Carthago Nova: fases e hitos de monumentalización urbana y arquitectónica (siglos III a.C.-III d.C.)

This article gives a diachronic account of the evolution of the Punic Qart Hadašt and the Roman Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena, province of Murcia, Spain), especially focusing on the most significant landmarks in the process of architectural and urban monumentalisation undergone by the city between the 3rd century BC and the 3rd century AD. For this, historiographical information will be combined with the urban and underwater archaeological data collected in the last few decades, particularly in the areas around the theatre and Molinete, which have uncovered long occupational sequences that cover the whole history of the city. This work has greatly contributed to increasing our knowledge of the Punic city, which was a highly Hellenised enclave, and also of its evolution in the Roman period, including the Republican foundations in the acropolis, the urban-architectural project launched in the Augustan period and the reflection of ethnicity upon the urban structure. In addit ion, recent excavations in Molinete have demonstrated that the notions of crisis a nd urban decadence must be revised, forcing us to rewrite the history of the city in the 3rd century.En el presente artículo se traza un panorama diacrónico de la historia material de la Qart Hadašt púnica y la Carthago Nova romana (actual Cartagena, provincia de Murcia, España), analizando en particular sus más destacados hitos y fases de su monumentalización urbana y arquitectónica entre los siglos III a.C. y el III d.C. Para ello resulta esencial la información proporcionada por lamoderna tradición historiográfica y los resultados obtenidos en las últimas décadas por la arqueología urbana y subacuática, en particular en las áreas arqueológicas del teatro romano y del Molinete, que han permitido obtener amplias secuencias ocupacionales de la ciudad histórica, desde sus inicios hasta la actualidad. Estos resultados completan el panorama conocido hasta la fecha de la ciudad púnica, definida por su elevado grado de helenización, y de la romana, caracterizada por las fundaciones republicanas en la acrópolis y el proyecto urbanístico-arquitectónico de edad augustea, así como por el fenómeno de la etnicidad urbana. Además, el registro arqueológico constatado recientemente en el Molinete obliga a redefinir la ciudad del siglo III, cuya situación de crisis y decadencia urbana deben ahora matizarse. This article gives a diachronic account of the evolution of the Punic Qart Hadašt and the Roman Carthago Nova (modern Cartagena, province of Murcia, Spain), especially focusing on the most significant landmarks in the process of architectural and urban monumentalisation undergone by the city between the 3rd century BC and the 3rd century AD. For this, historiographical information will be combined with the urban and underwater archaeological data collected in the last few decades, particularly in the areas around the theatre and Molinete, which have uncovered long occupational sequences that cover the whole history of the city. This work has greatly contributed to increasing our knowledge of the Punic city, which was a highly Hellenised enclave, and also of its evolution in the Roman period, including the Republican foundations in the acropolis, the urban-architectural project launched in the Augustan period and the reflection of ethnicity upon the urban structure. In addit ion, recent excavations in Molinete have demonstrated that the notions of crisis a nd urban decadence must be revised, forcing us to rewrite the history of the city in the 3rd century