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The plane tree of Caesar (1 of 1)

• Complex map >
• The Gardens of the Alcazar >
• The plane tree of Caesar (1 of 1)

During the Roman rule, Cordoba was a patrician colony. The Forum Censorium, or customs house was located on the site of the current Alcazar. It also housed the residence of the governor and the quaestor.
In the year 65 BC, one of the most prominent leaders of Roman History was assigned to Corduba, the Roman name of the city, as a quaestor. He had to perform financial duties and manage the meeting of the traders in Cordoba. This quaestor was Julius Caesar.
One of his unofficial activities as a quaestor was planting trees and flowers, such as the plan tree he planted in the gardens of the Alcazar, to which the poet Martial later dedicated an epigram. Several parts of this poem were inscribed in this walls:

“IN TARTESSIAN LANDS THERE IS A CELEBRATED HOUSE
WHERE THE OLD CORDOBA LOOKS PLACIDLY, TOWERING ABOVE
THE WHOLE HOUSE CAESAR'S PLAN TREE RAISES WITH DENSE HAIRS;
IT WAS PLANTED BY THE RIGHT HAND OF THE UNBEATEN GUEST
ITS TRUNK GROWING FROM HIS HAND
OH TREE OF THE GREAT CAESAR, BELOVED BY THE GODS
DO NOT BE AFRAID OF THE IRON NOR THE SACRILEGIOUS FIRE”.
MARTIAL