ABSTRACT
The third chapter will deal with the evidence available to ascertain the civitates (self-governing communities) on the Iberian Peninsula. The chapter starts with a critique of the different forms of evidence available to ascertain the nature of a city. The critique is illustrated by examples drawn from the different sources. Thereafter an analysis of the evidence per province is given and the resulting civitates are presented. The chapter shows the problematic nature of our classical understanding of Roman civitates as a unit of city and territory: territorium et urbs. Subsequently it turns to a reinterpretation of this classical civitas, which is dubbed the dispersed civitas. Different case studies are presented to illustrate the nature of these dispersed civitates. The chapter finishes with a conclusion on self-governing communities of the Iberian Peninsula.
