History of Alicún de Ortega
Archaeological studies suggest that people have inhabited the area that now constitutes the municipality since prehistoric times. Remains dating back to the Neolithic period, the Argar culture, the Iberians, Roman Hispania, the Arabs and the Castilians have been found. Several sources identify Alicún de Ortega as the site of the Roman villa of Acatucci, mentioned in the Itinerarium Antonini, which describes a Roman road connecting Cástulo and Acci. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that this route is described in several historical accounts. The Umayyads followed it from Mengíbar to Tíjola passing through Tíscar and Guadix during their campaign in the heart of Tudmir, as did Alfonso VII in 1147 en route to Almería.
In the seventh century, it was a rural settlement on a slope. In relation to the important mining operations in this area of Granada, it should be noted that there were veins of iron and silver. The population remained during the Emir period, when the town became an important part of the local heritage. In the ninth century, it was one of the booming towns, alongside Baza and Orce, to the detriment of the old Hispano-Roman towns, which were abandoned during this period. The historian al-Hulal al-Mausiyya mentioned it in the eighth century as one of the stages of Alfonso I of Aragon's military expedition in 1126.
The Castilian victory at the Castle of Alicún de Ortega in 1315 led to the capture of the Castles of Cambil and Alhabar. However, years later, during the Castilian Civil War, they were returned to the Nazarites. Chronicles from 1318 relate to the incursion of the infant Don Pedro and his Almoravids into Alicún de Ortega. Following the Pact of Jaén, the castle was located within the northern border territories of the Nasrid Kingdom. The castle changed hands several times and was devastated by incursions from Castilian and Moorish forces. Finally, it was taken in 1489 during the Granada War, following the conquest of Guadix, Baza and Almería.
Following the capture of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs, Alicún de Ortega, like many neighbouring towns, came under the control of a family of landowners from Úbeda. In the sixteenth century, Martín Alfonso de Ortega y Ortega bought the Alicún farmhouse for his son Antonio de Ortega y Molina, a schoolteacher in Guadix. Martín Alfonso de Ortega y Ortega was a prominent military and political figure during the War of Granada. He conquered the castles of Solera and was commander of the Order of Santiago. He was also a perpetual councillor of Úbeda, a confidant of Beltrán de la Cueva, warden of the castle of Albuquerque in Huelma, and a personal guard of Enrique IV, as well as a war advisor to the Catholic Monarchs.
In the middle of the eighteenth century, Alicún de Ortega was a town of the party of Guadix in the Kingdom of Granada. It had forty-three neighbours and was a señorío under the jurisdiction of the II Count Guadiana, who was also Señor de Lopera.
In 1898 the station of Cabra del Santo Cristo-Alicún was inaugurated, within the Linares-Almería line, designed mainly for the traffic of goods between the mining district of Linares-La Carolina and the port of Almería, which is still in service today.
From the second half of the 20th century onwards, falling farmland yields and emigration to industrial and tourist centres in Spain and Central Europe led to the depopulation of towns in the Los Montes region.