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| Greek & Roman Geography (ed. William Smith) |
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|  AMPURIAS, EMPURIES (Village) SPAIN |
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Emporiae
Emporion or Emporiae (La Escala or Ampurias) Gerona, Spain.
A Greek trading settlement inhabited by the Phokaians from Massalia, at the end
of the Gulf of Rosas on the Costa Brava; it is 3 km from the village of La Escala
and 40 km NE of Gerona. It is first mentioned in the Periplus of the Pseudo-Skylax
and in Skymnos. Its location has been known from the time of the Renaissance since
it gave its name to an entire district, the Ampurdan, was an episcopal see in
the Middle Ages, and one of the counties of the Marca Hispanica.
The Greeks originally occupied the small islet of San Martin, now
joined to the mainland, which was subsequently known as Palaiapolis (Strab. 3.4.8).
They soon spread to the nearby coast and used the mouth of the Clodianus (Fluvia)
as a trading port. The town was founded a little after 600 B.C. (date of the foundation
of Massalia) and throughout the 6th c. was a mere trading settlement, a port of
call on the trade route from Massalia (Marseille), two days' and one night's sail
distant (Pseudo-Skylax 3), to Mainake and the other Phokaian foundations in S
Iberia which traded with Tartessos. Because it was frankly a mart the Greek settlement
grew rapidly, and probably received fugitives from the destruction of Phokaia
by the Persians (540) and after the Battle of Alalia (537), also Greeks from Mainake
and other cities in the S destroyed by the Carthaginians.
In the 5th c. Massalia declined, and Emporion, which was already independent,
became a polis ruled by magistrates; it developed a brisk trade with the Greek
towns in S Italy, the Carthaginian towns, and the native settlements in the interior,
on which it had a profound Hellenic influence. Emporion then minted its own coins,
first imitating those of the towns with which it traded, including Athens and
Syracuse, and later creating its own currency in fractions of the drachma. The
types were copied from those of both Carthage and Syracuse, and the currency system
continued to be separate from that of Massalia until Emporion was Romanized in
the 2d c. The 5th-3d c. were those of its greatest wealth and splendor.
The town built temples, foremost among which was that dedicated to
Asklepios, for which a magnificent statue of Pentelic marble was imported. Outside
the town a native settlement developed, which soon became hellenized. It was called
Indika (Steph. Byz.), an eponym of the tribe of the Indiketes. In the course of
time the two towns merged, although each kept its own legal status; this explains
why, in Latin, Emporion is referred to in the plural as Emporiae. In the 3d c.
commercial interests arising from its contacts with the Greek cities in Italy
made it an ally of Rome. After the first Punic war the Roman ambassadors visited
the Iberian tribes supported by the Emporitani, and in 218 B.C. Cn. Scipio landed
the first Roman army in Hispania to begin the counteroffensive against Hannibal
in the second Punic war.
The war years were prosperous for the city's trade, but when the Romans
finally settled in Hispania, difficulties arose between the Greeks and the native
population, which were accentuated during the revolt of 197 B.C. In Emporion itself
the Greek and native communities kept a constant watch on each other through guards
permanently stationed at the gate in the wall separating the twin towns (Livy
34.9). In 195 B.C. M. Porcius Cato established a military camp near the town,
rapidly subdued the native tribes in the neighborhood, and initiated the Roman
organization of the country. As the result of the transfer to Tarraco of the Roman
administrative and political sector, Emporion was eclipsed and became a residential
town of little importance. The silting-up of its port and the increase in the
tonnage of Roman vessels hastened its decline. The town became a municipium and
during the time of C. Caesar received a colony of Roman veterans.
The Roman town, which was surrounded by a wall, was ruined by the
invasion of the Franks in 265 and Rhode became the economic center of the district.
However, a few small Christian communities established themselves in Emporion
and transformed the ruins of the town into a necropolis which extended beyond
the walls. Mediaeval sources claim that St. Felix stayed in Emporion before his
martyrdom in Gerona in the early 4th c.
