Roman soldiers

Roman Mallorca
123 BC
Incensed by Balearic piracy, Rome sent an expedition led by the Roman consul Quintus Cecilius Metelus to teach the Islanders the error of their ways. Well aware of the fame of the Mallorcan slingers in battle, the Consul took the precaution of covering the outside of his vessels with leather. This deadened the force of the stones hurled by the slingers and victory followed although it had taken two years to achieve, such was the ferocity and marksmanship of the Island defenders.

Two thousand Romans were left on the Island and subsequently 3,000 colonists joined them and spread through the Island or settled around the Almudaina Palace -the first part of the city to be walled- and Pollentia in the northeast, the site of a Phoenician settlement. Pollentia was the port for Roman cities to the northwest Mediterranean, Palmeria the port used for trading with Carthage and the remainder of Africa. The Palma-Pollentia road follows the ancient Roman way very closely, although the site of Tuccis, known to be a staging post, has still not been identified.

Palmeria itself was a Roman camp, founded on the remains of a talayot settlement. Its strategic location brought increased trade and prosperity to the Island. New farming methods introduced by the Romans led to the production of wheat and wine. Olive trees were imported and the salt production flourished.


Busqueda del sitio
31 BC
In the reign of Augustine (31BC–14AD), the inhabitants of the Balearic Islands sent a deputation to the emperor for assistance against the plague of rabbits that was devastating the wheat on the little islet of Conejera.
337
Always part of the Roman Empire, the Islands came under the jurisdiction of Tarragona until the death of Constantine in 337AD.
395
From then until the end of the reign of Theodosius the Great, (379-395) they were self-governing, with the principal seat in Mallorca.
423
It was the fragmentation of the Empire and the ineffectual rule of the Emperor Honorius (384-423) that opened the gates of Spain, and hence Mallorca, to Gunderic, king of the Vandals.
425