Nowadays, Empuries is perched on the Costa Brava in the Spanish region of Catalonia. But in Roman times, the city was a key outpost in the province of Hispania. But it wasn't the Romans who established the city. In the 6th Century BC, Ionian Greek colonists from the city of Phocaea in Asia Minor landed in Spain.
Initially, Empuries was located on a small island off the coast. But after a few decades, the inhabitants relocated onto the mainland in 550 BC. The two sites are respectively known as the palaiapolis (the “Old City”) and the neapolis (the “New City”). When Phocaea was subjugated by the Persians, an flow of refugees made their way to Empuries.
Despite influence from both Carthage and Rome, Empuries remained thoroughly Greek for many centuries. The site became an important trading hub connecting the Iberian Peninsula to the rest of the Mediterranean. With riches flooding in, Empuries rapidly became the biggest Greek colony in the area.
Empuries sided with the Romans against Carthage during the Punic Wars. It became the focal point of the Roman counterattack led by the general who would become Scipio Africanus. Empuries then sided with Pompey in the civil war between the Roman senator and Julius Caesar. As punishment, the city lost its independence, and Caesar established a colony of Roman veterans next to the Greek settlement.
Both the Roman and Greek colonies co-existed peacefully for decades until Greek Empuries was abandoned in the 3rd Century AD.