Roman towns were situated on their own land or territorium, the boundaries of which varied (those at Mérida extended almost seventy-five miles). The northeastern limit of Tarraco was marked by the Arco de Berà. This honorific arch, with its eight grooved pilasters crowned by Corinthian capitals, was built during the reign of Augustus (27 BC-AD 14) and restored, as indicated by the inscription on the entablature, by Lucius Licinius Sura early in the second century AD. It stands, twelve miles outside of town, on the Via Augusta, the longest road on the Iberian peninsula, running a thousand miles from Cádiz and Córdoba to the Pyrenees.
