Description
Around the change of era, the city of Iliturgi experienced a process of monumentalization, becoming one of the largest cities of Alto Guadalquivir. Qualified by Plinio at this time as Forum Iulium, one of the region's main markets thanks to its strategic position for land and river trade.
In this city, surrounded by a powerful wall, large public buildings were created, of which large remains of bases and capitals are preserved, and public inscriptions that were part of great sculptures.
In addition, it was equipped with an aqueduct that supplied large aljibes that are still visible today on the plateau of Maquiz. In the southern part of the city was built a large enlisted square of more than 1000 square meters (40x30m), possibly the forum of the city, from which we know in detail a small temple located on one of the corners of this square.
The beneficial acts of its most prominent citizens are reflected in several epigraphic documents, and reveal the existence of large playful buildings as a possible circus.
The identification of Cerro Machiz with the old Iliturgi is argued, among a large set of archaeological data, with the presence of several headings located in Cerro Machiz that refer to this name. Among them the most famous comes from an honorary heading dedicated by the "popvlus ilitvurgitanus" to Tiberio Sememonio Graccho.
