Janus Arch

Located near the town of Mengíbar, a stone's throw from the River Guadalquivir and beside the so-called "Roman Road", the Janus or "Ianus Augustus Arch" was the gateway to Baetica when Rome "ruled the known world". The arch is an important landmark located on the edge of the Ibero-Roman city of Iliturgi, next to the Roman road known as the Via Augusta, the point from which distances were measured and marked by milestones. It was also the boundary between two provinces: senatorial Baetica and imperial Tarraconensis.

The works to identify the arch, carried out by the Iberian Archaeological Research Institute at the University of Jaén with the support of Mengíbar town council, began in 2018. In line with the foundations uncovered to date, this was a large arch some 14.80 metres long, nearly 5 metres wide and with a single central opening of 5.15 metres through which the Via Augusta passed.