Maria Carmen Viggiani Popular Books

Maria Carmen Viggiani Biography & Facts

The history of Barcelona stretches over 2000 years to its origins as an Iberian village named Barkeno. Its easily defensible location on the coastal plain between the Collserola ridge (512 m) and the Mediterranean Sea, the coastal route between central Europe and the rest of the Iberian peninsula, has ensured its continued importance, if not always preeminence, throughout the ages. Barcelona is currently a city of 1,620,943, the second largest in Spain, and the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its wider urban region is home to three-quarters of the population of Catalonia and one-eighth of that of Spain. Origins The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear. Remains from the Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods have been found on the coastal plain near the city. The ruins of an early settlement have been excavated in the El Raval neighborhood, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. Later, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the area was settled by the Laietani, an Ιberian people, at Barkeno on the Tàber hill (in the present-day Ciutat Vella, or "Old City") and at Laie (or Laiesken), believed to have been located on Montjuïc. Both settlements struck coinage which survives to this day. Some historians have maintained that a small Greek colony, Kallipolis (Καλλίπολις), was founded in the vicinity at around the same period, but conclusive archaeological evidence to support this has not been found. It is sometimes asserted that the area was occupied c. 230 BC by Carthaginian troops under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca, but this is disputed. The alleged military occupation is often cited as the foundation of the modern city of Barcelona, although the northern limit of the Punic territories up to that time had been the river Ebro, located over 150 km to the south. There is no evidence that Barcelona was ever a Carthaginian settlement, or that its name in antiquity, Barcino, had any connection with the Barcid family of Hamilcar. Legends about the foundation At least two founding myths have been proposed for Barcelona by historians since the 15th century. One credits the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, with the foundation of the city around 230 BC, giving it the name Barkenon. Despite the similarities between the name of this Carthaginian family and that of the modern city, it is usually accepted that the origin of the name "Barcelona" is the Iberian word Barkeno. The second myth attributes the foundation of the city to Hercules before the foundation of Rome. During the fourth of his Labours, Hercules joins Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, travelling across the Mediterranean in nine ships. One of the ships is lost in a storm off the Catalan coast, and Hercules sets out to locate it. He finds it wrecked by a small hill, but with the crew saved. The crew are so taken by the beauty of the location that they found a city with the name Barca Nona ("Ninth Ship"). Roman Barcino Information about the period from 218 BC until the 1st century BC is scarce. The Roman Republic contested the Carthaginian control of the area, and eventually set out to conquer the whole of the Iberian peninsula in the Cantabrian Wars, a conquest which was declared complete by Caesar Augustus in 19 BC. The north-east of the peninsula was the first region to fall under Roman control, and served as a base for further conquests. While Barcelona was settled by the Romans during this period under the name of Barcino, it was considerably less important than the major centres of Tarraco (capital of the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis) and Caesaraugusta, respectively known today as Tarragona and Saragossa (Zaragoza in Spanish). The name Barcino was formalised around the end of the reign of Caesar Augustus (AD 14). It was a shortened version of the name which had been official until then, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino (also Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino) and Colonia Faventia. As a colonia, it was established to distribute land among retired soldiers. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela refers to Barcino as one of a number of small settlements near Tarraco, a town wealthy in maritime resources. However, Barcino's strategic position on a branch of the Via Augusta allowed its commercial and economic development, and it enjoyed immunity from imperial taxation. At the time of Caesar Augustus, Barcino had the form of a castrum, with the usual central forum and perpendicular main streets: the Cardus Maximus (today Carrer de la Llibreteria) and the Decumanus Maximus (today Carrer del Bisbe) intersecting at the top (25 m) of the Tàber hill (Mons Taber), site of the Iberian Barkeno. The perimeter walls were 1.5 km long, enclosing an area of 12 ha. By the 2nd century, the city had the form of an oppidum and a population of 3500–5000. The main economic activity was cultivation of the surrounding land, and its wine was exported widely. The archeological remains from the period (sculptures, mosaics, and amphorae) indicate a relatively prosperous population, although the city lacked the major public buildings (theatre, amphitheatre, circus) found in more important Roman centres such as Tarraco. The forum's most impressive building was the temple dedicated to Caesar Augustus, probably constructed at the start of the 1st century. It was quite large for a city the size of Barcino, measuring 35 m by 17.5 m, and built on a podium surrounded by Corinthian columns. The first raids by the Germanic tribes started around 250, and the fortifications of the city were substantially improved in the later years of the 3rd century under Claudius II. The new double wall was at least two metres high, up to eight metres in some parts, and was punctuated by seventy-eight towers measuring up to eighteen metres high. The new fortifications were the strongest in the Roman province of the Tarraconensis, and would increase the importance of Barcino compared to Tarraco. Significant vestiges of Roman Barcino can be seen in the underground displays of the Museum of the History of Barcelona (MUHBA), which also maintains other heritage sites from Roman times in Barcelona. Paleochristian Barcino The first Christian communities in the Tarraconense were founded during the 3rd century, and the diocese of Tarraco was already established by 259, when the bishop Saint Fructuosus (Fructuós) and the deacons Augurius and Eulogius were burned alive on the orders of the governor Aemilianus, under an edict issued by the emperor Valerian. The Christian community in Barcino appears to have been established in the latter half of the 3rd century. The persecution of the Christians under Diocletian at the start of the 4th century would lead to at least one martyr dying in the region of Barcino: Saint Cucuphas (Catalan: Sant Cugat). Apparently of African origin, Cucuphas had evangelised in sev.... Discover the Maria Carmen Viggiani popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Maria Carmen Viggiani books.