Pujades 23

Pujades Chronicle of Catalonia 1609

### Chapter 23

*Referring to the foundation of Barcelona, treating on the different opinions that there are about this.*

[This chapter is untranslated at present.]

### Chapter 24

*In which it is proved with various reasons that Hercules founded Barcelona, and satisfying the contrary opinions.*

[This chapter is untranslated at present.]

### Chapter 25

*Referring to the place where Hercules died, and an explanation is made of some columns that are in Barcelona.*

[This chapter is untranslated at present. It considers two candidates for Hercules' tomb as Cadiz and Barcelona. However, it is in Tarragona that the sarcophagus of an Egyptian pharaoh of this time period was found in AD 1850, though dismissed out of hand by academia as a hoax; it is likely that of Hercules Libycus aka Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre, whose burial in Egypt cannot be located.]

### Chapter 26

*Referring to how Hesperus succeeded Hercules in the dominion of Spain, and how his brother Atlas threw him out of it.*

1. After the courageous and hard-working Oron Líbicus, known as Hercules, died, Hesperus, brother of King Atlas of Italy, succeeded to the lordship of Spain, as Berosus, Garibay, Lucio Marineo, Pineda, Casaneo, and Guillermo de Vallseca write. Our Doctor Marquilles names him Sperion. He had brought Hercules to Spain the second time he came to her, and because he had followed him on the roads, served on occasions, was valid in the dangerous days, and because he had valor, courage, and merits to be loved, he esteemed him and wanted him in such a way, that at the time of his death he named him his successor, and left him the kingdom and lordship of Spain; and the Spaniards, by virtue of the will, or some other disposition of Hercules, accepted him and considered him King and Lord, as, in addition to those already mentioned, Father Juan de Mariana and Juan Sedeño refer to him. And as Annius writes, the succession and principles of the Hesperus' reign were in the year 758 after the Flood, 516 the population of Spain, and 1658 before Christ our Lord. Or according to another account in the year 658 after the Flood, as Beuter writes, and almost 1648 BC, or at 516 of the population of Spain, according to Florian, who says it follows Annius. And without a doubt the one or the other codex of the two has the wrong impression. Tarafa says it was in the year 1659 BC; and Medina agrees with him: although in the account of the population of Spain and the Flood he disagrees, saying that it was the year 476 of the population, and 620 of the Flood. Goes and Garcia point to the year 669 after the Flood.

[All sources agree that Hesperus was a brother of Atlas (who is called Kitym in *Defloratio*); Stevens, Anderson and Beawes mention that Hesperus was a captain of Hercules, but Anderson gives his descent as from a Japetus and his wife Asia, this Japetus being from Peucinus, a son of Hercules and Arona the half-viper. Peucinus or Peucinger is mentioned elsewhere, as in Aventinus, as a son of Hercules by Araxa the younger, daughter of Emperor Gambrivius of Germany. If Anderson's account is correct, the would be a dynastic continuation as a scion of the Heracleid dynasty descended paternally from Apis, son of Ham and Rhea.

Hesperus must have acceded on Hercules' death in 1919 BC, 836 years after the flood and 493 after the settlement of Spain by my count.]

2. But regardless of this disagreement of account, all in that, although Hesperus was not much at peace in his kingdom (as we shall soon say), the time that he possessed it was nevertheless very useful and profitable to the land; for he was very good and virtuous, and so loved by his people that the land left the name of Hispania, and he and his name began to be named Hesperia. And although it is true that there is another opinion on this, Florian, Beuter, Tarafa and Viladamor adhere to this, all following (as it seems to me) Annius in various places; and the same say Jacobo Filipo Bergomense, Pineda, and the Bishop of Gerona; all of them reprimanding with just reasons the cosmographers, poet, grammarians, and historians, who say that Hesperia was named after the morning star Hespero, who is the guide of the sailors who come from the Levant to Spain. And those who say this are the Archbishop of Burgos D Alfonso de Cartagena, Mtro Pedro Juan Nuñez and St Antonino, certainly taking it from Macrobius and St Isidore, according to Juan de Mariana's opinion.

