Pillars of Hercules
 |
The Pillars of Hercules Monument at Jews' Gate, Gibraltar |
The
Pillars of Hercules is the ancient name given to the
promontories that flank the entrance to the
Strait of Gibraltar. They are
Gibraltar in
Europe and
Monte Hacho in
Ceuta in
Africa. The
Jebel Musa, west of Ceuta, in
Morocco, is sometimes considered one of the Pillars.
The Pillars of Hercules has its origin in
Greek mythology as the Pillars of
Heracles.
The creation of the pillars
After killing
Medusa,
Perseus took the head of the
Gorgon with him to distant lands and reached the western end of the Earth where the sun sets - the land where
Atlas the
Titan resided and raised magical golden
apples. Perseus wished to rest in Atlas' garden and asked him for food but Atlas - fearing that the hero would steal his magical fruit - refused and sent Perseus away. Perseus then showed Atlas the head of Medusa and the Titan turned into a
giant mountain - his
hair turning into a great
forest, his shoulders into cliffs and his bones into solid rock.
The naming of the pillars
When
Hercules had to perform
twelve labours, one of them was to fetch the Cattle of
Geryon and bring it to
Eurystheus. On his way to the island of
Erytheia he had to cross the mountain that was once Atlas. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules split it in half using his indestructible mace. By doing so, he connected the
Atlantic Ocean to the
Mediterranean Sea and formed the
Strait of Gibraltar. One part of the split mountain is
Gibraltar and the other is Monte Hacho. These two mountains taken together have since then been known as the Pillars of Hercules.
The pillars as portals
The pillars are also mentioned at some places as
portals, or gates to different locations on Earth. When the Carthaginian admiral
Himilco was sent to explore the area of the
Muddy Sea (a shallow plateau that lies to the southwest of the Pillars) his report included the words "Many seaweeds grow in the troughs between the waves, which slow the ship like bushes {...} Here the beasts of the sea move slowly hither and thither, and great monsters swim languidly among the sluggishly creeping ships" (
Rufus Festus Avienus) This description accurately resembles the
Sargasso Sea rather than the
Muddy Sea.
The Pillars appear as supporters of the coat of arms of
Spain. The motto
Plus Ultra (
Latin for
further beyond) indicates the desire to see the Pillars as an entrance to the rest of the world rather than as a gate to the
Mediterranean Sea, as opposed to
Non Plus Ultra (
nothing further beyond), the phrase inscribed in the mythological columns indicating their antique condition of border of the known world. It also indicates the overseas possessions that Spain once had.
Near Gades/Gadeira (modern
Cádiz, just beyond the strait) was the westernmost temple of Tyrian
Heracles (
Melqart), near the eastern shore of the island (
Strabo 3.5.2â€"3). Strabo notes (3.5.5â€"6) that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each 8
cubits high, were widely proclaimed to be the true Pillars of Heracles by many who had visited the place and had sacrificed to Heracles there. But Strabo believes the account to be fraudulent, in part noting that the inscriptions on those pillars mentioned nothing about Heracles, speaking only of the expenses incurred by the Phoenicians in their making.The
columns of the Melqart temple at
Tyre were also of religious significance.
When describing his circles of hell,
Dante mentions
Ulysses and his voyage past the Pillars of Hercules (once considered the western end of the world). Ulysses justifies endangering his sailors by the fact that his goal is to gain knowledge of the unknown. After five months of navigation in the ocean, Ulysses detects the
Purgatory but encounters a
whirlwind that sinks his ship.
The
Russian
bard Alexander Gorodnitsky wrote a song under a similar title in
1965, while sailing past the
Strait of Gibraltar on one of his many sea voyages. The song makes numerous references to Ulysses' voyages in the area and other sections of
The OdysseyThe
Pillars Of Hercules is a
pub in
London, with literary connections.
