Hat-tip to Saraceni: Severan Hispalis.
Something bad happened to Roman Seville in the early 200s. This is now decided to be a storm: a combination of surge and river-flood. Not earthquake.
I am not aware of the Gades / Cadiz corner of Spain, then Baetica and formerly Tarshish, as being hurricane-prone. Back then, the place was like New Orleans with a vast lagoon allowing Roman shipping - so I'll allow that a big wave could do a Katrina. I'd have thought a Lisbon-style earthquake might happen but they say, no.
Other inscriptions of the early 200s have the province as an "Immune" province, that is exempt from Roman taxation. Since Hadrian was long gone, there was supposedly a real reason for not taxing the place. I would think, however, that the crisis should have passed, by the dates corresponding with AD 245 and 253. It may be that the overall Roman crisis commencing AD 238(ish) might have taken the Romans' eye off their western extremities, allowing Baetic Spain to skate.
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