rapid communications and the means
for the prompt sending of military forces, which were garrisoned here
and there, as organs of vigilance, in well-chosen camps.
Chaves was one of these places.
The combination of a fertile river valley, low hills that could
be fortified and hot springs made it a natural choice.
Here the famous Seventh Legion had one of its encampments.
At
that time two military routes crossed the region.
The most important connected Bracara to Asturica.
The secondary route connected Aquae Flaviae with a highway
junction in the south of the Douro, perhaps Viseu.
We are not sure.
The
first highway seems to have been built after the reign of Augustus.
At least that is what we learn from the inscriptions of the two
mile markers which were discovered in the mountains of the Barroso, west
of Chaves, one dedicated to Tiberius and the other to Claudius.
We know that this highway was continued and improved during the
time of Trajan (97-117)
because of the column (see below)
Photo by José Semelhe
This
bridge is a robust construction, with eighteen arches formed by enormous
aduelas, or arch stones,
preserved intact until 1880, when the primitive guard rails of stone
were substituted by those of iron, in order to widen the passageway.
In the middle we can still see the two Roman mile markers.
On one, on the north side, we can read the inscription:
“Emperor Cesar Nerva Trajan Augusto Germanicus Dacicus, maximum
Pontifice, with tribunal power, consul for the fifth time, father of the
fatherland, for whom the people of Chaves, at their own cost, have built
this bridge of stone.”
The
other column mentions the emperor and other high officials and curiously
mentions the names of different peoples of the region, including the
Aquaflavienses. We don't
know if these tribes mentioned actually built the bridge, or a nearby
highway because the meaning is unclear.
The lack of a verb makes the inscription obscure. According
to one theory, this part of the sentence was erased when a rectangular
area on the column was destroyed because it contained the name of
Domitian, whose name the Roman Senate, after his murder, ordered
suppressed from all the monuments in which it appeared.
From
the names of the officials cited we can conclude that this column
corresponds to the year 79 CE. Other
archaeologists have defended the opinion that this second marker did not
refer to the bridge but to some other work carried out in the hot
springs or nearby. This
theory is the more accepted one today.
There are even unconfirmed reports that this marker had been
found in a field in the veiga.
Chaves,
with its hot water and fertility must have been a welcome stopover for
travelers crossing northern Lusitania on their way to larger settlements.
We shouldn’t forget that the Romans, besides being legislators
and excellent practitioners of the art of war, were also great lovers of
a comfortable life. When a
pro-consul or an imperial legate traveled on the military road of
Asturias to Bracara, or vice versa, he knew that, halfway there—ad
Aquas—there awaited him a delicious hot bath in the ample pools of the
hot springs and, after, depending on the season, a large basket of fruit
or a delicious cup of ham broth, which would be hard to find in another
place in the Empire.
Maria Mantela (Legendary Figure who
supposedly lived in Roman times)
There
is no historical evidence for the existence of Maria Mantela.
According to the legend (no date found), she was the fertile
mother who gave birth to 7 sons in one womb.
How could this have happened?
There are several legends, all of them alike, written by
different authors. In 1981
Manuel Martins did an exhaustive study published as The Legend of
Maria Mantela
According
to this study, Maria Mantela was married to Fernão Gralho, who was from
the village of Souto Velho-Anelhe, where there still a family with that
name and a mill of the Gralhos, on the Tâmega River.
Well off, they had a house in the town of Chaves, supposedly on
Misericordia Street. One
day a poor woman with twins in her arms, asked Maria Mantela for alms.
“Go
away, woman of the devil! Aren’t
you ashamed to have relations with two men who gave you these two
sons”—as she believed!
Ashamed
and wounded in her honour, the poor woman went away, but not without
making the sign of the cross at her door and cursing her.
Some time later, Maria Mantela was going to be a mother.
Her husband, a businessman, was away.
Oh! God…instead of
one, seven boys were born. Shocked,
she tried to get rid of six. She
called her maid. After
putting the six babies in a basket, the maid went to throw them into the
river, at a place called the Deep of the Well.
Fernão Gralho, her lord, surprised her on the way.
After making her swear to silence, took the basket and found six
nursemaids to raise his sons.
After
they were well brought up, and dressed alike, he gathered his seven sons
together. Then he called
his wife and asked: “Which
is your son? –Oh husband, forgive me, for they are all our sons.
The seven sons became priests, each one of them building a church. Today we can see a modern statue of Maria Mantela and her sons in the Bacalhau Plaza. Some books mention that there was a statue of Maria Mantela inside the main church of Santa Maria Maior, but the priests there have no memory of such.