A Barcelona Legend
- jolmeda2
- May 28, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: May 29, 2022
Like many well-known European cities, Barcelona has a lengthy history. Being a hearth to millions of people, controlled by different empires, a warzone at times, and overall inspiration to many things in many places, Barcelona has many chapters in its history.
Who Discovered Barcelona?
While looking up when or how the city was discovered, many articles and books will discuss the Romans finding and settling down in Barcelona. There are also different stories focusing on a Carthaginian general discovering the city.
Either story can be very possible, but there also lies another one that could date the start of Barcelona long before the Roman Empire even existed.
This tale focuses on the Greek Mythological legend Heracles, also known as Hercules in Roman stories, and his voyage discovering the land.
Who Heracles is
Thanks to many stories- and a Disney Movie- Heracles is easily one of the better-known heroes in Greek Mythology. Born as a son of Zeus, Heracles was gifted with superhuman strength. He spent his childhood with mortals and later trained with Chiron the Centaur to become one of Greek's great heroes.
He spent his life fighting monsters, defending the Gods, and saving people and cities. He also endured many struggles as he dealt with the weight of being a hero and still a human.
Nonetheless, his hardships did not make his journeys any less interesting and one of these voyages includes the accidental finding of what we now know as Barcelona.
The Story
Accompanied by the God Hermes, another Greek hero, Jason, and the Argonauts, Heracles was on a search for the golden fleece. The group was on their way to Andalusia (the southern region of Spain that includes current day cities Seville and Granada) with a fleet of nine boats. Unfortunately, only eight of these boats would arrive.
After finishing his business in Andalusia, Heracles would then search for the missing boat.
This search lead him off the coast of Barcelona, where he found the wreckage of the ninth ship close to the hill we now know as Montjuïc.
The beauty of the region compelled Heracles to start building a new city there and people began to move to this region.
They named the new city Barca Nona, which means "ninth ship".
The story continues with the creation of the Pyrenees mountain range, located about two hours north-east of Barcelona and separates Spain from France.
There's many different tellings to this story, but one of the better known ones revolves around Heracles falling in love with Pyrene, a beautiful princess. Geyron, a three-headed monster killed Pyrene's father resulting in her running and hiding out in the woods in an attempt to survive.
Heracles attempted to save her but, unfortunately, Geyron set fire to the woods resulting in the Princess's death. A mourning Heracles then began to create a beautiful tomb for her by piling rocks on rocks, resulting in the creation of the mountain range.
The Legend in Present Day Barcelona
While this story is considered mythology, that does not take away its effects on Barcelona today. "I think it's really interesting to see the effects of mythology in places," John, a traveler from the United States discusses his opinion on this story, "it probably is no where near true- because it is a myth- but it has a large influence on art and history here."
Lydia, who is accompanying John in his travels, also shared her thoughts, "I love mythology and the art it produces. Walking around Barcelona and seeing these statues depicting these stories are so cool and it adds some magic to the city. Of course things like mountain ranges and hills are just apart of nature, but with stories behind it- it just becomes so poetic."
Today there is a range of things in Barcelona showcasing these stories. Plaza de Catalunya is filled with statues displaying many legends and myths.
The image to the left shows a statue that focuses on Hermes, Heracle's companion in finding Barcelona. It shows him with a women on a horse holding a ship.
This ship is said to depict the ninth boat of Heracle's fleet; the boat that was shipwrecked and lead them to Barcelona.
Hermes in general is displayed a lot throughout Barcelona. As the God of wealth, luck, trade, and more, symbols that depict Hermes can be seen everywhere.
"I think mythology is very important to the history of a place," Victor, a Barcelona resident for the last 15 years shared his views on Heracle's story, "these stories are the stories people told hundreds of years ago and the fact that is still shows its effect in places today. Whether or not Heracles founded Barcelona, it still is a fundamental building block of this city just because it's what we were told, it's what our ancestors were told, and it's probably what our grandchildren will be told."
Mythology is such an important of any ancient civilization. Barcelona falls right into this category due to its diverse background.
Compared to other ancient cities, Barcelona- and Spain as a whole- saw such a strong mixing of cultures that resulted in its unique culture now.
With muslim, christian, and jewish influence affecting its culture, along with empires such as the Roman and Ottomans having such a heavy prescence in this area, Barcelona has these myths in order to give it it's own deserving story.
We can never truly know who or what founded Barcelona, but with these myths, we can find comfort that beauty lies in these findings.
Barcelona is scattered with depictions of mythology. The pictures above show just a few monuments showing the main characters of Heracle's story, but walking anywhere you can find details of it in the city.
Whether it be a street name, a statue, or just a little design element, there is a lot of history hidden everywhere in Barcelona. And even if Heracles may have not found the ninth ship here, the idea that Barcelona started due to its beautifulness catching someones eye is a great thought.
Comments