The enclosure of the Greek town has been completely excavated. To
the S is a temple area (Asklepieion and temple of Serapis), a small agora, and
a stoa dating from the Roman Republican period. It is surrounded by a cyclopean
wall breached by a single gate, confirming Livy's description. On top of the Greek
town and further inland is a Roman town, ten times larger and surrounded by a
wall built no earlier than the time of Augustus. Inside is a forum, completely
leveled, on which stood small votive chapels. To the E, facing the sea, are two
large Hellenistic houses with cryptoportici, which contained remains of wall paintings
and geometric mosaics. Many architectural remains are in the Barcelona Archaeological
Museum and in the museum on the site. Among the finds are a statue of Asklepios,
a Greek original; the mosaic of Iphigeneia, an archaic architectural relief with
representations of sphinxes; Greek pottery (archaic Rhodian, Cypriot, and Ionian;
6th-4th c. Attic, Italic, and Roman). Several cemeteries near the town have also
been excavated.
J.Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 34 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | RODOS (Ancient city) SPAIN |
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Rhoda
Rhoda or Rhodus (Rhode, Steph. B. s. v.; Rhoda, Mela, ii. 6; Liv. xxxiv.
8; Rhodos, Strab. xiv. p. 654; Eustath. ad Dion. Per. 504; called by Ptol. ii.
6. § 20, Rhodipolis, where we should probably read Rhode polis), a Greek emporium
on the coast of the Indigetae in Hispania Tarraconensis, founded according to
Strabo (l. c.) by the Rhodians, and subsequently taken possession of by the Massiliots.
It is the modern Rosas; but tradition says that the old town lay towards the headland
at San Pedro de Roda. (Ford, Handbook of Spain, p. 249; comp. Meurs. Rhod. i.
28; Marca, Hisp. ii. 18; Martin, Hist. des Gaules, p. 218; Florez, Med. iii. p.
114; Mionnet, i. p. 148.)
| This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks |
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| | TOSSA DEL MAR (Village) SPAIN |
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Tossa de Mar
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| Local government Web-Sites |
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| | BARCELONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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City of Barcelona
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| | AMPURIAS, EMPURIES (Village) SPAIN |
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Emporion
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| The Catholic Encyclopedia |
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| | BARCELONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Barcelona
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| The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |
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| | AMPURIAS, EMPURIES (Village) SPAIN |
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Emporiae, Emporion, Emporium
Emporion. A Greek trading settlement inhabited by the Phokaians from Massalia,
at the end of the Gulf of Rosas on the Costa Brava; it is 3 km from the village
of La Escala and 40 km NE of Gerona. It is first mentioned in the Periplus of
the Pseudo-Skylax and in Skymnos. Its location has been known from the time of
the Renaissance since it gave its name to an entire district, the Ampurdan, was
an episcopal see in the Middle Ages, and one of the counties of the Marca Hispanica.
The Greeks originally occupied the small islet of San Martin, now
joined to the mainland, which was subsequently known as Palaiapolis (Strab. 3.4.8).
They soon spread to the nearby coast and used the mouth of the Clodianus (Fluvia)
as a trading port. The town was founded a little after 600 B.C. (date of the foundation
of Massalia) and throughout the 6th c. was a mere trading settlement, a port of
call on the trade route from Massalia (Marseille), two days' and one night's sail
distant (Pseudo-Skylax 3), to Mainake and the other Phokaian foundations in S
Iberia which traded with Tartessos. Because it was frankly a mart the Greek settlement
grew rapidly, and probably received fugitives from the destruction of Phokaia
by the Persians (540) and after the Battle of Alalia (537), also Greeks from Mainake
and other cities in the S destroyed by the Carthaginians.
In the 5th c. Massalia declined, and Emporion, which was already independent,
became a polis ruled by magistrates; it developed a brisk trade with the Greek
towns in S Italy, the Carthaginian towns, and the native settlements in the interior,
on which it had a profound Hellenic influence. Emporion then minted its own coins,
first imitating those of the towns with which it traded, including Athens and
Syracuse, and later creating its own currency in fractions of the drachma. The
types were copied from those of both Carthage and Syracuse, and the currency system
continued to be separate from that of Massalia until Emporion was Romanized in
the 2d c. The 5th-3d c. were those of its greatest wealth and splendor.