3. Of this king Hesperus writes Francisco Compte that he founded the town of Hespiria, near the famous fortress of Salsas in Roussillon, which even in our days is called Hespira. And this almost ends with all we can say about his reign regarding Catalonia. But one can not stop saying the success of some things, to carry the continued story. So Atlant Italus, brother of Hesperus (who as I have said elsewhere had been King or Governor of Italy at the time Hercules came), as soon as he knew his death and the prosperity of his brother, and that all peoples without missing someone had received him as King, and they loved him and adored him very much, he with the insatiable appetite to reign (because he does not forgive brothers the ambition to command) in such a great way he allowed himself to be carried away by envy, that in a very short time he came to Spain (if he was not in it as I have noted above in chapter twenty-two), and with a powerful army he set out on the campaign against his brother, pretending that Hercules had already given him the kingdoms in life, and that in testimony of this he had left him as Governor of Italy. In this way Atlant overcame his brother, Hesperus, and compelled him to leave the kingdom and the land, and flee from it, passing to the parts of Italy, where according to some his brother Atlas was well received; or according to others he was protected with love from the people of Atlas. And Annius and Mariana specify that he was well received, and made tutor of Corythus or Cambo, who was called Janus the younger, and as his tutor he governed Tyrrhenia or Etruria. And everyone agrees that from Hesperus' going to Italy it was left there to also name that land Hesperia. Thus was the end of King Hesperus, having reigned in Spain for 11 years, according to what Tarafa, Damian Goes, Felipe Garcia and Garibay say. Although some, like Annius, Florian, Beuter and Viladamor, do not give him more than 10 years of reign.

[Stevens and Beawes agree that Hesperus reigned 10 years, dated by Stevens 1649-1639 BC. Anderson gives him eleven years, 1654-1643 BC, and Swinton also 11 years.

Both of these figures are based on the info in *Defloratio*, where it mentions Hesperus in the 20th year of Mamitus (Amar-sin of Ur and successors, assigned 30 years), then mentions Hesperus' brother Kitym, ie Atlas, expelling him to Italy in the 1st year of Mancaleus (Ishbi-erra of Isin). However the first entry is probably misplaced, since Hercules' death must have occurred well before the era of Mamitus, as I have calculated in 1919 BC, and thus Hesperus must have ruled Spain from then until the usurpation of Atlas Kittim in the first year of Mancaleus, taken as 1879 BC. This would give Hesperus a rather longer reign in Spain of about 40 years before Atlas expelled him to Italy.

Note that during Hesperus' reign, Atlas was said to be governor of Italy, while Hercules had left his son by Araxa, Tuscus, with the title of king of Tuscania.]

### Chapter 27

*Referring to how Atlant reigned, and later returned to Italy with many Spanish.*

1. Good King Hesperus thrown out of Spain, Annius says that Atlant or Atlas his brother succeeded him, took the kingdom and lordship from him, who had occupied it in the way I left written in the previous chapter. And the same is said by Berosus, Juan Sedeño, Lucio Marinéo, el Bergomense, Juan Pineda, Casaneo, and others who purposely allege in the places below.

In the assignment of the year when this succession after Hesperus began, there is some diversity. For some of the cited authors seem to want it to be in the years 769 after the Flood, and 526 after the population of Spain, and 1648 BC; or otherwise, in the years 779 after the Flood according to Beuter, and 1637 BC according to Garibay, and 527 after the settlement of Spain according to Florian; or 1648 BC, according to Tarafa, Goes, and Garcia.

2. Francisco Compte writes of this King Atlas that he married a Spanish lady named Leocata, and he does not say from which part she was: but that for her love our men from Roussillon gave their name to the town and village that today is named Leucata, owned by the King of France. It is true that Compte was not born when that town was founded: so if he does not testify to what he says, he will be believed by few. But if he relies on what the etymology of the word says, as other writers have done at every step, he can pass himself off as possible, and without reprehension from those who look at books more to find out what to slander them, than to publish what they find well worked in them.

