The Roman Empire began as a city on the Italian peninsula.
The city of Rome was founded approximately in 753 BCE and reached
the further extent as an empire in 117 CE under Emperor Trajan.
It was already an ancient civilization by the time of Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.
Spain did not begin to gravitate into
the Roman orbit until the first Punic war which ran from
264-241 BCE and the second Punic war from 218-201 BCE,
that pitted the Roman empire against the North African Carthaginian empire.
It was during the second Punic war that Hannibal led his army, Calvary,
and a collection of elephants across
the Iberian Peninsula and through the Alps to invade the Italic Peninsula.
Ultimately, the Romans would be successful.
And by the end of the Second Punic war in 201 BCE,
Rome would dominate the Iberian peninsula until the invasions of the Visigoths.
During this Roman era,
Iberia became known for its growth of cities,
the development of its water systems and aqueducts,
and the Roman theater in intellectual life.
Roman citizenship, which included tax exemptions,
was extinent to the elite,
whereas the commoners received a lesser form of citizenship.
Known as Hispani under Roman rule,
the Iberian peninsula became an important province to the Roman Empire
because of its production of exportable goods and future Roman emperors.
Although Hispania was the principal name of the region,
over the time, the peninsula further subdivided into three other regions.
Hispania functioned as a breadbasket for the empire over centuries producing olives,
wheat, grapes and wine.
They also mentioned the ore for welfare and tool making and precious metals.
As the most romanized of the empire's provinces,
Hispania was the birthplace of many legionnaires and
intellectuals and even emperors like Trajan,
Hadrian, Theodosias, as well as another well-known emperor, Marcus Aurelius.
Marcus Aurelius, born in Rome,
was of Spanish descent.
He ruled from 161-180 CE and he was among the last of the great emperors.
It was at the latter part of the Roman empire,
during these first few centuries of the new millennium,
that the Romans encountered the crisis of the third century,
as historians call it.
Among the main pressure were Barbarians or Germanic peoples pushing
into the empire from the North and Persians increasing pressure from the East,
the demand for staining provincial armies and military units,
as well as a political crisis that led to
a bewildering succession of 20 emperors from 235-284 CE.
All of this required a stronger army and more taxation.
Fundamental changes were afoot in the Roman Empire.
Christianity began to be adopted,
as well as new persecutions against religious minorities increased,
Christians among them, as well as Jews.
Further, the Visigothic threat never abated.
And in 378, the Visigoth sacked Rome,
permanently altering the Roman Empire.
For those persons who resided in Hispania,
it was a new time and a new culture would take hold, the Visigoths.