Description
The Tower of Santa Catalina I is located in the municipal term of Orcera, province of Jaén, and is part of the defensive set of three towers that exist between Segura de la Sierra and Orcera, and are named after Santa Catalina.
According to some authors, the torres- atalaya of the area of Orcera and Segura of the Sierra must be reconsidered and dated again as coming from the time of Carthaginese domination of the peninsula, between the years 237 and 202 before Christ, for being quoted in Tito Livio asTowers of Anibal, being in one of them where one of the Scipion brothers died in the warrior refriegas of 211 BC This hypothesis must be taken into account and confronted by the specialists of ancient history of Spain, but in no case can it be held seriously that they are only medieval, Islamic, Almohade or Christian. Its origin, although in medieval times they were the subject of partial restorations or reconstructions, possibly from the third century BC, between the years cited and in the occasion of the wars between Rome and Cartago for the possession of the peninsula.
This tower is a twin of the tower of Santa Catalina II, it seems to be a Muslim work of the late 12th or early 13th century and its function would be to monitor the intricate landscape of hills surrounding them.
Its quadrangular plant measures about 5.30 by 4.20 meters from sides, its height of about 14 meters, the thickness of its walls on the ground is 1.19 meters, and the access gap is about 7 meters high. Its interior is organized in 4 plants separated by beams that supported the zócalos resulting from the progressive narrowing of the walls.
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