Qualla: Sagunto Castle https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:18 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sagunto Castle https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle Sagunto Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle/ Photo credit Dorieo, CC BY-SA 3.0. Hannibal's siege of this hilltop in 219 BC started a world war. The Carthaginian general's sacking of the Iberian settlement then called Arse triggered the Second Punic War, a conflict that would reshape the entire Mediterranean. Twenty-two centuries later, the ruins of Sagunto Castle still crown the flat-topped hill that marks the last upthrust of the Sierra Calderona mountains, 23 kilometers north of Valencia. Beneath and between the visible walls lie the compressed remains of every civilization that fought for this strategic ground: Iberian, Roman, Moorish, Christian, and Napoleonic, all stacked in a single archaeological layer cake.

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Image: Dorieo | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/ezpc-sagunto-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sagunto Castle: The Hill That Started Wars https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle/ Photo credit Enrique Íñiguez Rodríguez (Qoan), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Iberians called their settlement Arse, and its position overlooking the Mediterranean coast made it a prize worth fighting over. When Hannibal besieged and sacked the town in 219 BC, Rome treated the attack as a casus belli, launching the Second Punic War that would eventuall...

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Image: Enrique Íñiguez Rodríguez (Qoan) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/ezpc-sagunto-castle-the-hill-that-started-wars.mp3 0:06 2 full Sagunto Castle: Names Written in Stone https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle/ Photo credit Macmanu, CC BY-SA 3.0. The castle's very name records the passage of empires. The Mozarabs who remained in the town under Muslim rule called it Murum Veterum, the old wall, a name that contracted over centuries into Murvetrum, Morvedre, and Molvedre. The Muslims modified this further into Murbiter. Chr...

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Image: Macmanu | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/ezpc-sagunto-castle-names-written-in-stone.mp3 0:06 3 full Sagunto Castle: El Cid, Peter of Aragon, and the Jewish Cemetery https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle/ Photo credit Mike1979 Russia, CC BY-SA 3.0. El Cid seized the castle in 1098 and held it until 1102, incorporating it into the Kingdom of Valencia during his brief dominion over the region. By the mid-13th century, Christians garrisoned the fortress even as the majority of the town's population remained Muslim. The early 1...

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Image: Mike1979 Russia | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/ezpc-sagunto-castle-el-cid-peter-of-aragon-and-the-jewish-cemetery.mp3 0:06 4 full Sagunto Castle: Napoleon's Engineers https://qualla.com/sagunto-castle/ Photo credit Millars, CC BY-SA 3.0 es. The castle's final military chapter came during the Peninsular War, when French forces besieged it in 1811. The Spanish defender Andriani withstood multiple assaults before Marshal Suchet finally prevailed. After capturing the fortress, Suchet's engineers repaired and strengthene...

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Image: Millars | CC BY-SA 3.0 es

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/z/p/c/sagunto-castle-wp/ezpc-sagunto-castle-napoleons-engineers.mp3 0:06 5 full