Astigi was an important town of Hispania Baetica, and the seat of the Astigitanus, one of the four conventi where the chief men met together, at fixed times of the year, under the eye of the proconsul, to oversee the administration of justice.
Although Astigi was one of the largest and most complete Roman cities ever unearthed, mayor Julian Álvarez Pernía decided in 1998 to bulldoze Écija's Roman ruins and replace them with a 299-car parking lot [REF].