Romanization in Menorca

The Romanization of Menorca refers to the process that involved the Roman military occupation, colonization, and the gradual acculturation of the indigenous Talayotic population, which, as a result, would lead to the definitive extinction of their culture as a distinct entity.

Occupation and colonization

Hispania Citerior

It seems that the classical sources justify the occupation of Menorca with the argument of piracy as the sole cause of conquest, although Strabo clarifies that the pirates were foreigners.

In fact, the end of the Punic Wars intensified the activity of Ebusus in the islands of Mallorca and Menorca, leading to an increase in piracy. The successes of the Roman conquest in Hispania facilitated an increase in maritime traffic toward the Peninsula, which often docked in Ebusus. Ebusitan shipowners took advantage of this new situation, and with the help of Balearic slingers, they ambushed and plundered merchant ships entering the Balearic waters. The Roman response was inevitable. However, despite this, piracy still disrupted Roman commercial traffic. There were other factors as well that pushed the Romans to take control of Menorca and Mallorca. The Roman Senate would drive the military conquest of the Balearic Islands as part of a strategy to pacify Southern Gaul and Sardinia, which was accomplished in 120 and 122 BCE, respectively.

Expansion of Maga Romana (según GÓMEZ, M.; GARRIDO, E. (2013). Soporte de escultura con decoración vegetal procedente del fórum de Mago (Mahón, Menorca). Pyrenae, 44, núm. 2 (2013).)

Quinto Cecilio Metelo was the leader of the Roman fleet responsible for the occupation of the Balearic Islands. It took him two years (until 121 BCE) to pacify the islands and establish the foundations of Roman administration. Initially, the influx of colonists was scarce, and the Romans took advantage of the former Punic settlements, such as Iammona (modern-day Ciudadela) and Magona. The etymological connection between Magona and Mago, the brother of Hannibal, and the supposed founder of Mahón, is now considered incorrect. It is believed that the Phoenicians named the settlement Magona, meaning "refuge, shelter, or protection," in relation to the excellent harbor conditions of the location. These settlements were home to Punico-indigenous communities, as evidenced in excavations at sites like Trepucó and the Plaza de la Conquista in Mahón. The Romans built military posts (castella) at these sites.

It is clear that the positive relations the indigenous people had with the Phoenician world had consequences, as the Roman civitates in Menorca were reduced to the status of civitas stipendiaria, or tribute-paying cities. This meant they were subjected to a harsher fiscal regime. Additionally, a military port, Sanisera, was founded at the present-day Puerto de Sanitja to prevent pirates from settling on the northern coast. In contrast, the belligerence of the Talayotic people in Mallorca toward the Carthaginians, coupled with their continued military support for Roman troops, led Rome to grant more privileges and send more colonists to the cities they founded on the island.

Bust of Emperor Tiberius found in Mago (Mahón).

In any case, in 123 BCE, Menorca (and the Balearic archipelago) became part of the Hispania Citerior with respect to its administration and taxation. In 13 BCE, Augustus reorganized the provincial structure of Hispania, establishing three provincial units: Bética, Lusitania, and Tarraconense, to which the Balearic Islands (insulae Baleares) belonged. However, the Roman provincial administration faced challenges due to issues related to insularity, particularly during the winter when navigational conditions were harsh, and the Mediterranean Sea became nearly impassable, creating a mare clausum (closed sea).

Resources and Economic Exploitation

The Talayotic origin and the Phoenician-Punic influence of the Roman settlements, as well as the paleobotanical data, indicate the preexistence of a cereal culture in occupied Menorca. Certain resources were known and used by the Roman world, such as the sea onion (Urginea maritima), abundant in Menorca and generally in the islands, which was used to kill rats and as medicine. Snails (a Balearic variety that lives in holes), honey, and hares were also traded.

Settlement

It seems that the rural settlement of Menorca during the Post-Talayotic period extends especially across the southern part of the island. In Roman times, the continuation of many of the settlements is confirmed, to which some of the excavated necropolises correspond, in the furnishings of which handmade ceramics of indigenous tradition coexist with Roman ceramics until the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. In some, like Rafal des Capità, this continues until the 5th century AD.

Roman agricultural exploitation techniques coexist with traditional methods of resource use. Post-Talayotic settlements and Roman exploitation sites are juxtaposed, as can be seen in the Algaiarens area, where the settlement of Es Pujol de sa Taula is located just 450 meters away from a traditional Roman exploitation. There is also the collapse of the indigenous centers of Punic-Ebusitan trade, as the Roman conquest led to places like Cales Coves being considered by Roman fiscal authorities as irregular or smuggling trade sites.

Despite the continuity in settlement, one of the consequences of the Roman conquest was social disintegration, leading some groups of indigenous people to integrate into urban settlements, although this likely occurred more in Mallorca.

The Romans constructed a road that connected the two main civitates (current Mahón and Ciudadela, which they called Mago and Iammo).

Epigraphic inscriptions

Epigraphic inscription of Calescoves (Menorca).

In Menorca, there are a series of epigraphic documents studied by various researchers, such as Father Cristóbal Veny and Marc Mayer, among others, which provide information on various issues related to Roman Menorca. The most well-known and studied documents are those from the Cova dels Jurats in Cales Coves, engraved on the wall at the entrance of a large cave that was possibly used as a sanctuary in antiquity. These epigraphs are a series of texts that suggest religious rituals related to the foundation of the city of Rome. The people who wrote these inscriptions followed a similar pattern. First, there is the consular date; then, in most cases, a date, usually the 21st of April, the day of the foundation of the city; and finally, a list of names related to other social and political positions, such as the ediles. It is very likely that those who created these inscriptions had a high social status within Roman Menorca and came to the cave every 21st of April to celebrate and commemorate the founding date of Rome at this sanctuary.

The epigraphs from Mahón, Ciudadela, and Sanitja are significant as they inform us of the legal status of these settlements as cities, as well as the names of some prominent individuals:

L·FABIO·L·F / QVIR / FABVLLO / AED·IIVIR.III / FLAMINI·DIVOR / AVG·R·P·MAG / OB MVLTA·EIVS / MERITA TR:

To Lucius Fabius Fabulo, son of Lucius, of the Quirina tribe, aedile, duumvir three times, flamen of the gods, augustal. The Republic of Mago, for his many merits. (Inscription documented in Mahón).

There are other inscriptions scattered across the island, with notable ones found in the Cova Diodorus of the Talayotic settlement of Torrellafuda, as well as other inscriptions in the cities of Mago, Iamo, and Sanisera.

The name "Nura"

The name Nura, applied to Menorca in a Roman itinerary, has an uncertain origin, and it is not clear whether this was the term used regionally to refer to the island. Its possible autochthonous origin is supported by the discovery of the paleonym Nure and Nura - Nora in Sardinia, as well as the lexeme nurac, which has survived as "nurake" in Sardinian and "nuraghe" in Catalan, referring to the towers equivalent to Talayots found in Sardinia. The relationship is not entirely clear, although the foundation of the Phoenician colony of Nora was attributed to the eponymous hero Norax, who came to Sardinia from Tartessos (modern Andalusia).