TARRAGONA, the capital of the Spanish province of Tar ragona, a flourishing seaport, and the seat of an archbishop; at the mouth of the river Francoli, 63 m. by rail W.S.W. of Barcelona.
Pop. (1930) 30,747• Tarraco, the capital of the Iberian Cessetani, many of whose coins are extant, was one of the earliest Roman strongholds in Spain. It was captured in 218 B.C. by Gnaeus and Publius Cor nelius Scipio, who improved its harbours and enlarged its walls. A Roman monument on a hill 3 m. E. is known as the Sepulcro de los Escipiones, and locally believed to be the tomb of the Scipios, who were defeated and slain by the Carthaginians under Hasdrubal Barca in 212 B.C., but there is no good reason to believe that the monument is older than the 1st century A.D. As the Colonia Triumphalis, so called to commemorate the victories of Julius Caesar, Tarraco was made the seat of one of the four assize courts (conventus juridici) established in Hispania Citerior. Augustus spent the winter of 26 B.C. here, and made Tarraco the capital of the whole province, which received the name of Hispania Tarraconensis. A temple was built in his honour. It was after wards restored by Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), and the city became the Spanish headquarters of the worship of the goddess Roma and the deified emperors. Its flax trade and other industries made it one of the richest seaports of the empire.
To the Romans the Visigoths under Euric succeeded in but on their expulsion by the Moors in 711 the city was plun dered and burned. In 1089 the Moors were driven out by Ray mond IV. of Barcelona, and in 1118 a grant of the fief was made to the Norman Robert Burdet, who converted the town into a frontier fortress against the Moors. In 1705 the city was taken and burned by the British; in 1811, after being partly fortified, it was captured and sacked by the French.
Tarragona is on the coast railway from Barcelona to Valencia, and is connected with the Ebro Valley Railway by a branch line to Reus. The old town, with its dark and steep alleys, occupies
a rugged hill which rises abruptly from the sea to an altitude of about 55o ft. Many of the houses in this quarter are very old, and are built partly of Roman masonry; one such fragment, immured in the palace wall, is inscribed with the epitaph of a charioteer (auriga). Massive ruined walls encircle the old town. Their lowest course is "Cyclopean," consisting of unhewn blocks about 12 ft. long and 6 ft. wide ; Roman masonry of the Augustan age is superimposed. The six gates and the square towers are also, to a great extent, "Cyclopean." Tarragona cathedral is one of the noblest examples of early Spanish art. The main body of the building dates from the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th, and is of transitional character. On the north-east side is a cloister contemporary with the church, with which it communicates by a very fine doorway. The cloister con tains much remarkable work, and the tracery of the windows bears interesting marks of Moorish influence. Two other noteworthy churches in the city are San Pablo and Santa Tecla la Vieja, both of the I 2th century.
There is a fine Roman aqueduct ; the Roman amphitheatre was dismantled in 1491 to furnish stone for the eastern mole, though a few rows of seats are left near the sea-shore; and the museum contains a large collection of Roman antiquities. The Torreon de Pilatos is said to have been the palace of the Emperor Augustus. When the monks of the Grande Chartreuse were compelled to leave France, they settled at Tarragona in 1903, and established a liqueur factory. A characteristic feature of Tarragona is the number of its underground storehouses for wine (bodegas) ; wine is exported in large quantities. There is a British steel file factory; chocolate, soap, flour, ironware, paper, pipes and salted fish are also manufactured.