Bocchoris (also known as Bocchorum, Bocchor and ''Oppidum Bochoritanum'') was an ancient city in northern

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

(

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), dating back to pre-Roman times. It was one of the oldest settlements in Majorca and was once a

foederatus ''Foederati'' (, singular: ''foederatus'' ) were peoples and cities bound by a treaty, known as ''foedus'', with Rome. During the Roman Republic, the term identified the ''socii'', but during the Roman Empire, it was used to describe foreign stat ...

(federated city to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

), as recorded by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

Location

Bocchoris lay near the current town of

Port de Pollença Port de Pollença (Balearic ; es, Puerto Pollensa) is a small town in northern Majorca, Spain, on the Bay of Pollença about 6 km east of Pollença and two kilometres southeast of Cala Sant Vicenç, Majorca, Cala Sant Vicenç. Cap de Formen ...

, on a hill to the right of the road from Port de Pollença to

Pollença Pollença (Balearic Catalan: ; es, Pollensa) is a town and municipality in the northern part of the island of Majorca, near Cap de Formentor and Alcúdia. It lies inland, about west of its port, Port de Pollença. History The name "Pollen� ...

, around Boquer Valley. The city dates back to 1400 BC and many traces of it remain. A long stretch of the Roman town wall and the entrance gates are still visible in what is now flat farmland. The surrounding area has not been excavated.

Historiography

Tabula Patronatus Bocchorus (AD 6) - Serra Ferragut

The civitas bocchoritana, i.e., Bocchoris, is unique in the island of Majorca. Evidence that it once was a federated city is ''sensu stricto'' confirmed by juridic epigraphy, in the form of two different ''tabulae patronatus''.

also listed Bocchoris among the federated cities, in his book ''Naturalis Historia'', III, 77–78 in the 1st century BC:

The Baleares, so formidable in war with their slingers, have received from the Greeks the name of Gymnasiæ. The larger island is 100 miles in length, and 475 in circumference. It has the following towns; Palma and Pollentia, enjoying the rights of Roman citizens, Cinium and Tucis, with Latin rights; and Bocchorum was a federate town.

Near the ruins of Bocchoris, two bronze inscriptions were found, dating back to the years 10 BC and 6 AD. One inscription, found in the Bay of Pollença in 1951, and dating to 10 BC, mainly stated that Bocchoris' patron was

Marcus Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...

Roman consul A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...

in 14 BC. The whole text in Latin, as written in the inscription, is as follows:

''(Iullo Ant)onio Fabio Africano , a(nte) d(iem) XVII k(alendas) Apriles , Civitas Bochoritana ex , insula Baliarum Maiorum , patronum cooptavit M. , Crassum Frugi leiberos , posterosque eius. , M. Crassus Frugi eos in , suam suorumque , clientelam recepit. Egerunt C. Coelius C. F. et , C. Caecilius T. F. legati''

The other ''tabula patronatus'' was discovered much earlier, in 1765."Disertación Histórica Sobre una Inscripción Romana del Pueblo Bocchoritano Hallada en Mallorca en el Territorio de la Villa de Pollensa en el Año de 1765", S. Ferragut (1766) According to this bronze inscription, dating to 6 AD, the Senate and the people of Bocchoris selected by mutual consent the

Roman Senator The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

Marcus Atilius Vernus as their patron. In Latin, it says:

''M. Aemilio Lepido, L. Arruntio , co(n)s(ulibus) k(alendis) Mais. , Ex insula Baliarum Maiore senatus , populusque Bocchoritanus M. Atilium M. F. Gal(eria) Vernum patronum coopata, verunt , M. Atilius M. F. Gal(eria) Vernus senatum , populusque Bochoritanum in fidem , clientelamque suam suorumque recepit. , Egerunt Q. Caecilius Quintus , C. Valerius Icesta praetores''

Etymology

Very little is known about the origin of the word Bocchoris and whether the name of the city was actually Bocchor, Bocchoris or Bocchorum. The name is still conserved in its

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

variant, Boquer, which denominates the area around the current Boquer valley in Port de Pollença.

References

Indigenous ancient cities in Spain Former populated places in Spain Archaeological sites in Spain Ruins in Spain History of Mallorca