Greeks in Spain

 

The classic Greeks determine the roots of the Catalan and Spanish culture and contents of Broadband Society. The first introduction belongs to the Phocaenses. These were Greek merchant sailors who came from the Ionian city of Phocea (in present-day Turkey).

They want to get closer to the metal trade and following the route of the Western Mediterranean islands. Moreover, they founded Massalia (nowadays, Marseille), in the southern coast of France. This constituted the starting point for the establishment of colonies on the Spanish Mediterranean coast from the 8th and 7th centuries BC. C.

About Greek settlements in Spain, if we take in consideration the majority of the Greek colonies, there are no archaeological remains. They were the Iberian or Phoenician enclaves used by the Greeks to spend the night and trade with the natives, and they ended up giving their own Greek names.

Furthermore, the Greek foundation is proven in the colonies of Rhode (Rosas) and Emporion (Ampurias). Nevertheless, Hemeroskopeion and Alonis on the Alicante coast and Mainake in Malaga lack archaeological confirmation. In despite of it, the Greek influence was deep in the Mediterranean Iberian populations. They spread their alphabet, their ceramic productions, their handicraft industry, their religion and their art.

About Emporion, it was founded by settlers from the city of Massalia in 600 BC. C. It quickly became a prosperous colony, head of exchanges with the interior. In this placement, the Greeks brought wine, perfumes, luxury ceramics or oil. They exported esparto, grass, linen metals, salt.

Which was the place chosen by the founders of Ampurias? A small island very close to the coast. This is attached to the mainland and occupied by the small town of San Martín de Ampurias. The Greeks called it "Palaia Polis" (old city). Its inhabitants spread to the mainland, to the "Neapolis", where the ruins of the Greek city are nice.

The Neapolis had a fairly regular urban layout. The enclosure was defended by a wall.  The coexistence began with misgivings, but they ended up mixing in a single city. The Neapolis was articulated with four rectilinear streets that converged on the agora, at the corners of the agora, a fairly common feature in Greek urban planning. In addition, they marked the ordering of the remaining streets. The agora, as the Greeks called the main square, was regular and arcaded.

The two most important architectural ensembles, the Asklepeion and Serapis temples, are to the south, where the gate and the best-preserved remains of the wall are also located. In the temple of Asklepeion the sacred enclosure or "témenos" is a rectangle delimited by the city wall on two of its sides and by a thick stone wall on the other two. A staircase gave access to the sanctuary, in which a large podium stood in the foreground. There are few vestiges of two small aedicules in which the god Asklepios and perhaps Hygieia were worshiped. Asklepios was the Greek god of health, son of Apollo, and Hygieia, is the female personification of health.

Serapis is the Egyptian god identified with Hades-Pluto by the Greeks and who was made the supreme deity in Alexandria. The temple rises on a podium which is climbed by two side stairs. The Temenos is very spacious and is surrounded by an impressive colonnade.