Cividade de Terroso

Cividade de Terroso was an ancient city of the Castro culture in North-western coast of the Iberian Peninsula, situated near the present bed of the Ave river, in the suburbs of present-day Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal.

Located in the heart of the Castro region, the cividade played a leading role in the early urbanization of the region in the early 1st millennium BC, as one of the oldest, largest and impregnable castro settlements. It was important in coastal trading as it was part of well-established maritime trade routes with the Mediterranean. Celtic and later Carthaginian influence are well-known, it was eventually destroyed after the Roman conquest in 138 BC. The city, known during the Middle Ages as Civitas Teroso (The City of Terroso), was built at the summit of Cividade Hill, in the suburban area of Terroso, less than 5 km from the coast, near the eastern edge of modern Póvoa de Varzim.

Beyond the main Castro settlement, three of Cividade de Terroso's outposts are known: Castro de Laundos (mostly unexplored), Castro de Navais (only the fountain and site remains, as it is inhabited to this day), and Castro de Argivai (a Castro culture farmhouse, severely damaged when it was discovered).

The settlement of Cividade de Terroso was founded during the Bronze Age, between 800 and 900 BC, as a result of the displacement of the people inhabiting the fertile plain of Beiriz and Várzea in Póvoa de Varzim. This data is supported by the discovery of egg-shaped cesspits, excavated in 1981 by Armando Coelho, where he collected fragments of four vases of the earlier period prior to the settlement of the Cividade. As such, it is part of the oldest castro settlements, such as the ones from Santa Luzia or Roriz.

The Cividade prospered due to its strong defensive walls and its location near the ocean, which facilitated trade with the maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean Sea, mainly during the Carthaginian rule in South-eastern Iberian Peninsula.

Trade eventually attracted Roman attention during the Punic Wars and the Romans had learned of the wealth of the Castro region in gold and tin. Viriathus led the troops of the Lusitanian confederation, which included several tribes, hindered northward growth of the Roman Republic at the Douro river, but his murder in 138 BC opened the way for the Roman legions. The Cividade and the Castro culture perished at the end of the Lusitanian War, in which Rome's victory was secured by murdering Viriathus.

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