Oldest Iberian Peninsula library discovered in Puente Genil

The archaeological site of Fuente Álamo, in the town of Puente Genil in the province of Córdoba, may contain a proto-library that would be the oldest found so far on the Iberian Peninsula, according to research in the ‘Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology’ carried out by researchers from the universities of Córdoba and Granada.

Until now, it was thought that room number 10 at Fuente Álamo housed a place of worship to Mithras, a deity of Persian origin that was incorporated relatively late into the Roman pantheon. The site originated as a bath complex in the 1st century BC, which was later abandoned and converted into a villa around the 3rd century. The specialists do not give a precise date for the use of the room as a library, but say the house reached its peak over the following two centuries, until it was transformed once again in the 6th century.

To resolve this question, the researchers used a technique known as shape grammar, which makes it possible to analyse how the different architectural elements of a room are combined. In the case of Fuente Álamo, the hall has a layout that matches the structure of Roman libraries: an apse, rectangular niches that may have held bookcases, semicircular niches, a podium and adjoining rooms that could have served as workspaces or storage areas.

The find is exceptional, experts argue, because the architecture of Fuente Álamo preserves an unusually rich combination of clues that allows them to go beyond a simple hypothesis and move the research forward. The library at Fuente Álamo would thus be not only the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula, but also the westernmost in the entire Roman Empire and one of the best preserved.