Conimbriga

Coninbriga is an archaeological site in Portugal mostly known for its impressive Roman ruins.

Plan of the site from Google Earth.

It is an ancient place, first inhabited in the Bronze Age, but it grew greatly under Roman rule and was made a municipium in 70 AD. Archaeologists estimate that its population at that time was around 10,000.

The baths. Excavation of the site began in the late 1800s and it became an archaeological park in 1910. 

The walled garden of a town house.

Mosaic details.

The aqueduct.

At the height of the empire, the site was unwalled, but in the later 200s walls were constructed. They did not, alas, save it from being sacked by the Sueves in 468. It declined thereafter, and the bishop moved away to a different site around 570. The modern town of Coimbra grew up there, leaving the Roman site to decay into these splendid ruins.