''Lacobriga'' (Laccobriga or Lacóbriga (Lacobrica in Latin)) was an ancient town of Celtic origin, usually identified as the predecessor of the current city of

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. The nearby Archaeological Site of Monte Molião is also known as Lacobriga. Founded by the Conii around 1899 BC, there is evidence of

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

n presence around the seventh century BC. It was conquered by the

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

under Hamilcar Barca, who then recruited Celtic tribesmen in the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and ...

against the Romans. The original settlement was destroyed by an earthquake in the fourth century BC. Following the disaster, the Carthaginian captain Boodes resettled the city on its current location in 250 BC. Owing to its important harbor, it was colonized by the Romans and integrated into the Roman province of

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal (south of the Douro River) and a large portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and Province of Salamanca). Romans named the region after th ...

, becoming known as Lacobriga. In 76 BC Quintus Sertorius, a rebellious Roman general, helped by the Lusitanians of Lacobriga (who had been oppressed under Roman Generals and members of Lucius Cornelius Sulla party), defeated the Roman army of Caecilius Metellus Pius probably at nearby Monte Molião. With the

fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

, the town was occupied in the 6th century by the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

from the Kingdom of Toledo and later by the Byzantines.

References

Roman sites in Portugal Roman towns and cities in Portugal 19th-century BC establishments Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC {{AncientRome-stub

See also

References