Despite fairly regular references in the ancient sources to various aspects of Baetica in Late Antiquity, in truth its history is rather poorly known, and there is a particular scarcity of references to the cities of the region. Here we aim to provide the general historical framework of Baetica during Late Antiquity, beginning with the accession of Constantine the Great (AD 313) and ending with the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (AD 711). The process can be divided roughly into three stages, starting with the great transformation of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD, of which the best known and best studied phenomenon is the process we call ‘Christianization’. The next stage covers the fifth and much of the sixth century AD, a period characterized by the end of Rome as a state in the West and a loss of control over these territories, a fact ultimately triggered by the arrival of externae gentes. The intent of these peoples to settle in different parts of the Iberian Peninsula, the different attitudes of the Baetic (and Iberian) elites to this reality, and attempts by Rome to regain control (nominal and effective) of its former territories, will be the key features during this difficult and turbulent period. Finally, the third historical stage is characterized by the Visigoths.

The attempt to control the south of the Iberian Peninsula by the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo does not seem to have occurred earlier than king Teudis (AD 534–548). With a bit of irony we could say that this stage is usually portrayed as a sequence of conflicts and disasters: civil wars among the Goths, wars of conquest against the Baetic cities, Byzantine wars, wars of all against all, murders, treasons, rapes, sacrileges, anti-Semitism, plus depredations by the nobility. We could also use that same irony regarding the archaeology, where churches and cemeteries remain the focus of attention. If we tried to reconstruct the history of the Visigoths through just these two types of archaeological features, it would seem that the only two activities which took place at the time were praying and dying. Obviously, the historical reality is complex, as we will demonstrate later.