El castellum protobizantino de Elo y su iglesia (El Monastil, Elda)

At the archaeological site of El Monas- til (Elda), site of the oppidum or Roman inhabited center cited in Latin sources as Elo, we have been able to iden- tify an important and exceptional Proto-Byzantine castel- lum with a monastic enclave, created by the conquerors of the Eastern Roman Empire who occupied the nearby city of Ilici (Alcudia, Elche); following the Visigothic con- quest, it seems that an ephemeral Gothic episcopal site arises, which then returns back into a monastery, and will later be occupied and looted by the Arabs, quickly turning it into an al-munastir. The architectural material and furnishing allows us to defend of the existance of this enclave and its cultural evolution. This place would have been an inhabited center of the vicus type, with a close relationship with the Roman colony of Ilici Augus- ta, to whose territory it would belong. In the Byzantine phase, its historical evolution was the same; the liturgi- cal material culture seems to indicate that it was the Romans of the Eastern Empire who occupied that city, those who provide furniture and architectural e lements to the now vicus castellum that Will function managed from it, until the Visigoths arrive and conquerer it.