Romanization process
The victory of Rome over Carthage in the Second Punic War (218-202 BC) and the conquest of Cartagena and Cádiz by Scipio in 204 BC, marked the end of the Carthaginian dominion of the south of Spain (who had been there from 237 BC ) and the beginning of a long period of changes in Iberian society, already part of the Roman Empire. In 197 BC, the Monforte area was annexed to the Roman province called Hispania Citerior.
The initial Roman rule was based on a strong military presence in order to intervene in the political, social and economic systems of the Iberian community and implement the payment of taxes to Rome.
During the second century and the middle of the first century BC., trade with the Italian península increased and monetary circulation expanded. This new Roman administration did not mean the total renounce of indigenous traditions: the local language, the religious beliefs and the funeral rites were maintained until the beginning of the 1st century AD.
Throughout the 3rd century BC. many Iberian communities in the Vinalopó valley disappeared, while others remained, such as the Castillo del Río in Aspe, El Monastil in Elda and the Camino del Río in Monforte del Cid, a site where ceramic remains of Italic origin dating between the middle of the second century and the middle of the first century BC have been found.
In the second half of the 1st century AD, when the Roman settlement of Lucentum was created and the Roman colony of Ilici founded, the Vinalopó Valley continued to be the natural connecting route between the interior and the port settlements of Lucentum and Portus Ilicitanus.