The Visigothic palace and the circus of Toledo: location hypothesis

Abstract

Unlike the traditional theories that proposed the location of the Visigothic royal palace in the historic quarter of the modern Toledo and, in particular, in relation to the current Alcazar, the authors propose a location in the so-called Vega Baja, outside the walls of the old – and the new – town, and in close connection with the Roman circus here situated. The authors base this hypothesis on the importance and religious-political significance of the unity palatium-circus in late antique Imperial capitals - theme developed in this same context by G. Vespignani - and on the allusions in the Visigothic councils to the presence of the praetorium and of the major Churches in suburbio and extra urbem. It is hard to understand that - having Toletum a magnificent circus whose ruins are still standing - the Visigoths Kings, especially since Leovigild, who aspired to be the continuation of the Imperium Romanum, setting the capital of the Kingdom in the city, didn’t take advantage of the possibilities offered by the circus to reproduce the enormous political symbolism of the palatium-circus. Therefore, the authors propose the archaeological excavations underway in the Vega Baja to be geared both to the finding of the Palace by the ruins of the Roman circus set and to the preservation of these spaces.