Zafra (; ) is a town in the Province of Badajoz (Extremadura, Spain), and the capital of the comarca of Zafra - Río Bodión. It has a population of 16,677,
Zafra is the hometown of Fray Ruy Lopez, author of one of the first European treatises on chess, and the humanist Pedro de Valencia.
Roman era
Zafra has been associated with the Roman names
Restituta Iulia Imperial,
[
Qué Hacer | (switch to English) | Vía de la Plata (The Silver Route) | stage 3 at TurismoExtremadura.com.
] Contributa Iulia Ugultunia,
[
Badajoz (search for: 'Zafra') at El Archivo Epigráfico de Hispania | Bases de datos y Archivo Virtual | Geographica (on map, click on: 'Badajoz').
] and
Segida Restituta Iulia,
[ though this applies equally to some of the other towns in the area.][
Comarca de Zafra / Rio Bodión | La Comarca - Sus Municipios.
] The name Contributa Julia appears on an 1849 map[
Hispania from Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection | Spain Maps | Hispania (Ancient Spain).
] of Roman Hispania (in the south-west of Spain, in the area named Baeturia) alongside the name Regina (presently associated with the ruins of a small Roman town of the same name [ Wikimapia location: ruins of Regina Roman town.]), lending some geographical support to the possibility of an association of the name Contributa Iulia or Contributa Julia with Zafra. Other sources, however, support an association of the name Segida Restituta Iulia with Zafra.[
Atlas de la Historia del Territorio de Andalucía.
][
'LA MUNICIPALIZACIÓN FLAVIA: ESTADO DE LA CUESTIÓN' (search for: 'Zafra') from 'LOS MUNICIPIOS FLAVIOS DE LA BÉTICA' by EVA Mª MORALES RODRÍGUEZ. Tesis Doctoral dirigida por Dr. Cristóbal González Román, DEPARTAMENTO DE HISTORIA, ANTIGUA FACULTAD DE FILOSOFIA Y LETRAS, UNIVERSIDAD DE GRANADA, Granada, 2000.
] Yet other, authoritative, sources associate no Roman name with Zafra.[
BARRINGTON ATLAS OF THE GREEK AND ROMAN WORLD, Gazeteer, page 430, Map 26 Lusitania-Baetica, Compiled by R.C. Knapp and F.H. Stanley, Jr. (Portugal), 1996, in file BATL026_.PDF in B_ATLAS.ZIP from Princeton University Press | Subjects | Browse Princeton Catalog by Subject | Archaeology and Ancient History | Archaeology and Ancient History | Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. R.J.A. Talbert, ed. | Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, Edited by Richard J. A. Talbert | Map-by-Map Directory.
] In the area round Zafra may be found the remains of as many as 20 Ancient Rome .[
LOS ROMANOS EN ZAFRA. ¿SEGEDA? (search for: 'villae'), from ZAFRA - LA SEGEDA DE LA BETURIA CÉLTICA.
] These, and associations between the name Restitutia Iulia and a migration from the legendary Segeda,[
Segeda and Rome. The historical development of a Celtiberian citystate. (page 11, section: 'A Segedan colonisation in the Celtic Baeturia') by Francisco Burillo Mozota, Centro de Estudios Celtibéricos de Segeda, Seminario de Arqueología y Etnología Turolense, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de Teruel.
] may be linked to the origin of the town.
See also
-
List of municipalities in Badajoz
