**2. Archeological Setting:** *Bracara Augusta***, Necropolises, Religious Buildings, and Sanctuaries**

The city of *Bracara Augusta* corresponds to a planned urban space created by the emperor Augustus in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Figure 1), after the Cantabrian Wars at the end of the 1st century BC (Le Roux 1994; de Sande Lemos 2002; Martins and Carvalho 2017; Rodríguez Colmenero 1996). The characteristics of the city have been revealed by dozens of excavations carried out since the 1970s, under the *Bracara Augusta* Project (Martins et al. 2020). Thus, the works carried out and published reveal that it was an important administrative, economic and political center in the Roman period, being the capital of *conventus* in the high empire period and, later, at the end of the 3rd century, becoming the capital of the new province of *Gallaecia*, under the domain of the Emperor Diocletian (Martins and Carvalho 2010; Martins et al. 2020; Morais 2009, 2010).

**Figure 1.** (**A**) Location of Hispania in the Roman world and (**B**,**C**) *Bracara Augusta* in Hispania and in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Braga 2018).

In the city of Braga, there are several necropolis spaces (Figure 2). As usual, in Roman cities, these spaces were located outside the walls of the cities, near the main or the secondary roads. In the city, there is the Maximinos necropolis (Via XX and XVI), the Rodovia necropolis (*Via Bracara Augusta*—*Emerita Augusta*), the Campo da Vinha *nuclei* (Via XIX/XVIII), and the necropolis of Via XVII (Via *Bracara Augusta*—*Asturica Augusta*), where the intervention area of the former Post Office block (CTT), under the present investigation is located, including the archeological nucleus of Dr. Gonçalo Sampaio street and the nucleus of Cangosta da Palha (Braga and Martins 2015; Vaz et al. 2021, and references therein) (Figure 1). The investigation of Braga's Roman necropolis has been recorded over the last nearly 40 years of archeological excavations in the city, under the *Bracara Augusta* Project (Martins 2014; Martins and Carvalho 2017; do Carmo Ribeiro 2008) from the Archeology Unit of the University of Minho (UAUM). These excavations led to several scientific works. One (Martins and Delgado 1989–1990) was dedicated to the funerary rituals, and the others investigated a necropolis nucleus of Via XVII, the city's funerary rituals and sepulchral spaces, and the rituals, uses, and funerary landscapes of the Via XVII necropolis (Braga 2018); and the ceramics of this nucleus (Morais et al. 2013b) from the 1st century AD, and the funerary topography of the Via XVII necropolis in Late Antiquity and the rituals and funerary spaces of *Bracara Augusta* (Braga and Martins 2015).

**Figure 2.** (**A**) Location of the necropolises and the excavation in the plan of *Bracara Augusta* and (**B**) detailed plan of the Via XVII necropolis excavation (Adapted from (Vaz et al. 2021)).

As in other Roman cities, the built space of *Bracara Augusta* shows several religious buildings and sanctuaries, although in most cases only partial remains were found. The *Fonte do Ídolo* stands out, monumentalized in Roman times, and dedicated to *Nabia*, a deity associated with water, fertility, and nature (Garrido Elena et al. 2008; Martins et al. 2012a). Another sanctuary, possibly a *fanum*, composed of a cylindrical column-shaped altar and engraved with the word *sacrum*, was discovered in the peripheric area of the city, in the context of construction, together with clay building materials (Carvalho et al. 2006; Morais 2010). It is also important to mention the city *forum*, indicated on the map of Braunio (Morais 2010; Morais et al. 2013a; do Carmo Ribeiro 2008) from the 16th century and linked to a set of monumental architectural elements (Martins et al. 2012a; Ribeiro 2018), with some of those elements assumed to belong to the religious buildings. Under Braga's Cathedral, another building was identified with a religious function identified by an inscription dedicated to *Isis Augusta* by a priestess of the imperial cult, *Lucrecia Fida*, which may reveal the existence of a temple dedicated to the oriental divinity (Martins et al. 2012a; Morais 2009–2010). In addition to the elements, monuments dedicated to the imperial cult are also documented, namely to Augustus, including a set of three pedestals of statues, of which only one was preserved (Martins et al. 2012a).

The *Fonte do Ídolo* (Martins et al. 2012b), due to the connection that it seems to have with the site under investigation, deserves special attention. It is a rock sanctuary located northeast of *Bracara Augusta*, which represents a monumentalized version of a *locus sacer* where water worship took place before Roman occupation. This monument dedicated to the indigenous goddess *Nabia* is carved with inscriptions and high-relief figurines. In the 1st century AD, the sanctuary was converted into a Roman monument, probably built by *Celicus Fronto*, whose name is engraved on the rock outcrop. In Flavian times this space was refurbished by descendants of *Celicus Fronto*. In the surrounding area of this sanctuary, Roman plumbing and reservoirs possibly fed by the fountain were found. There are several theories related to *Fonte do Ídolo*, although all agree that this space was a sanctuary dedicated to water divinity.
