Lucus
Augusti, what is known today as the city of Lugo, was founded by Emperor
Agustus as a Roman population and capital of the legal convent of Lugo
during the Cantabrian Wars between the years 26 and 24 before Christ.
It originated as an encampment city, from the traditional reticular organization of urban distribution, typical of military camps of the Roman army. Throughout the imperial era, it acquired importance among populations that were also Roman as Leon, Astorga and Braga because of its strategic location, as well as for the distribution of roadways that reached the peninsular northwestern coast.
The walls were built in the IIIrd century, covering with the enclosure an extension greater than the actual town, enclosing more than 30 hectares, including work lands within the fortified zone. This gave rise to a great wall, with eighty-five circular towers and numerous gates, four of which are preserved from Roman time, and with a total length of 2,140 m.
Some of these towers still
have the windows that originally probably finished off on the two top floors.
Its structure is of shale ashlars and granite flagstone, and depending
on the area, is thick enough to allow a wide upper walkway. In this century,
it was freed of the numerous constructions that were built adjoining it.
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