Barcino, founded between 15 and 10 BC, measured only 10 hectares, less than the neighbouring Bétulo (Badalona). However, its small size was key to its survival and subsequent growth.
The central Catalan coast described by the geographer Pomponius Mela in the 1st century AD included a series of small settlements: Blanes, Mataró, Badalona, Barcelona, Sitges, and an unidentified location in Penedès. Of all of them, Barcino was the most modest, with only 10 hectares of surface area, compared to Bétulo's 12 (Badalona) or Tarraco's 60 (Tarragona). However, the fate of this small Roman colony was very different from that of its neighbours.
Founded between 15 and 10 BC, Barcino was a "cop de puny", in the words of archaeologist Ferran Puig, who directed the municipal Archaeology Service of Barcelona for years. Its layout was an octagon surrounding Mount Tàber, organised around two axes: the decumanus and the cardo maximus. Traversing it from end to end took barely eight or ten minutes.
In comparison, Caesar Augusta (Zaragoza) occupied 44 hectares, Tarraco 60, and the very city of Rome 1,400. How then could Barcino become the great city it is today, far surpassing all the Roman foundations on this side of the Mediterranean? The paradox is that its small size was its greatest advantage.
Barcino was created to control the plain between the Llobregat and Besòs rivers, from the sea to Collserola. Around it, dozens of villas emerged that became the economic engine of the colony. Its port exported a prized white wine whose amphorae have been found in places as far away as Great Britain or Germania. Land ownership became concentrated in a few hands, generating a wealthy elite but in a very small space.
When the Roman Empire began to decline, Barcino remained small but prosperous. Inside, there were only a few large houses (four have been identified and remains of another) and some industries. In the face of barbarian threats, it was able to expand its walls and equip them with 76 towers, making it practically impregnable. This fortress was one of the reasons why the Visigoth king Ataulf chose Barcelona between 410 and 415 to establish his court.
Clara Forn, a doctor in classical archaeology at the Museu de Badalona, explains that "Badalona is earlier and comparatively was much more important than Barcino, but from the second half of the 2nd century and early 3rd, it sees its development reduced. Possibly the birth of Barcino harms Bétulo, because they share geographic space and even a dominant class." Both cities based their economy on the wine industry, but Barcino enjoyed tax benefits for being a colony, while Bétulo did not have a clear status.
Another key factor for the rise of Barcelona was its strategic position to control the Mediterranean corridor, both by land and sea. Additionally, by the late 3rd century or early 4th, Christianity took root in Barcino, first as a private cult of the lower classes and later among the elites. By the early 6th century, the old Roman fish-salting factory was located beneath a church and a cemetery.
Eduard Riu-Barrera, an archaeologist at the Heritage and Architecture Service of the Generalitat, places the period of differentiation of Barcino from the cities around it in the Visigothic era. "Tarragona is a metropolitan seat, and has an archbishopric, while Barcino only has a bishopric. This persists until the Muslim conquest, but some infrastructures will be key. The Rec Comtal, but also the wall, which during the Muslim invasion will be fundamental, because the city becomes, in 801, with the Carolingian conquest, the border between the caliphate of Córdoba and the Frankish counties, while Tarragona remains in the Muslim zone. It is a geopolitically key moment. The wall is the bastion of the southern border of Europe," says Riu-Barrera.
Thus, the small Barcino, with its mere 10 hectares, managed to survive and prosper where other larger cities declined. Its wall, strategic position, and adaptability turned it into the Barcelona we know today. As Riu-Barrera points out, "it is like the Sagrada Familia, which in 2,000 years will still be a great asset of the city."
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