ThePillars of Hercules[a] are thepromontories that flank the entrance to theStrait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is theRock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history,[1] with the two most likely candidates beingMonte Hacho inCeuta andJebel Musa in Morocco. The term was applied inantiquity:Pliny the Elder included the Pillars of Hercules in hisNaturalis historia (Book III:3).
According toGreek mythology adopted by theEtruscans and Romans, whenHercules had to performtwelve labours, one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle ofGeryon of the far West and bring them toEurystheus; this marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage ofPindar quoted byStrabo was the earliest traceable reference in this context: "the pillars which Pindar calls the 'gates of Gades' when he asserts that they are the farthermost limits reached byHeracles".[2] Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles andMelqart sinceHerodotus, the "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modernCádiz) have sometimes been considered to be the truePillars of Hercules.[3]
Plato placed the legendary island ofAtlantis beyond the "Pillars of Hercules".[4] Renaissance tradition says the pillars bore the warningNe plus ultra (alsoNon plus ultra, "nothing further beyond"), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further.[5]
According to some Roman sources,[6] while on his way to the garden of theHesperides on the island ofErytheia, Hercules had to cross the mountain that was onceAtlas. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules used his superhuman strength to smash through it. By doing so, he connected the Atlantic Ocean to theMediterranean Sea and formed theStrait of Gibraltar. One part of the split mountain isGibraltar and the other is eitherMonte Hacho orJebel Musa. These two mountains taken together have since then been known as the Pillars of Hercules, though other natural features have been associated with the name.[7]
Diodorus Siculus, however, held that, instead of smashing through an isthmus to create the Straits of Gibraltar, Hercules "narrowed" an already existing strait to prevent monsters from the Atlantic Ocean from entering the Mediterranean Sea.[8]
In some versions, Heracles instead built the two to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas from his damnation.[9]
Beyond Gades, several importantMauretanian colonies (in modern-dayMorocco) were founded by thePhoenicians as the Phoenician merchant fleet pushed through the Pillars of Hercules and began constructing a series of bases along the Atlantic coast starting withLixus in the north, thenChellah and finallyMogador.[10]
Near the eastern shore of the island of Gades/Gadeira (modernCádiz, just beyond the strait)Strabo describes[11]the westernmost temple ofTyrianHeracles, the god with whom Greeks associated the Phoenician and PunicMelqart, byinterpretatio graeca. Strabo notes[12] that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each eightcubits high, were widely proclaimed to be the true Pillars of Hercules 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. Thecolumns of the Melqart temple atTyre were also of religious significance.
Syriac scholars were aware of the Pillars through their efforts to translate Greek scientific works into their language as well as into Arabic. The Syriac compendium of knowledge known asKtaba d'ellat koll 'ellan (Cause of All Causes) is unusual in asserting that there were three, not two, columns.[13]
InInferno XXVIDante Alighieri mentionsUlysses in the pit of the Fraudulent Counsellors and his voyage past the Pillars of Hercules. 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 sights the mountain ofPurgatory but encounters awhirlwind from it that sinks his ship and all on it for theirdaring to approach Purgatory while alive, by their strength and wits alone.
The Pillars appear prominently on the engraved title page ofSir Francis Bacon'sInstauratio Magna ("Great Renewal"), 1620, an unfinished work of which the second part was his influentialNovum Organum. The motto along the base saysMulti pertransibunt et augebitur scientia ("Many will pass through and knowledge will be the greater"). The image was based on the use of the pillars in Spanish and Habsburg propaganda.
The Spanish enclave in the extreme north of the African continent, the town ofCeuta is home to a modern-day statue called "The Pillars of Hercules" (Spanish: Columnas de Hércules).
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The statue consists of two huge bronze pillars, which are held apart by Hercules. The statue was made by Ceuta artistGinés Serrán-Pagán.[14]
On the Spanish coast atLos Barrios areTorres de Hercules which are twin towers that were inspired by thePillars of Hercules. These towers were the tallest in Andalusia untilCajasol Tower was completed inSeville in 2015.
In the southern wall of theNational Autonomous University of Mexico'sCentral Library, the muralHistorical Representation of Culture, created by the artistJuan O'Gorman, portrays a depiction of the Pillars of Hercules as an allusion to thecolonial past of Mexico and the house ofCharles V.[15]
The Pillars appear as supporters of thecoat of arms of Spain, originating in theimpresa of Spain's sixteenth century kingCharles I, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor asCharles V. It was an idea of the Italian humanistLuigi Marliano.[16] It bears the mottoPlus Ultra, Latin forfurther beyond, implying that the pillars were a gateway. This was modified from the phraseNec plus ultra,Nothing more beyond after thediscovery of the Americas, which laid to rest the idea of the Pillars of Hercules as the westernmost extremity of the inhabitable world which had prevailed since Antiquity.
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![The reverse of a bronze medal from 1553 by the sculptor Leone Leoni, 4.2 centimetres from top to bottom, showing the two fluted columns connected with a banderole ribbon, in a sea of waves. Around the circumference, in capital letters, reads: PLVS.OUTRE (that is, in English, "And beyond]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLeone_Leoni%2c_The_Pillars_of_Hercules_(reverse)%2c_1553%2c_NGA_92018.jpg)
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36°07′46″N5°20′40″W / 36.12944°N 5.34444°W /36.12944; -5.34444