The town built temples, foremost among which was that dedicated to
Asklepios, for which a magnificent statue of Pentelic marble was imported. Outside
the town a native settlement developed, which soon became hellenized. It was called
Indika (Steph. Byz.), an eponym of the tribe of the Indiketes. In the course of
time the two towns merged, although each kept its own legal status; this explains
why, in Latin, Emporion is referred to in the plural as Emporiae. In the 3d c.
commercial interests arising from its contacts with the Greek cities in Italy
made it an ally of Rome. After the first Punic war the Roman ambassadors visited
the Iberian tribes supported by the Emporitani, and in 218 B.C. Cn. Scipio landed
the first Roman army in Hispania to begin the counteroffensive against Hannibal
in the second Punic war.
The war years were prosperous for the city's trade, but when the Romans
finally settled in Hispania, difficulties arose between the Greeks and the native
population, which were accentuated during the revolt of 197 B.C. In Emporion itself
the Greek and native communities kept a constant watch on each other through guards
permanently stationed at the gate in the wall separating the twin towns (Livy
34.9). In 195 B.C. M. Porcius Cato established a military camp near the town,
rapidly subdued the native tribes in the neighborhood, and initiated the Roman
organization of the country. As the result of the transfer to Tarraco of the Roman
administrative and political sector, Emporion was eclipsed and became a residential
town of little importance. The silting-up of its port and the increase in the
tonnage of Roman vessels hastened its decline. The town became a municipium and
during the time of C. Caesar received a colony of Roman veterans.
The Roman town, which was surrounded by a wall, was ruined by the
invasion of the Franks in 265 and Rhode became the economic center of the district.
However, a few small Christian communities established themselves in Emporion
and transformed the ruins of the town into a necropolis which extended beyond
the walls. Mediaeval sources claim that St. Felix stayed in Emporion before his
martyrdom in Gerona in the early 4th c.
The enclosure of the Greek town has been completely excavated. To
the S is a temple area (Asklepieion and temple of Serapis), a small agora, and
a stoa dating from the Roman Republican period. It is surrounded by a cyclopean
wall breached by a single gate, confirming Livy's description. On top of the Greek
town and further inland is a Roman town, ten times larger and surrounded by a
wall built no earlier than the time of Augustus. Inside is a forum, completely
leveled, on which stood small votive chapels. To the E, facing the sea, are two
large Hellenistic houses with cryptoportici, which contained remains of wall paintings
and geometric mosaics. Many architectural remains are in the Barcelona Archaeological
Museum and in the museum on the site. Among the finds are a statue of Asklepios,
a Greek original; the mosaic of Iphigeneia, an archaic architectural relief with
representations of sphinxes; Greek pottery (archaic Rhodian, Cypriot, and Ionian;
6th-4th c. Attic, Italic, and Roman). Several cemeteries near the town have also
been excavated.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | BADALONA (Town) BARCELONA |
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Baetulo
Baetulo (Badalona) Barcelona, Spain.
Town on the coast of Laietania, 10 km NE of Barcelona, near the mouth of the Baetulo
(Besos) in Tarraconensis. The suffix -ilo, typically iberian, suggests that originally
it was a native oppidum, which has not been identified. it grew in the 1st c.
B.C. when several nearby iberian settlements were abandoned. According to Pliny
(HN 3.22) it was an oppidum enjoying Roman rights; it is also mentioned by P.
Mela (2.90) and Ptolemy (2.6.18). its prosperity in the 1st-3d c. was due to trade
in local wine. The town was reduced to ruins during the invasion of the Franks,
but was rebuilt and fortified by great walls, some sectors of which still survive.
Excavation has uncovered Roman houses with mosaics (now in the Barcelona
Archaeological Museum) and many inscriptions; the earliest (CIL II, 4606-4608),
include an important bronze tabula patronatus. The local archaeological museum,
in addition to Roman material, has finds from nearby prehistoric deposits and
iberian oppida, in particular the Mas Bosca.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | BARCELONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Barcino
Barcino (Barcelona) Barcelona, Spain.
Town in Tarraconensis whose name, known from many inscriptions, was Colonia Iulia
Augusta Paterna Faventia Barcino, indicating that it was founded by Augustus.
