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32-617: Empúries is located within the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà on the Costa Brava . The ruins are midway between the town of L'Escala and the tiny village of Sant Martí d'Empúries . Empúries was founded on a small island at the mouth of the river Fluvià , in a region inhabited by the Indigetes (at the present time, the mouth of the Fluvià is about 6 km to the north). This city came to be known as

64-453: A coastal county, Castelló d'Empúries, until the Viking raids of the mid-9th century. Coinage began again under count Hugh II of Empúries (1078–1117). Although the precise location of the town was known since the 15th century, it was only in the 20th century that systematic excavations were carried out. The site is known as Ampurias. The first official excavations started in 1908 and were held by

96-759: A majority of municipalities of the Lluçanès region of Osona voted to join a proposed new comarca of that name. It was finally added to the list of Comarques on the 3rd of May 2023. There are six comarques which are often referred to as the historical comarques of Catalonia , because their present-day territory was a part of the former Principality of Catalonia , but nowadays they lie in Northern Catalonia , administered by France . Agora The agora ( / ˈ æ ɡ ə r ə / ; Ancient Greek : ἀγορά , romanized: agorá , meaning "market" in Modern Greek )

128-534: A number of municipalities , roughly equivalent to a county in the United States. Currently, Catalonia is divided into 42 comarques and Aran , considered a "unique territorial entity" and not a comarca. Each comarca has a representative county council (Catalan: consell comarcal ), except for Barcelonès , which abolished it in 2019, and Aran, which instead has the Conselh Generau d'Aran . Comarques form

160-484: A number of public buildings have come to light, such as those in the agora and the harbour mole . In the Roman period, thermae and a palaeochristian basilica were built. To the south and east of the new city was an area that served as a necropolis . Only about 20% of the Roman city ( municipium ) has been excavated. The city has the typical orthogonal layout of Roman military camps, with two principal roads meeting at

192-538: A place to hang out, and watch performers and listen to famous philosophers . The importance of the Athenian agora revolved around religion. The agora was a very sacred place, in which holiness is laid out in the architecture of the ground upon which it lay. The layout of the agora was centered around the Panathenaic Way, a road that ran through the middle of Athens and to the main gate of the city, Dipylon . This road

224-683: Is included here, is officially not a comarca but a "unique territorial entity" with additional powers. Its current status was formalised in February 2015. Revisions to the comarques took place in 1988 (creation of Pla d'Estany, Pla d'Urgell, and Alta Ribagorça), 1990 (various adjustments), and May 2015 (creation of Moianès). The Catalan government 's "Report on the revision of Catalonia's territorial organisation model" (the Roca Report  [ ca ] ), published in 2000, recommends many more changes to comarques, which have not yet been adopted except for

256-463: Is located on the north side of the neighboring hill of Les Corts, located southwest of the city. This necropolis was in use particularly during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Archaeologists found small mounds built with square blocks of stone with the remains of cremation in the middle. No burials have been found clearly from the second quarter of the 1st century BC until the reign of Augustus (about 35 years). Cremation burials then predominated until

288-449: Is the best-known example. Early in Greek history (10th–4th centuries BC), free-born citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace , where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid arcades . This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby. From these twin functions of

320-580: The Neapolis from the Iberian town of Indika. In the south-west part of the city were various temples, replacing an older one to Artemis , such as a temple to Asclepius , of whom a marble statue was found. In the south-east part was a temple to Zeus - Serapis . The majority of the excavated buildings belong to the Hellenistic period . In addition to houses, some of which are decorated with mosaics and wallpaintings,

352-570: The Palaiapolis , the "old city" when, towards 550 BC, the inhabitants moved to the mainland, creating the Neapolis , the "new city". After the conquest of Phocaea by the Persian king Cyrus II in 530 BC, the new city's population increased considerably through the influx of refugees. In the face of strong pressure from Carthage , the city managed to retain its independent Greek character. Political and commercial agreements were concluded with

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384-528: The autonomous Catalan government under the Spanish Republic in 1936. It was superseded after the 1939 victory of Francisco Franco 's forces in the Spanish Civil War , but restored in 1987 by the re-established Generalitat of Catalonia . Since the definition of comarques is sometimes ambiguous, many new proposals have been made since the comarques were first officially designated as attempts to modify

416-565: The counties that were ruled by counts . Borders of comarques generally do not cross those of the state-level provinces ( Barcelona , Girona , Lleida , Tarragona ), since the provinces are defined by the Spanish government, while comarques are defined by the Catalan government - notably in the case of Cerdanya which is split into two between the provinces of Lleida and Girona (most other cases involve only one or two municipalities). Aran , which

448-537: The forum . The Roman city is considerably larger than the Greek one. During the Republican period a temple was built dedicated to the Capitoline Triad : Jupiter , Juno , and Minerva . During the reign of the emperor Augustus a basilica and curia were added. In the eastern part of the town a number of large houses have been excavated, with an inner courtyard, numerous annexes, floor mosaics, and paintings. In

480-480: The 2015 creation of Moianès. The other proposed new comarques are: Vall de Camprodon  [ ca ] (capital at Camprodon ), Selva Marítima  [ ca ] (capital at Blanes ), Alta Segarra  [ ca ] (capital at Calaf ), Segre Mitjà  [ ca ] (capital at Ponts ), and Baix Llobregat Nord  [ ca ] (capital at Martorell ). In a non-binding referendum in July 2015,

512-562: The 2nd century the town was surrounded by a wall without towers. An amphitheatre and palaestra were built outside the wall. The necropolis of Empúries remained in use for a very long period, from the 7th century BC up to the Middle Ages, but many tombs were looted. Martín Almagro Basch wrote two books collecting all data on the majority of cemeteries in the area. There are four types: early Greek and Iberian, late Republican, early Roman Empire and late Roman Empire . Burials were located in

