The archaeological site of Fuente Álamo, in the Cordoban town of Puente Genil, may contain a proto-library that would be the oldest found to date in the Iberian Peninsula, according to a study published in the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology by researchers from the universities of Córdoba and Granada.
Until now it was thought that room number 10 at Fuente Álamo had been a shrine to Mithras, a deity of Persian origin that was incorporated into the Roman pantheon at a relatively late stage. The complex began life as a spa in the 1st century BC, which was later abandoned and converted into a villa around the 3rd century. The specialists do not give a precise date for when the room was used as a library, but say the house reached its peak over the following two centuries, before being remodelled again in the 6th century.
