Archaeologists have identified the oldest known library on the Iberian Peninsula inside a Roman villa in southern Spain, overturning decades of belief that the room was a sanctuary dedicated to the Roman god Mithras.
The discovery was made at the Roman villa of Fuente Álamo in Puente Genil, in Spain’s Córdoba province. Researchers concluded the room served as a space for reading, study, and preserving written works, making it the westernmost known library in the Roman Empire and one of its best-preserved private examples.
Evidence points to a Roman library
The room contains several architectural features typical of Roman libraries, including an apse, rectangular niches that likely held wooden bookshelves, semicircular niches, a raised podium, and adjoining rooms believed to have been used for storage or scholarly work.
Together, these features allowed researchers to identify the room as a library despite the loss of books and wooden furnishings over nearly 2,000 years.
Archaeologists have identified the oldest known library on the Iberian Peninsula inside a Roman villa in southern Spain, overturning decades of belief that the room was a temple to Mithras.
The discovery also makes it the westernmost known library in the Roman Empire. pic.twitter.com/tauCgslaNA
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) July 30, 2026
Researchers also proposed a possible connection between the library and the Declamatio sarcophagus, a Roman stone coffin discovered in the 19th century at the nearby Villares del Carril archaeological site. The sarcophagus, now housed in the Museum of Málaga, depicts scenes of reading and teaching.
One carved figure holding both a scroll and a codex closely resembles a figure shown in a mosaic at Fuente Álamo that earlier studies identified as the villa’s owner.
Although the connection remains unproven, researchers said the similarities suggest the sarcophagus could depict the owner of the library. If correct, it would provide rare evidence that wealthy landowners in the Roman province of Baetica valued education, literature and intellectual identity.
How researchers solved the mystery
For years, archaeologists classified the room as a Mithraeum, a temple associated with the mystery cult of Mithras. The new study overturned that interpretation using shape grammar, a method that examines how architectural features are arranged within a building to determine its original function.
Rather than relying on books or wooden shelves, which rarely survive in the archaeological record, researchers analyzed the room’s layout. The combination of architectural elements matched the design of known Roman libraries and ruled out its earlier interpretation as a place of worship.
Why the discovery matters
The findings were published in the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology by University of Granada researchers Antonio López García, Javier Martínez-Jiménez and Eduardo Cerrato Casado as part of the Exploratio Territorii Antiquae Ecclesiae Cordubensis project.
Researchers said the study provides a new method for identifying Roman libraries and other difficult-to-classify buildings. They believe the approach could help archaeologists reassess similar sites across the former Roman Empire while strengthening the historical and cultural importance of the Fuente Álamo villa, one of Spain’s most significant Roman archaeological sites.
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