Hercules and Barcelona.

daniii (32)in #history • 7 years ago

Hercules Barcelona MundoBarcino Calle.jpg

From very distant times there has been an interest in knowing what has been the origin of Barcelona. When science is lacking the legend appears, and in this our city is rich and full.

The first ones who questioned the origin of the city thought that the answer to their doubts had to be in their name. Thus, they saw that Barcelona had the same root as Amílcar Barca, General Carthaginian, and looking for a relationship between both said that Barcelona would be the city of the Barca.

This origin did not have to convince everyone and was still looking for. The origin of the city was to be illustrated and linked to the Greek half-ten Heracles, the Roman Hercules, the son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena. With a great deal of imagination, the name of the city and the mythological character are related through the legend of the ninth boat, in Latin the boat nona. As a good legend we find several versions, many of them relate the foundation of the city with the return of Hercules to steal apples Garden of Hesperides. A good version is explained by Master Amades. It relates the trip of the boat nona with the construction of the tomb of his beloved Pirene, a tomb that is today the Pyrenees. Joan Amades explains this way:

"The mythological Hercules ... put together nine ships all of them full of the most chosen of their people, and made the way to that so gemat and rialler plane that he had seen at the foot of Montjuïc to found the city that s 'had proposed to establish it. But here, half-surfaced, an unlovel weather was triggered, which pushed the ships up and down without knowing where they were going, they could walk to land in Marseilles. The ships, however, were not all, lacking one that they believed lost. After the maror, Hercules and their people made their way through the coast until arriving at the level of Barcelona; they saw with singular and pleasant surprise that a stool of their people had been working long ago in order to carry out the desire of the great hero and that the city was already begun. That boat that did not go to Marseilles and that they believed lost, it was not, he had escaped from the storm and had usually followed his route. Hercules was very happy with her children and to glorify her memory and the memory of her deed gave the city of Novel the name of Barca-nona, that is the ninth ship, terms that over time have gone down and confused until they become the name of our Barcelona ".

For this reason, the street that goes from Carrer de la Ciutat, in front of the Gothic facade of the Town Hall, to Plaza de Sant Just, is named after the street of Hercules.