BARCA BARCELONA 303 are Benghazi (anc. Berenice), and Derne (anc. Darnis). (See CYEENAIOA.) BARCA, or Barce, an ancient inland city of Cyrenaica, founded by revolted Cyrenseans and Libyans about 554 B. 0. Arcesilaus II., king of Cyrene, was signally defeated in an at- tempt to punish this secession, and the power of Barca was soon extended to the seacoast and W. toward Carthage. About 514 B. C. Arcesilaus III. of Cyrene, having taken refuge with his father-in-law Alazir, king of Barca, was slain by the citizens. His mother Phere- tima induced the Persian satrap of Egypt to besiege Barca, and after it was captured caused numbers of the citizens to be crucified around the walls, on which she fixed as bosses the breasts of their wives. Many others were made slaves and removed to Bactria. Under the Ptolemies most of the remaining inhabi- tants were removed to the new city of Ptole- mais (now Tolmeta) on the coast. The old town was still in existence in the 2d century of our era, and its ruins are now traced near the village of Merjeh. BARCA, or liarcas an epithet applied to Ha- milcar and other Carthaginian generals, and supposed to signify "lightning," like the He- brew Barak. BARCELONA. I. A province of Spain, in Catalonia, bordering on the Mediterranean; area, 2,983 sq. m. ; pop. in 1867, 749,143. It is less mountainous and better cultivated, more densely peopled, and in general more flourish- ing than any other Catalonian province. The Llobregat, its principal river, intersects it N. and S. It is traversed by several railways, and has good roads. Its chief products are gram, oil, wine, fruit, hemp, silk, iron, copper, and coal ; there are several salt mines and numerous mineral springs. II. A city and seaport, cap- Barcelona. ital of the above described province, situated in lat. 41 21' K, Ion. 2 10' E., on the Medi- terranean, 315 m. E. N. E. of Madrid, in a beautiful plain between the rivers Besos and Llobregat, at the foot of Mount Monjuich (the Mons Jovis of the Romans, the Mons Jndaicus of the middle ages, so named because it was then inhabited by the Jews); pop. in 1864, 190,000; in 1868, including the large suburb of Barceloneta, 167,095. The diminution is as- cribed to the mortality caused by the cholera of 1865, and the removal of much of the manu- facturing industry beyond the municipal boun- dary. It is the most flourishing, and after Madrid the most populous city in Spain, the great manufacturing and commercial emporium, and one of the finest cities of the peninsula. The harbor is formed by a huge mole, running 72 VOL. n. 20 southward for a considerable distance from the shore ; the depth of water within the mole is 20 ft. The fort of Monjuich, south of the town, stands upon the isolated hill of that name, 752 ft. above the level of the sea. It commands the city, the citadel, and the port, and is considered by the Spaniards to be im- pregnable. The citadel, N. E. of the town, is a regular fortress built on the system of Vau- ban. There are also walls, ditches, and bat- teries. Barcelona is the see of a bishop and the seat of an audiencia. It has a university established in 1450, several commercial acade- mies, and many civil, military, art, and benevo- lent institutions, prominent among which is the junta de comercio, or board of trade, which supports professorships of navigation, architec- ture, chemistry, experimental philosophy, agri-
