Cartagena

Ancient city on the eastern coast of the Spanish province of Murcia, referred to in the Talmud. The Cartagena mentioned in Yer. Sheb. vi., beginning, identified in this passage with Spain, is certainly identical with theSpanish Cartagena. Jews settled here at an early date. At the fourth Council of Cartagena (436) it was decreed: "Ut episcopus nullum prohibeat ingredi ecclesiam et audire verbum Dei, sive gentilem sive . . . Judæum usque ad missam catechumenorum." Many of the Jews expelled from Spain took ship at Cartagena, as well as at Cadiz; and many Maranos also settled in the former city, where they fell into the hands of the Inquisition.

J. M. K.