Empúries

Empúries (Catalan: Empúries [əmˈpuɾiəs]) was an ancient Greek city on the Mediterranean coast of Catalonia, Spain. The city Ἐμπόριον (Greek: Ἐμπόριον, Emporion, meaning "trading place", cf. emporion) was founded in 575 BC by Greeks from Phocaea. After the invasion of Gaul from Iberia by Hannibal the Carthaginian general in 218 BC, the city was occupied by the Romans (Latin: Emporiae). In the Early Middle Ages, the city's exposed coastal position left it open to marauders and it was abandoned. Empúries is located within the Catalan comarca of Alt Empordà on the Costa Brava. The ruins are midway between the town of L'Escala and the tiny village of Sant Martí d'Empúries.