Barcino appears to be the native name of an oppidum of the Laietani who minted
silver drachmae at the end of the 3d c. B.C., imitating those of Emporion and
bearing the iberian legend Barkenos. An allusion by Ausonius (Ep. 37.68) is the
basis for the claim that it was founded by the Carthaginians (the family of the
Barcidae). This is unacceptable, however; the name appears in Avienus (OM. 5.520)
in its pure Iberian form, Barcilo.
The Augustan colony spread over a small height, Mons Tabar (18 m above
sea level), between two mountain streams, the San Juan to the N and La Rambla
to the S. its fields probably extended from the Baetulo river (Besos) to the Rubricatus
(Llobregat). During the Late Empire it had large monuments, temples, baths, and
two aqueducts, but it was burned and razed in A.D. 265 during the invasion of
the Franks and the Alamanni. it was subsequently rebuilt and its perimeter reduced.
The colony had been surrounded by a strong defensive wall with over 60 circular
or polygonal towers which were mostly incorporated later into mediaeval structures.
The extraordinary fortification of Barcino and the excellence of its port increased
its importance during the Early Empire. At the beginning of the 5th c. A.D. it
was occupied by the Visigoths as allies of the Romans, and King Ataulfo was assassinated
there in 414. it had an active Christian community, including St. Paciano, and
there are remains of a 6th c. basilica.
The Roman wall has been restored and the subsoil excavated, uncovering
a large amount of reused architectural material, statues, funerary and honorific
stones, and mosaics, from the destruction of the town in the 3d c. it is now possible
to visit more than 200 m of the Roman town under the Gothic cathedral and the
public buildings dating from the Middle Ages. The finds are in the museum on the
site and the Barcelona Archaeological Museum.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | GERONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Gerunda
Gerunda (Gerona) Gerona, Spain.
Town in the province of Tarraconensis at the confluence of the Ter and the Onyar.
Chief town of the Gerundenses who, according to Pliny (HN 3.23), had Latin rights.
It was an oppidum of the Ausetani who controlled the defile of the Ter which separated
them from the Indiketes and from Emporion's area of influence. Stretches of the
pre-Roman cyclopean wall, which was strengthened during the Republican era, still
survive; the wall of the Imperial age, rebuilt on the same perimeter, dates from
the end of the 3d c. The town is on the main Roman road from Tarraco to Narbo
and is mentioned in ancient sources (Ant.It. 390; Ptol. 2.6.9). Like all of Tarraconensis
it was invaded by the Franks but, thanks to its fortifications, it subsequently
acquired greater importance under the Late Empire (Rav. Cosm. 307.4; 341.13).
From an early time it had a large Christian community and was a bishopric
(Martyr. Felix peristeph. 4.29). The Church of San Felix contains pagan and Christian
sarcophagi. Roman villas outside the town have yielded the mosaic of Ball-lloch
and others, now in the Barcelona and Gerona museums; the mosaic of Sarria de Ter
is now being excavated. A local museum is being built, which contains prehistoric,
Iberian, and Greek materials from Rosas and Ampurias, in addition to Roman remains.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | LA JUNQUERA (Town) SPAIN |
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Juncaria (Iuncaria)
Iuncaria (La Junquera) Gerona, Spain.
The last stage on the Via Heraclea linking Gadir (Cadiz) with Rome before reaching
the Pyrenees, 18 km N of Figueras, mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary and a station
on the traveling vases of Vicarello. Strabo (3.4.9), speaking of the textile industry
of the Emporitani, calls the marshy area of the upper Ampurdan Iounkarion since
it provided a kind of reed which he confuses with esparto.
J.Maluquer De Motes, ed.
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| | LERIDA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Ilerda
Ilerda (Lerida) Leridu, Spain.
Town on the W bank of the Sicoris (Segre) river in Tarraconensis, named for the
Ilergetes. It was the most important pre-Roman town N of the Iber (Ebro). Its
silver coins, imitating Massalian oboli and the drachmas of Emporion, were inscribed
in Iberian letters. Allied with the Carthaginians, Ilerda tenaciously opposed
the Romans under the leadership of its chiefs, Indibil and Mandonius, until they
were captured in 205 B.C. According to Pliny the town was inhabited by the Surdaones
and had Roman rights (HN 3.24), and nearby Julius Caesar won a famous tactical
victory over Pompey's forces in 49 B.C. (BCiv 1.38; App. 2.42). Under the Romans
it minted coins according to the Roman system (denarii and asses) during the 2d
and 1st c. B.C.
