Old Continental TownsGallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
History
Old Continental Towns
Gallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
Cities and towns -- Europe; Europe -- Description and travel
We will now survey the Seville of olden days. No traces remain of
Seville's earliest epochs. The Phoenician traditions are vague, and we
know little indeed of the Hispolo of the Greeks, a town which was
supposed to have stood on this ground. The Romans came here, and called
the town Julia Romula, and the remains of that age, if scanty, are
deeply interesting. Italica, five miles from the city, is a Roman
amphitheatre, with corridors, dens for the lions, and some defined
tiers of seats. At this great Roman station, Trajan, Hadrian, and
Theodosius were born. For other vestiges of the Roman rule, we must
visit the Museo Provincial, where there are capitals, statues, and
busts. The Pillars of Hercules in the Alaméda are other monuments of
this period of the history of Seville.
Vandals and Goths ravaged the Roman city. Then came Musâ, the Moor, who
besieged Seville, and captured it, afterwards marrying the widow of the
Gothic monarch. A succession of Moorish rulers governed the city for
several hundred years. One of the greatest was Motamid II., under whose
sway Seville became a prosperous and wealthy capital, with a vast
population.
The Christians took the city in 1248, and expelled thousands of the
Mohammedans. Under the Spanish kings, Seville remained, for a
considerable spell, a royal city; and one of the most renowned of its
Christian sovereigns was Pedro the Cruel, who, while democratic in some
respects, was, on the other hand, a truculent tyrant. In administration
he was jealous and energetic, and though called "The Cruel," he has also
been named "The Just." Pedro lived in the Alcázar, the old palace which
we shall presently visit.
The monuments of the Moors in Seville are numerous. In the Alcázar are
courts of resplendent beauty, gilded and coloured in hundreds of
fantastic designs; arcades with horseshoe arches and graceful columns,
marble floors, fountains, and richly decorated doorways. The Giralda,
which is seen from many open spaces in the city, is a magnificent
specimen of the minaret, dating from 1184; and this tower, and the
adjoining Court of the Oranges, are parts of an ancient mosque. The
lower portion of the Golden Tower, by the Guadalquivir, was built by the
Moors. Many of the churches are built in the Mudéjar, or late Moorish
style, and most of them have elegant minarets, arched windows, and
interior decorations of an Oriental character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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