ALCANTARA, western Spain, province of Caceres, on a rocky height on the left bank of the river Tagus, 7m. from the Portuguese frontier. Pop. (193o) 4,014. Alcantara (in Arab. "the bridge") owes its name to the magnificent Roman bridge which spans the Tagus on the northwest, built about A.D. o5, in honour of the emperor Trajan and at the cost of eleven Lusitanian communities. A small temple, dedicated to Trajan and other deified emperors, adjoined the bridge on the left bank. Though it has been identified with Norba Caesarea and with Interamnium, it is doubtful whether there was a Roman town here. It became famous about 1215 as the stronghold of the knights of Alcantara, many of whose grand masters lie buried , in the i3th-century Gothic church.