摘要：The use of mineral and medicinal waters in Archena has been archaeologically attested since the late Bronze Age, but the first big transformation of this site was carried out by the Romans who lived in Carthago Noua during the second half of the first century A.D. Between the reign of Tiberius and Nero the building activity was frantic. At the end of Nero’s reign this activity began to stop and under Vespasian Archena’s spa became just a seasonal resort. The ancient site of Archena consisted of three areas: 1) the thermal area, which included the hydraulic facilities; 2) the official area, full of administrative and lodging buildings, and 3) the service area, where there were also hotel facilities. The necropolis was placed beside the third area. There two stelae have been recently unearthed. These stelae are huge and very different from those preserved in Carthago Noua. They seem to be similar to those from other areas such as those from the central part of Spain. These funerary inscriptions are made of limestone and deal with two visitors of Archena’s thermal baths, one coming from Valentia and the other coming from Consabura. Thanks to the funerary formulae and the palaeography we could date these inscriptions around the end of the Julio-Claudian period.