Situated on the Roman road from Tarraco to Osca, it always retained
its importance (Ant.It. 391.2; Auson. 23.4): it was a municipium attached to the
Conventus Caesaraugustanus and an Islamic center during the late Middle Ages.
No Roman monuments are visible but Roman inscriptions, marbles, pottery, and glassware
are frequently found. Excavation in the cellars of the town hall has produced
strata covering 2000 years.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | RODOS (Ancient city) SPAIN |
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Rhode
Rhode or Rhodanus (Rosas) Gerona, Spain.
Greek trading establishment founded by the Rhodians in NE Spain, 18
km E of Figueras. According to an ancient tradition recorded by Scymnus (196)
and Strabo (3.4.8), it was probably founded when the Rhodian thalassocracy, the
rival of the Phoenicians, achieved its maximum expansion in the W Mediterranean
(Balearics, Catalan coasts of Iberia, Gulf of Leon) at the end of the 9th or the
beginning of the 8th c. In any event the colony was founded before the First Olympiad
(Strab. 14.2.10), or before 776 B.C. Much Rhodian material, although dating a
century later, has also been found in S France.
The original colony was on the site of the town of Rosas in the so-called
Citadel of Rosas, at the N end of the Gulf of that name. Its location appears
to indicate that originally it was a settlement of refuge and a port of call on
the Rhodian route from the Balearics to S Gaul and the N Rhone, where goods from
the Atlantic area (amber and tin) were assembled. It is undoubtedly the oldest
Greek city in the West and antedates the foundation of Cumae in Italy by Greeks
from Chalkis.
Its beginnings are obscure, documented only indirectly by the Rhodian
goods found N of the Pyrenees. With the Phokaian colonization of these coasts
and the foundation of Massalia (600 B.C.) and of Emporion, Rhode thrived; probably
its Dorian origin enabled the town to maintain its personality in the face of
the Phokaian Ionians, although it ended by falling into the commercial sphere
of influence of Massalia-Emporion and subsequently became clearly Emporitan after
the arrival of the Romans in 218 B.C. However, it always maintained its original
Rhodian character. It was the first Greek city in the West to mint silver coins
(drachmai). The wide dispersion of these coins indicates extensive commercial
influence in the interior of Gaul, whose tribes copied the coins of Rhode.
In 195 B.C. the Roman consul M. P. Cato disembarked at Rhode and began
the repression of the Iberian communities that had risen against the Roman domination,
before establishing his headquarters in Emporion.
The Republic and the Early Empire was a period of economic balance
for Rhode, which had been annexed by Emporion. However, it maintained its influence
N of the Pyrenees while Emporion's trade was with the interior and the Spanish
Levant. In the 3d c. A.D., with the destruction of Emporion by the Franks (265),
Rhode gained a marked impetus which was maintained during the 4th-5th c. It became
a large frontier town destined to play a major role under the Visigoths during
the revolt of Count Paulus against Wamba
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | TARRAGONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Tarraco or Kallipolis, Cissa, or Cissis
Tarraco or Kallipolis, Cissa, or Cissis (Tarragona) Spain.
One of the most important cities of Roman Spain, identified with Kallipolis mentioned
in Avienus (Or. Mar. 514-15). It may have had an old Etruscan population. In the
pre-Roman period it was the principal urban center of the Ibenian tribe of the
Cessetani. On coins and in some sources (Polybios and Livy), it appears under
the name Cissa or Cissis. References to it become more frequent during the Punic
Wars. Ancient Cissa was destroyed by C. Scipio in 218 B.C. After that Rome continually
beautified Tarraco (Livy 21.60, 22.14, 26.17, 27.7.17, 28.4.13, 16, 17, 21, 42;
Polyb. 3.76, 10.6, 11.25, App. 16 c.15; Frontin. Str. 2.3.1) and Pliny refers
to it as Scipionum opus, which seems to correspond with the latest and definitive
date assigned to the city walls (3d c. A.D.).
