Augustus and the Administrative Reorganization of Southern Lusitania

Abstract

Literary, archaeological and numismatic sources allow us to meet various oppida in southern Lusitania in the 1st century BC. As in other parts of Hispania, the new administrative order drawn by Augustus at the end of this century, will rank and choose to capital of civitates several of these cities. Not all will succeed; the presence or absence of elites, the local resources or investment in infrastructure will lead the success of a few and the wasting of other, even sometimes to its disappearance. The development process of the new order initiated by Augustus will culminate in a new reality in which the most visible is the dismantling of the tribal structure and the emergence of a new territory dominated by new centralities and regional networks. This paper observes the most significant changes operated in southern Lusitania.