I thought we would travel to Spain and the city of Tarragona to visit a Unesco World Heritage Site. The city, originally named Tarraco, was built by the Romans on the road ‘Via Augusta’ that ran from the Pyrenees to Gades (Cadiz). The tower has three levels and two relief carved images on the central level. Once believed to be representations of the Scipio brothers, Publius and Gaeus, the images are actually of the god Attis, deity of death and resurrection.

The tower was built during the 1st century AD. On the second level behind the reliefs is where the  burial chamber is found. It would contain some of  the deceased major possessions. Romans were not allowed to bury their dead within a town, so families would build funerary monuments on a road outside of town. The more important the person, the more lavish the monument.

The Romans were not allowed to cremate or bury their dead inside the town. Therefore, we always find them outside the walls and normally alongside a road. The tower was most likely built for two, a husband and wife or two brothers. It is unknown as to who built the tower but certainly was not the Scipio brothers.

The watercolour (over graphite), which I date to the first quarter of the 19th century, has aged well. It is a beautiful scene for an important historical site.