Castle of Giraldo

Parish of
Nossa Senhora de Guadalupe

Évora and its surrounding region have a rich history that goes back more than five millennia, as demonstrated by nearby megalithic monuments such as the Anta do Zambujeiro and the Cromlech dos Almonds. Some Neolithic settlements developed in the region, the closest located at the top of São Bento. Another village of this type is called Castle of Giraldo, inhabited continuously from the 3rd millennium to the 1st millennium BC and sporadically occupation in medieval times. Archaeological excavations, however, have not yet demonstrated whether the The area of the current city was inhabited before the arrival of the Romans.

According to a legend popularized by the humanist and writer from Évora, André de Resende (1500-1573), Évora would have been the headquarters of the troops of the Roman general Sertorius, who together with the Lusitanians would have faced the power of Rome. What is known with a high degree of certainty is that Évora received the name Liberalitas Júlia from Julius Caesar or Octavius and was elevated by Vespasiano to the category of municipality. The etymological origin of the name Ebora is probably coming from the ancient Celtic ebora/ebura, plural genitive case of the word eburos (yew), name of a species of tree, so its name means "of the yews". The current city of York, in the North of England, at the time of the Roman Empire, was called Eboracum/Eburacum, name derived from the ancient Celtic Ebora Kon (Place of Yew Trees), hence the its ancient name is hypothetically related to that of the city of Évora. At the time of Augustus (r. 27 BC-14 AD), Évora was integrated into the Province of Lusitania and benefited with a series of urban transformations, of which the Roman Temple of Évora - dedicated probably to the imperial cult - is the most important vestige that has survived to our time. days, in addition to ruins of public baths.

In the parish of Tourega, the well-preserved remains of a Roman village show that around the city there were rural establishments maintained by the lordly class. In the 3rd century, in a context of instability in the Empire, the city was surrounded by a wall of which some elements still exist today. According to Jorge de Alarcão, Ebora was the Lusitanian city with the largest number of families of Roman origin, the Júlias, Calpurnia, Canidia and Catinia are some of the most prominent.