After the arrival of Scipio, Tarraco was the base for the Roman wars
against the Carthaginians and Iberians. Tiberius Graccus landed in its port in
179 B.C.; Scipio Emilianus, the destroyer of Numantia, disembarked there in 134
B.C. In the wars between Caesar and Pompey, Tarraco was loyal to Pompey, but later,
either voluntarily or of necessity, joined Caesar's party. Caesar was the first
great protector of the city. In 45 B.C. Tarraco received a colony of Caesar's
(not composed of veterans) and was given the title Colonia Ivlia Vrbs Triumphalis
Tarraco; the abbreviations CVT or CVTT appear on the coins of the city between
A.D. 16 and 22. However, Tarraco received its highest honor and attained its greatest
importance when Augustus withdrew to it to recuperate from the illness contracted
during the Cantabrian and Asturian wars (26-25 B.C.: Dio Cass. 53.25.2). Thanks
to him Tarraco became the capital of Hispania Citenior (Suet. Aug. 26), and gave
its name to Tarraconensis.
During the rising of Galba against Nero, the inhabitants sided with
the former (Suet. Galba 12). Hadrian spent the winter of the year 121 in Tarraco,
calling together an assembly of representatives of all the cities of the province.
Septimius Severus governed Tarraconenis from this city and later, while emperor,
ordered that the temple of Augustus be restored at his expense.
Imperial Tarraco flourished until 257 when, according to Aurelius
Victor (Caes. 33) and Eutropius (Breviarium 9.8), it was destroyed by the Franks.
It seems to have revived, however, since the poet Ausonius in 370 refers to it
as one of the principal cities of Spain along with Emerita and Corduba, although
this may be from a literary point of view. In 476 it was destroyed by King Euric.
This was the end of Roman Tarraco, but the city continued, and attained great
importance during the Visigothic period.
Tarraco was the seat of the legatus Augusti pro praetore and the nucleus
of the administration of Hispania Tarraconensis, as well as one of the seven conuentus
into which that province was divided. Once a year it was the meeting place of
the 300 municipalities of Tarraconensis and, according to inscriptions discovered
there, it had a full detachment of the Legio VII Gemina, established by Galba
in Clunia. The founding of Tarraco by Rome was probably because of the need to
establish a key post for the later conquest of the middle basin of the Ebro. Strabo
considered it the most important city of Spain (3.4.7); and Mela, in the time
of Claudius, does not hesitate to state: "urbs erat, in his oris maritimaris
opulentissima" (2.6.5).
In the Augustan age Tarraco covered ca. 36 ha and had a population
of about 30,000. There were many later alterations to the city and much reuse
of material but there are still considerable ancient remains, the best preserved
of which are the walls. Probably they were originally 4 km long, 1 km of which
survives. Their date has been the subject of controversy, but today it seems clear
that they contain features of two periods of construction: the 6th c. B.C. (the
Iberian Period), and the 3d c. B.C., which, moreover, agrees with Pliny's description.
On a base of Cyclopean construction of huge, rough-hewn blocks, some of which
are 3 by 4 m, are preserved some more typically Roman stretches of wall built
with parallelepiped, projecting stones.
The plan of Tarraco, as reconstructed today, is composed of three
nuclei: the upper city, with the forum and the Temple of Jupiter (now the cathedral);
the middle city, with several Imperial buildings; and the lower city near the
port, probably the oldest. We know from the inscriptions (CIL II, 4071-4451) that,
in gratitude for the honors that the city received from Augustus, it dedicated
an altar to him. The altar was replaced in the year 15 of the Augustan age by
a temple dedicated to Diuus Augustus; this temple appears on coins with eight
Corinthian columns on the facade, a few remains of which are preserved in the
Archaeological Museum of the city. The columns were 1.55 m in diameter and 12
m high. The temple was built on the highest point of the city, and the emperor
was depicted as Zeus. Suetonius (Galba 12) writes of the existence of a temple
dedicated to Jupiter, and Florus tells us that Europa was venerated in the same
temple. There is also information on the worship of Jupiter-Amon and Isis. Also
worth mentioning are the remains of the Palatine, a palace belonging to Augustus
and later to the governor, which contain some mediaeval additions. The city had
a theater and an amphitheater (CIL II, 4280), the latter estimated as 93 by 68
m, baths (CIL II, 4112), a forum (CIL II, 4275), a basilica, and a circus. In
the Archaeological Museum of Tannagona are sculptures such as a Venus of the knidos
type, a Bacchus of the school of Praxiteles, a head of Alexander, fragments of
the temples of Minerva and of Tutela, a mosaic with a Medusa motif and one with
fish.
