Romans Zaragoza was founded in the year 24 BC by the legions that had taken part in the Cantabrian Wars, in Augustus' time. The city took its name from the emperor Caesaraugusta (Caesar Augustus) and was an important city with 30,000 inhabitants as well as baths, sewers, a theatre (6,000 capacity), a market, temples, a port and a road network that connected it to other cities in the empire. The city was built on the River Ebro—the ancient Iber—an area populated by the Sedetans, an Iberian folk. By the end of the empire, Zaragoza had acquired some importance in ancient texts due to its Christian community (a council was held here in 380 which condemned Priscilian's heresy).
Zaragoza is currently the fifth biggest city in Spain and has 650,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Government of Aragón and is a modern city, which since the sixties has grown considerably. Its strategic location in the centre of northeast Spain makes it an ideal place for conferences, since it lies in the centre of the Madrid-Barcelona and Valencia-Bilbao axes, and is only 250 kilometres from France.
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