Linares

Located on top an easily defendable terrace of the Guadalimar, the site of Castulo in the vicinity of Linares was an important mining center in the Upper Guadalquivir, both as an Oretani oppidum and as a Roman city. Losing population since the 3rd century CE, as well as local primacy (mint and bishopric) to Viatia (Baeza) in late antiquity, Castulo was largely abandoned and ruined by the 8th century, and only temporarily inhabited afterwards. Located some kilometres north of Castulo, Linares' origins lie on urban development around the Islamic fortress, although chronology is moot. First mentioned in 1152 under Castilian rule as a hamlet, Linares had consolidated as a sizeable rural settlement of Baeza by the turn of the 15th century. It received the privilege of township in 1565, thereby emancipating from Baeza.