On the left bank of the Francoli river, near the city, was found a
Romano-Christian necropolis of ca. 2000 sq. m, buried about 1.8 m deep. It dates
from the 3d-6th c. and contains about 2000 tombs. Sarcophagi and mosaic tombstones
may be seen in the museum in the necropolis. A basilica has been discovered over
the sepulchers of the martyrs Fructuosus, Augurius, and Eulogius, who died under
Valenian and Gallienus, and the necropolis is now called San Fructuoso.
J. Arce, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 38 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | TIVISA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Tivissa
Tivissa (Tivisa) Tarragona, Spain.
An Iberian town at the mouth of the Ebro. It was probably destroyed by Cato in 195 B.C. Several small treasures have been found. One included silver coins, five pairs of gold earrings, bracelets, rings, a silver clasp, the handle. of a bronze mirror, a plowshare, all from the beginning of the 2d c. B.C., and now in the Archaeological Museum of Tarragona. A second treasure consisted of three coins and a bronze yoke, now in the Archaeological Museum of Barcelona. The third treasure included several paterae, two bracelets, ten vases, and fragments of others.
The houses were rectangular, with stone foundations and adobe above.
The town was walled. The gate is flanked by two towers, triangular on the outside
and quadrangular elsewhere, 13.75 long by 6.50 m wide. The town had a central
street beginning at the gate, 7.7 m wide and crossed by two transverse streets;
the gates in the S wall were 2 m wide. One of the streets has a drainage ditch
6 m long, and remains of two others. Parts of the streets were paved with large,
smooth slabs, also used in some houses. A nozzle from a foundry, three stoppers
with molded, hand-painted, ceramic decorations, and Campanian pottery have also
been found.
J.M Blazquez, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Jan 2006 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks. |
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| | TORREDEMBARRA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Bara
Barra Tarragona, Spain.
A town NE of Tarragona near Torredembarra, with one of the most beautiful and best-preserved Roman arches in Spain. it lies on the Via Augusta, probably as a border marker between the Cesatanians and the Ilergetes. According to its dedication it was constructed under the will of Trajan's general Lucius Licenius Sura, consul during 102, 104, and 107. Built of stone, it has one arch framed by two pilasters with Corinthian capitals; it is 12.28 m high, 12 m long, and 2.34 m wide. Probably it once had an attic.
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| | TOSSA DEL MAR (Village) SPAIN |
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Turissa
Turissa (Tossa de Mar) Gerona, Spain.
A village on the Costa Brava in Catalonia 82 km NE of Barcelona. It retains its
defensive wall, protected by circular towers, dating from the Middle Ages. Excavation
of a Roman villa (both farmhouse and large estate) dating from the 1st-2d c.,
which was destroyed during the invasion of the Franks in 265 and rebuilt in the
4th c., has yielded pottery, glassware, and mosaics; an inscription on one mosaic
gives the ancient name: SALVO/VITALE FELIX TURISSA/EX OF/ICINA FELICES. The Roman
remains are housed in a small museum.
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| | VIC (Town) CATALONIA |
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Ausa
Ausa (Vich) Barcelona, Spain.
Town in Tarraconensis W of Gerona and 50 km N of Barcelona, mentioned by Pliny
(HN 22-23) and Ptolemy (2.6.69). The town takes its name from a tribe of the Ausetani,
who held sway as far as Gerunda. Under Amusicus, Ausa revolted against the Romans
but was subdued after a 30-day winter siege by Cneus Cornelius Scipio. In the
2d c. B.C. the town minted many coins based on the Roman system with the Iberian
legend AUSESCEN and, according to Pliny, had Latin rights. A small prostyle hexastyle
Corinthian temple survives from the Imperial age; the cella (10.1 x 12.1 m) is
built in opus emplecton lined with small ashlar.
J. Maluquer De Motes, ed.
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| Tourism Organization Web-Sites |
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| | BARCELONA (Town) CATALONIA |
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Tourism de Barcelona
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