User:Thebenben/Gypsela

Gypsela, Cypsela o Cípsela (Cypsela) is the name of a (presumed mythical) city that would have been situated in front of the Medes Islands of the Costa Brava, according to the fourth-century writer Avienus in his poem Ora Maritima. Avienus based his contention on a journey of a Massalian (modern-day Marseilles) who had located this island on a navigation map one thousand years earlier than Avienus. With the mountain of Quermany at its base, the legend states that this city disappeared forever into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Archaeology associates this location—albeit without any certitude—with the archaeologic site of la Fonollera, in the present-day municipality of Torroella de Montgrí. According to this, the island would have 'disappeared' as the coastline advanced towards the sea, becoming part of the main landmass. If correct, this former 'island' nowadays forms a mountain 800m from the coastline. The Catalan archaeologist Pella i Forgas (1883) and German Adolf Schulten (1922) were first to posit this identification. Excavations have indicated that la Fonollera was formerly an island relatively recently integrated into the landmass in geological terms. The excavations further uncovered a nucleus of habitation occupied from the Bronze Age until the Medieval Era.

Etymology

The toponym of Gypsela has been held to be the etymologic origin of the Guixols portion of the otherwise unknown Sant Feliu de Guíxols, but this cannot be proven conclusively.