544-718: The Greek city and the Roman city are complemented by a tour through the museum, which showcases representative objects from the history of the site that have been uncovered in the years of excavations in Empúries. The museum has parking facilities and the site may be reached by a traffic-free coastal walk from L'Escala. Comarques of Catalonia The comarques of Catalonia (singular comarca , Eastern Catalan: [kuˈmarkə] , Western Catalan: [koˈmaɾka] ), often referred to in English as counties , are an administrative division of Catalonia . Each comarca comprises

576-526: The Junta de Museus de Barcelona and directed by Emili Gandia i Ortega under the instructions of Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Pere Bosch-Gimpera . These excavations are still going on. The island on which the Palaiopolis was situated is now part of the mainland and is the site of the mediaeval village of Sant Martí d'Empúries. The former harbour has silted up as well. Hardly any excavation has been done here. After

608-453: The agora as a political and a commercial spot came the two Greek verbs ἀγοράζω , agorázō , "I shop", and ἀγορεύω , agoreúō , "I speak in public". The Ancient Agora of Athens was situated beneath the northern slope of the Acropolis . The Ancient Agora was the primary meeting ground for Athenians, where members of democracy congregated affairs of the state, where business was conducted,

640-512: The ancient necropolis of earlier times (as Bonjoan, in use for a thousand years) and in new ones. It is possible they were related to the Roman villae located near them. There is a monument of El Castellet and nearby tombs. The branch of the Archaeology Museum of Catalonia in Empúries (MAC-Empúries) offers visitors an experience in direct contact with the archaeological remains there. A visit to

672-471: The conquest of Hispania from this city in 218 BC by sending his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus there with Roman troops. After the conquest of Hispania by the Romans, Empúries remained an independent city-state . However, in the civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar , it opted for Pompey, and after his defeat it was stripped of its autonomy. A colonia of Roman veterans, named Emporiae ,

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704-399: The founding of the Neapolis , the old city seems to have functioned as an acropolis (fortress and temple). Strabo mentions a temple dedicated to Artemis at this site. The Neapolis consisted of a walled precinct with an irregular ground plan of 200 by 130 m. The walls were built, and repeatedly modified in the period from the 5th to the 2nd century BC. To the west the wall separated

736-550: The indigenous population long settled in the nearby city of Indika. Situated as it was on the coastal commercial route between Greek Massalia ( Marseille ) and Tartessos in the far south of Hispania, the city developed into a large economic and commercial centre as well as being the largest Greek colony in the Iberian Peninsula . During the Punic Wars , Empúries allied itself with Rome , and Publius Cornelius Scipio initiated

768-428: The official distribution with what some regions consider to be a traditional comarca. As a result, some revisions to the official division have been made, such as the additions of Moianès and Lluçanès to the map, in 2015 and 2023 respectively. Comarques exist as a local government area, and have a representative county council . They are often known as counties in the English language, but this can be confused with

800-642: The people of the region traditionally go to shop or to sell their goods. This is the case of comarques such as the Pla de l'Estany , centred on the town of Banyoles , or the Ripollès , centred on the town of Ripoll . In other cases, comarques are larger areas with many important population centres that have traditionally been considered part of the same region, as in the case of the Empordà or Vallès . The current official division of Catalonia into comarques originates in an order of

832-466: The reign of Emperor Flavian (at the end of the 1st century AD) around a hillside where the Roman city is located. Burial rituals changed in the 2nd century AD, with only inhumations found. Precise chronologies are hampered by the lack of grave goods in tombs. The whole area of the ancient Greek city was filled with inhumation burials, perhaps related to the worship of the early Christian basilica or Cella Memoria, situated there. Burials are also in many of

864-573: The second-level administrative division within Catalonia, being a subdivision of vegueries (or provinces at state level). Although today the comarques are officially defined under a Catalan parliamentary act, for centuries they had existed unofficially, with citizens identifying with a particular comarca in the same way that people in other parts of the world might identify with a particular region. In some cases, comarques consist of rural areas and many small villages centring on an important town, where

896-424: The southern and western sides of Neapolis . The western sector was occupied by the so-called necropolis of the wall northeast . Inhumation (Greeks) predominated while a third of burials were cremations (Iberians). The ancient necropolis remained in use with inhumations and cremations, possibly Greek and indigenous from the Neapolis . Cremations predominated in another group, possibly of Roman origin, whose cemetery

928-399: Was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states . It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual, and political life in the city. The Ancient Agora of Athens

960-547: Was considered tremendously sacred, serving as a travel route for the Panathenaic festival , which was held in honor of the goddess Athena every four years. The agora was also famously known for housing the Temple of Hephaestus , the Greek god of metalworking and craftsmen. This temple is still in great condition to this day. Other temples priorly standing in the agora include honor for Zeus , Athena , Apollo , and Ares . The agora

992-456: Was established near Indika to control the region. From that time onwards, Empúries began to decline, obscured by the power of Tarraco ( Tarragona ) and Barcino ( Barcelona ). At the end of the 3rd century it became one of the first cities in Spain to admit Christian evangelists. In that century, too, the Greek town was abandoned while the Roman town survived as a mint and the largely ceremonial seat of

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1024-477: Was usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of colonnades , or rows of long columns, and contained stoae , also known as a long open walkway below the colonnades. They were beautifully decorated with fountains, trees, and statues. When the Athenian agora was rebuilt after the Greco-Persian Wars , colonnades and stoae were not incorporated. The term agoraphobia denotes

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