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.