3. But returning to the point (and leaving aside what Beuter, Florian, Mariana and Compte himself say, that [Atlas] had three daughters by Leocata, named Electra, Maya and Roma, and that Electra married Corythus, or Cambo Blaco, father of Dardanus, king of Troy: Maya was considered a goddess, and the month of May was dedicated to her: Roma was queen of the Aborigines, of whom and from them Rome was founded): Atlas had a son named Orus or Sicorus, from the diversity of whose name we will give reason in the next chapter. It is enough for now to know that the kingdom and lordship of Spain left Atlas to Orus, after 11 years he was in it, as Beuter says: but Garibay only gives him 10 of reign, and others lengthen this a little longer, saying that it was after 12 years of his reign, as Tarafa, Viladamor and Medina say: or after 13 years according to Florian, Goes and Garcia. Although according to the account that Florian has in the present and last chapter, I have by the way that his intention was to say 10 years here, and in the correction the account has been corrupted.

[*Defloratio* states that Atlas drove his brother Hesperus from Spain to Italy in the first year of Mancaleus, then pursued him to Italy, leaving Sicorus in Spain, in the 12th year of Mancaleus. Hence Stevens allows him 11 years in Spain (1639-1628 BC), and Anderson 12 years (1643-1631 BC); Swinton only 10. I have placed Atlas or Italus Kittim's reign in Spain from 1879 to 1868 BC. *Defloratio* continues about this king as follows:

*The Itali called Kytim Italus Atala in their own language on account of his mental capacity. He gave his daughter Electra as wife to Cambo Blascon the chief of the Janigenes. For his wedding Italus sent colonies across the Alps adjoining Italy and consecrated his daughter Roma first of all under-queen of the Aborigines. Italus Kytim made also his son Morges Coritus.*Aventinus alleges that Atlas ruled the "white Moors" around the mountains named for him, as well as Spain. Anderson calls him Atlas Maurus, but further alleges that Atlas Italus or Kittim, father of Electra was another person, and Atlas of Arcadia father of Maya a third. He also says Atlas Maurus married his niece Hesperis, daughter of Hesperus. But according to Beawes, Atlas married Leucaria, who bore him Roma in Italy.]

4. The occasion why Atlas, leaving the kingdom of Spain to Orus or Sicorus his son, went to Italy, was according to the aforementioned authors and with them Juan Mariana, because just as he had envied his brother Hesperus in the time he reigned in Spain; so also when he learned that Hesperus was very loved and esteemed in Italy, he was suspicious of something new, and feared that by becoming powerful he would take Italy away from him and come later on Spain, and for this he wanted to take precautions with time.

5. On this journey that Atlas made from Spain to Italy, many Spaniards followed him, and as they made their journey, they first arrived at the island that today is called Sicily, some stayed there, and settled a large part of it: whereof in its time and place we will make a longer mention. Other Spaniards who did not want to stay on the island, went with Atlas to the mainland of Italy: and according to Florian, Sedeño and Pineda, mixed with the Aborigines, and inhabiting the province Saturnia, on the banks of the Tiber river they populated the city of Rome, according to some historians who refer more at length. And among others Tarafa says that Sicorus was in this passage by order of his father, citing Fabio and other authors.

6. The end of Atlas' anger against Hesperus, his brother, was that, with some getting in the way, they calmed them down and agreed, in the way that can be seen at length in Fr Juan Pineda to whom I refer.

### Chapter 28

*Referring to how Sicorus reigned, who gave name to the river Segre, and the towns he founded.*

1. If we follow Fr Juan de Mariana in the course of his history, we must say that Atlant was succeeded by his son Siculus, leaving Sicorus, Sicanus, Siceleus and Lusus, of whom he says that memory only is found in modern writers of Spain. However, to follow the common, let's say everything, and put here also what we find written in other authors. They say that Atlant having passed to Italy, he stayed in Spain and was succeeded by his son Sicorus, according to Lucio Marinéo, and others that I will soon mention. And that it was in the year 695 after the Flood, according to Damian Goes, Felipe Garcia, Casaneo and Garibay: or in the year 682 after the Flood, according to Beuter, and 538 of the population of Spain, and almost 1627 before the Nativity of Christ our Lord, according to Florian and Juan Sedeño: or 1637 BC according to Canon Tarafa.

