Barcelona is a fascinating, active and passive, hyper and tranquil yet very interesting city that actually moves with positive vibrations and speaks Catalan, an ancient form of Latin that actually adapts and perhaps connotes innumerable ancient native communities of Mediterranean's tongues and accents.
, , in Ancient Greek sources as Βαρκινών, Barkinṓn and in Latin as Barcino, Barcilonum and Barceno.During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelona, and Barchenona.
Some sources say that the city could have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC.
The foundation of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules 400 years before the building of Rome. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who named the city Barcino after his family, in the 3rd century BC.
About 15 BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum (Roman military camp) centred on the "Mons Taber", a little hill near the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia, or, in full, Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Mela mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour Tarraco (modern Tarragona); but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favored as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of Galba survive.
