JAEN, the capital of the Spanish province of Jaen, on the Linares-Puente Genil railway, 1,500 ft. above the sea. Pop. (1930), 39,787. Jaen is finely situated on the well-wooded northern slopes of the Jabalcuz Mountains, overlooking the valleys of the Jaen and Guadalbullon rivers, which flow north into the Guadalquivir. The hillside upon which the narrow and irregular city streets rise in terraces is fortified with Moorish walls and a Moorish citadel.
After the Moorish conquest the town became an important com mercial centre with the name Jayyan. Jaen is an episcopal see. Its cathedral was founded in 1532; and, although it remained unfinished until late in the 18th century, its main characteristics are those of the Renaissance period. The identification, sometimes suggested, of Jaen with the Roman Aurinx, is most questionable.