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Calahorra, La Rioja, Spain is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as Calagurris.
Calahorra has been inhabited since the Paleolithic, and its stable population dates to the Iron Age.
Rome conquered the town in 187 BC and brought it to its highest point of importance as an administrative centre for surrounding regions.
Calahorra supported Quintus Sertorius in his war against Pompey, whom the city resisted successfully since 76 BC. It was only taken four years later by Pompey's legate Lucius Afranius, after a lot of inhabitants had died from starvation and there had occurred cannibalism.
Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar gave the city (then named Calagurris) numerous distinctions, converted it into a municipality, and developed its city planning, economy, and politics. Its archeological remains show that it had a circus, baths, an amphitheatre, and other services found in large cities. It minted money and served as a justice administration centre.
Quintilian, well known for his descriptions of the culture of that time, was born in Calahorra, and the Parador in the city is named after him. It has Roman ruins in the grounds.
Saints Emeterius and Celedonius, martyred in the city around 305 AD, are the patron saints of the city, and the city's coat-of-arms depict their names. The cathedral is dedicated to them.
After the rule of the Moors in the 9th and 10th centuries the Christian king García Sánchez III of Navarre captured the city in 1045.
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