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.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Excavation reports,
Anuari de l'institut
d'Estudis Catalans (1907-27); J. Puig i Cadafalc,
L'Arquitectura romana a Catalunya (1934); A. García y
Bellido,
Hispania Graeca (1948); M. Almagro,
Las
fuentes escritas ref erentes a Ampurias (1951); id.,
Las
inscripciones ampuritanas. Griegas, Ibericas y Latinas
(1952); id.,
Las Necropolis de Ampurias (1953-55).
J. MALUQUER DE MOTES
