3771) Archeological Site of Castulo, Linares - Jaen, Spain: Espana Correos (Spanish Post) has issued a postage stamp of 3 Euros featuring the historical site: Date/Year of Stamp issue: 18.02.2025:
Espana Correos continues with its philatelic series dedicated to archaeological sites, dedicating a stamp this 2025 to the archaeological site of Cástulo in Linares.
Located in a strategic place due to its proximity to rich mining resources, the Guadalquivir river and important communication routes, Cástulo was one of the most important centres of the Iberian Peninsula during antiquity. Located on the outskirts of Tartessos, it was linked to the Greeks and Phoenicians. In Iberian times, the oppidum was the capital of the region of Oretania and played a leading role in the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. It is famous for the marriage of General Hannibal to the Iberian princess Himilce to seal an alliance that was eventually broken in favour of Rome.
After the defeat of the Carthaginians, Castulo became part of the province of Tarraconensis, maintaining an exceptional political autonomy that was manifested in its ability to mint coins. This led to the city adapting to the Roman urban model, with the construction of most of the buildings that can be seen today, among which the Mosaic of the Lovers, a fragment of which illustrates the stamp, stands out for its excellent state of preservation and beauty.
Mosaic of the Amores, Cástulo (Linares, Jaén)
This mosaic pavement, with a surface area of 72 m2, was found in 2012 in the city of Cástulo (Linares, Jaén), in one of the rooms of an unfinished public building, which was under construction between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, and therefore never came into use, hence the exceptional state of preservation of this work.
The mosaic combines different formal and chromatic resources, using both black-and-white tesserae, such as in the frame where a series of moving herons are depicted, and coloured tesserae, with the central figurative ‘emblem’ framed in geometric polychromy standing out.
The motifs of the two central tondos illustrate two classical myths, the trial of Paris and the love affairs of Luna and the shepherd Endymion, and around the outline of the ‘emblem’ are six semicircles occupied by ‘erotes’ or ‘amorcillos’, the retinue of the goddess Venus. At the four corners of the ‘emblem’ are allegories of the four seasons, spring as a young woman with a floral crown, summer with a dark complexion and a crown of ears of corn, autumn covered with a fur, and winter personified by a sad old woman, covered with a rainy cloak and a strange headdress of bare branches, next to a sprig of mistletoe.
Finally, at the meeting of the circular rounds, semicircles and quadrants, occupying the resulting curved rhombuses, are six animals... horse, lion and boar on one side, and tigress, deer and lioness on the other.
The Stamps:
Technical details:
Issue Date: 18.02.2025
Process: Offset
Size: 74.60 mm x 28.80 mm
Values: €3.00
Links:
The Clipper - Cutty Sark:
Santosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY interesting and informative post Thanks for sharing."
Thank you so much Khanna sahab.
Delete