Carranque is the site of a 4th century Roman villa that is protected as an archeological park by the Castile-La Mancha government. The “Villa of Maternus Cinigius”, the uncle of Theodosius, is the primary building. Theodosius I, the Roman emperor, who was born in Hispania. The site is located by the River Guadarrama, near a Roman road. It seems to be near the lost city of Titultiam.
The basilica at Carranque is typical of Governor’s palaces. There were 32 marble columns from the emperor’s private quarries in Chios in Greece. Later it was converted for early Christian cults, then Visigothic use, followed by use during the Islamic period and then by Knights Templars.