2. Some have claimed that this Sicorus never named himself King of Spain, and that his father did not name him King, but rather Governor. And that is why those of the land named him Sic (which in Aramaic language means duke, captain, or governor) leaving the name of Ri, which means King and that as he was called Orus, and because of his Government they named him Sic, he remained to be named Sicorus, which meant Governor Orus. It is written in this way by Beuter, Medina, Viladamor and Marinéo, who persuaded me that they would take it from Annius, and this takes it from Trogus and Justin his epitomist. But Annius contradicts himself, about Berosus (followed by Florian and Tarafa) he says that Atlas made his son King, and that he named himself Sicorus, as Berosus the Chaldean himself says.

3. After this, everyone agrees that this Sicorus put his name to the river that we now call Segre, and he named it Sicorus: of whose sources and beginning we have discussed above in its own place. Also in Capsir there is a pond called Thetis, which Sicorus named, in memory of his grandmother Thetis. And as for this reason the pool was called Thetis, and today it is the bank of the Tet: similarly the land that the Sicorus watered, and especially that of the contours of Lerida (according to the same authors and with them Lucio Marinéo), was called and named Sicania, Sicora, or Sicoria. And this does not seem to me to be contrary to what we have said above, that the towns near that city were named Ilergetes. We will return to this later, and in the next chapter we will see that Antonio Nebrisense does not like this denomination of Segre, nor of Sicania. Because they could well be in the limits of the Ilergetes in general, and that land region have this name in particular, as much as the waters of the Segre River touched: unless we say what Francisco Compte wanted, that these were those of the Plain of Cerdanya, towards the sources of the same river.

4. It is written that some settlements remained of this King in Spain, and particularly that of Ager in Catalonia. Whereof Beuter says that in the beginning it was named Agge. Because by some great avenues of water that were in those plains, the inhabitants in them climbed to a high ground, and built the town, which, for fear of other impulses of water or river growth, they surrounded with very good stakes and ramparts, which in some parts of Catalonia they call motes, and the Latin diction names them aggeres: as those who in Justinian's Code have read the title of Aggerilus Nili know. Those floods of growths must have come from the two Nogueras rivers, from the Ribagorzana, which is a league away, and from the Pallaresa halfway from that town.

5. The same Beuter also says that Balaguer was founded then, as one calls it lordship of the valley. But I have already said above in chapter 22 what I found of this settlement; And I would believe that as they said this king Sicorus gave name to the river Segre, he must have lived in Balaguer, and since Hercules had founded that town for a short time, according to what some mentioned in said chapter want, perhaps growing with the stay of Sicorus, those who had no news of its foundation must have said that he was the founder.

6. Having done all this, and many other things that antiquity has hidden from us, Sicorus died at the end of 45 years of his reign, according to Annius, Beuter, Tarafa and Medina, following Berossus: or at 46 years according to Florian, Sedeño, Viladamor, Goes, Garcia, Garibay and Pineda. He left founded some other towns, which according to Francisco Compte, were Roselló, Albera, Tesa, Canet, Bulademont, Bulaterencia, Vernet, Tasso. In Conflent Moset, Pi, Sorra, Rodes. In Cerdanya, Rostabar and Aex, if not contrary to what we have said in chapter 22.

[*Defloratio* has Sicorus ruling from the 12th year of Mancaleus, out of 30, through the 20 year reign of Spherus, until Sicorus is succeeded by his son Sicanus in the 8th year of Mamelus, thus indicating about 46 years, which I date from 1868 to 1821 BC. Stevens also gives him 46 years, from 1628 to 1583 BC, Swinton 45, while Anderson says 44 years, from 1631-1587 BC. Beawes however says Sicorus ruled 55 years.]

* Next page: Chapter 29