Undoubtedly, Seville was one of the most important cities of Baetica and Hispania since Phoenician times. Of course, its importance remained throughout Late Antiquity. In fact, at least during Visigothic era it was the most important religious seat of Baetica, and ecclesiastical capital of the province. In spite of multiple archaeological excavations, our knowledge of the organization of the city is scarce. However, the next chapter organizes existing information and gives a coherent picture of the city between the fourth and eighth centuries. We will use the ancient Via Augusta of Roman times as guide to explain the city, viewing the cemetery zone to the north of the city, entering the episcopium, in a central neighbourhood of the city, and finally leaving the city by the Via Augusta towards Cadiz, where a monastery controlled this exit and all the zone of the port that was around him. Neither will we forget the territory of the bishopric, where archaeological data allow us to speak of four well-defined geographical areas, although most of the archaeological sites treated have little detailed information. The importance of the area of El Aljarafe (near the city of Seville) during Late Antiquity should be emphasized, where a large part of the Christian inscriptions of the present province of Seville have been found.

The City of Seville

We have had the opportunity to see how much progress has been made in the study of late antique Seville (Fig. 32) regarding its extension, its limits, the morphological evolution of the rivers that surrounded it, and its domestic buildings, but we must say that the Christian topography still poses problems as do the major civil and religious buildings that must have existed. Despite the high number of archaeological excavations carried out in recent years in the city of Seville, our knowledge of the Roman city is minimal. In fact, we are not certain of either of its boundaries nor of its urban organization, let alone where its main buildings stood.

Current geomorphological studies show that the Guadalquivir experienced, since the late third century, a major revival of river dynamics the causes and effects of which are complex.