Travel: Cartagena
Every year in Cartagena, Romans do battle with Carthaginians, and local resident Fiona Pitt-kethley loves every bizarre minute of it
Every year since 1990, Cartagena, on Spain’s south-eastern, Mediterranean coast, has its Romans and Carthaginians Festival. About 5,000 locals, in full costume, reenact the events of the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage (218-201BC).
The locals gather at an encampment close to the city’s Eroski supermarket. This houses all the official troops, and they’re more varied than you might expect. Some are not exactly Roman or Carthaginian – for example, the
Celtic mercenaries, who play bagpipes round the local bars; or the Amazons who wear much-admired, skimpy leather costumes.
Every troop has its own bar area. Given the amount of alcohol sunk, and the real swords and daggers carried, it is a miracle there are no accidents.
Participants are incredibly loyal to their ancestral troops, and whole families are involved. Babies are ‘christened’ into their troops on one particular day in the fiesta, and they take part in the processions looking incredibly cute with
mini-togas, laurel wreaths and appropriately kitted-out pushchairs. The troops are like clubs, and all members pay their regular subscriptions. The Carthaginians wear brown and beige with touches of exotic furs, while Romans favour crimson with their leather. The Carthaginian costumes appeal more to punks and those with circus skills. Some like to show off by juggling or fire-eating.
Carthage colonised Cartagena – both originally called Qart Hadast, meaning New Town – in 228BC, under the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal.
Conquered by Roman general Scipio Africanus in 209BC, it was renamed Carthago Nova (or ‘New New Town’) to distinguish it from the original north African city.
Carthago Nova remained Roman until 435AD, when it was sacked by the Vandals. Quite a few of the locals still have Roman facial features which fit well with their tunics, togas and armour.
The festival centres on those reenactments of Roman-carthaginian struggles in Spain. When I first arrived (I’ve been visiting since 2002) they were staged in the open theatre in Parque Torres, on one of the five hills on which the original Carthago Nova was built. These days, a stage is put up for it by the port – Cartagena was a crucial Roman harbour. A beacon is lit at the beginning of the fiestas in Parque Torres.
When I moved to Cartagena to live there full-time in 2006, the woman playing Himilce, Hannibal’s wife, was a dead ringer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One of the most touching events is the Oracle of Tanit, the Carthaginian moon goddess. In the ceremony, Himilce goes to the priestesses of Tanit for advice. The first version we saw was accompanied by an orchestra playing moon-related music from Clair de Lune to Britten.
My favourite these days is the Roman senate meeting. In the guise of this gathering, in proper togas, they provide a witty script based on local and national politics. It is always up to date and as funny as Have I Got News for You. It is traditional for local councillors to avoid attending this one. They’d be bound to sue for libel if they did.
The general ambience is reminiscent of 1066 and All That or Blackadder. I love the Roman geezers in full armour, topped off with sunglasses and mobile phones. There is also a Roman cycle race.
In our first year, we met Geraldo, a priest of Jupiter, in a queue for free sardines which were being grilled alongside the port. He told us he had a flat near Lidl. It is this sort of surreal overlap between the ancient and modern that I love about the festival, and the city I live in. It has a wider range of architectural variety than anywhere on Earth –plus mainly nice people, and it’s great for snorkelling and hillwalking.
Cartagena has a problem that’s both beautiful and terrible. It has far more remains than it can afford to excavate. Aerial searches have revealed a huge amphitheatre, but there is little for tourists to view. A new excavation is starting soon – but only a small one. A modern bullring on top of the amphitheatre is a preserved early-20th-
century building; it’s unlikely to be demolished or moved. And so the amphitheatre will remain hidden.
Other Roman remains include the Barrio del Foro Romano, also known as Molinete, a hillside that, a few decades ago, was renowned for bars, sailors and goodtime girls. These days, it is on the tourist circuit for its Roman gymnasium floor and small sections of fresco. The hill is the supposed site of Hasdrubal’s palace. Only time will tell if there is a glorious building cut in the rock, as one archaeologist believes, or simply a few stones.
The centre of Cartagena is built over Roman roads, and a few bits are still left on show. Others are probably sealed in for ever, beneath gracious art-nouveau buildings. Sometimes, excavations are sealed temporarily. This has happened in the Plaza de la Merced. When it was excavated, a nymphaeum (a monument to spring-water nymphs) was revealed, together with the foundations of a Punic house. It is now covered up, awaiting future restoration.
One of the five hills, Monte Sacro, is rich in ancient finds; it has been used for an archaeology summer school; an aerial view has revealed the site of a large temple. A beautiful Ara Pacis, now in Barcelona, was found there decades ago.
The Roman city was small but partly funded by the mining area of the Sierra Minera (‘the mining mountain range’). Mines, Roman and modern, are still visible, all along its hills. The FEVE train from Cartagena can take you through this area for a quick view of them.
Cartagena is not really into celebrating its mining – more the wealth that came from it which built its art-nouveau palaces. At one time, 40,000 slaves worked the mines, providing silver and lead for the Roman colony. Some clothes and tools of the original Iberian miners are preserved in the local museums.
The underwater archaeology museum, Arqua, preserves vast numbers of amphorae from local trading. Apart from the local metals, garum (a much prized, expensive fish sauce) was made locally and traded widely in the ancient world; Pompeii was a leading garum manufacturer. A local archaeology professor still makes his own and I have tasted it. It is somewhere between mackerel pâté and fish sauce in flavour.
Cartagena´s modern exports are high-quality lubrication oil and submarines. I rather like it that the city is industrial; it means it doesn’t die off in winter. It remains a military and naval city, as it has been for centuries, with a network of fortifications along its hills; a mixture of castles, 17th-century towers and 18th- to 20th-century batteries.
The Roman senator Cato the Elder was famous in the second century BC for finishing all his speeches with an attack on the old enemy: ‘ Carthago delenda est’ – ‘Carthage must be destroyed.’
These days, any senator worth his salt would say, ‘ Carthago Nova visitanda est’ – ‘Cartagena must be visited.’
The Romans and Carthaginians Festival, Cartagena, 21st-30th September