Identified oldest library on the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Córdoba

The work was carried out by researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) and the discovery, published in the last edition of the ‘Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology’, one of the main British journals in the area of archaeology, reported on Wednesday the Europa Press agency.

The discovery was made possible by using an innovative methodology that analyzes the combination of architectural elements in space.

The study, conducted by researchers from UGR Antonio López, Javier Martínez-Jiménez and Eduardo Cerrato, is part of the project ‘Exploratio Territorii Antiquae Ecclesiae Cordubensis’.

Its main challenge was to overcome the difficulty of identifying archeologically spaces such as Roman libraries, where books and wooden shelves practically disappeared.

To solve this problem, researchers used a technique known as ‘grammatic forms’. This methodology allows us to analyze how the different architectural elements of a division combine.

In the case of Fuente Alamo, in southern Spain, the analyzed division presents a plant that fits the constructive style of Roman libraries: an apse, rectangular niches that could have housed shelves, other semicircular niches, a podium and adjacent auxiliary rooms that probably served as work spaces or storage areas.

The combination of these elements was fundamental to discard the previous interpretation of space as a possible mitreus (place of worship) and confirm its use as a place of reading, study and cultural exhibition.

This discovery is especially relevant because, unlike other cases, Fuente Alamo's architecture preserves an exceptional combination of indications that allow us to go beyond mere hypotheses.

Fuente Alamo's library is thus positioned not only as the oldest in the Iberian Peninsula, but also as the most western of the entire Roman Empire.

️ La #UGR discover en Puente Genil la biblioteca romana más antigua documented in the Iberian Peninsula

Un estudio reveals that the space of the yacimiento of Fuente Alamo is destined for la lectura y la cultura escrita

ℹ️ https://t.co/KRsCMjaKTZ pic.twitter. with/ub0vCb26R3

— Universidad Granada (@CanalUGR) July 29, 2026

In addition, researchers consider it the best preserved private library in the known Roman world, except for the exceptional Villa dos Papiros in Herculano, whose content (the papyrus) is preserved, but not the physical structure that housed them.

The study also incorporates a hypothesis that adds greater interest to the discovery. The authors suggest a possible link between this library and a sarcophagus found in the 19th century at the archaeological site of Villares del Carril, nearby.

This piece, known as the sarcophagus of the Declamation and which is at the Málaga Museum, presents scenes related to reading and teaching.

The chronology and iconography of this sarcophagus coincide with those of the second phase of the village of Fuente Alamo. One of the figures represented (a bearded man with a parchment and a codex) shows similarities with a figure in a mosaic of Fuente Alamo that previous studies identified as the owner of the village.

Although this relationship cannot be definitively proven, it suggests that the sarcophagus could represent the library owner, offering unique proofs of how the rural elites of the Late Antiquity Betics were linked to written culture and intellectual identity.