Once the proud capital of al-Andalus, with its splendid court and cultured caliphs, Córdoba’s opulent Islamic heritage resonates with faded glory. Originally a small Roman settlement on the Guadalquivir River, it was taken over by the Visigoths, then by the Umayyad Caliphate in the eighth century. It became the capital of a Muslim emirate, and then the Caliphate of Córdoba, which included most of the Iberian Peninsula. During this period, Cordoba became a center of education and learning, and by the 10th century, the city had grown to be the largest in Europe. It was recaptured by Christian forces in 1236, during the Reconquista. Today, Córdoba is home to many notable examples of Moorish architecture such as the Mezquita, but much of this architecture, such as the Alcázar and the Roman bridge has been reworked or reconstructed by the city's successive inhabitants.

In 169 Roman consul M. Claudius Marcellus, grandson of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had governed both Further and Hither Spain, founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. A Roman forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC. The famous Cordoba Treasure, with mixed local and Roman artistic traditions, was buried in the city at this time; it is now in the British Museum. The city was sacked by Caesar in 45, and settled with veterans by Augustus. It became the capital of Baetica and boasted a colonial and provincial forum and many temples. It was the chief center of Roman intellectual life in Hispania Ulterior, and its republican poets were succeeded by Seneca and Lucan. The great Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, his father, the orator Seneca the Elder, and his nephew, the poet Lucan came from Roman Cordoba. Córdoba was captured in 711 by the Umayyad army. The new Umayyad commanders established themselves within the city and it became a provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus.