Palimpsesting

Sagunt is about 45 minutes North of Valencia on a local train. It is, honestly, not somewhere you’re likely to visit unless you’re spending a fair bit of time in Valencia, but it is fascinating.

The hill above Sagunt has been used a a fortress pretty much forever. There is archeological evidence of its use by the Iberians and it was fighting over it that saw the end of Carthage as a power. The Romans, the Muslims, the Christian kings, the Napoleonic French, the Civil War sides – everyone has added a layer to the castle (or knocked a bit down in battle).

Now I know that’s true of many places. But there are few places you can see the evidence of those layers so clearly. Perhaps because it is quite damaged, you get to see the earlier bits more clearly than you would if the later bits were all still standing.

And perhaps because of that continuity of use, with a bit of imagination there was a real sense of connection with the past as I wandered about the enormous complex.

I will finish today by pointing out one aspect of Sagunt’s history and take some pride in not having made a single pun about it: Before the Roman’s renamed it, the town was called Arse.