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{{Short description|Phrase used in antiquity to label the promontories of the Strait of Gibraltar}}
{{about||the Paul Theroux book|The Pillars of Hercules (book)|the pub in London|Pillars of Hercules (pub)}} {{for multi|the Paul Theroux book|The Pillars of Hercules (book)|the London pub|Pillars of Hercules, Soho}}
]
], one of the candidates for the North African Pillar of Hercules, as seen from ], at the other shore of the ].]] ] (foreground), with the North African shore and ] in the background.]]
] ], at the other shore of the ].]]
].]]
</nowiki>|thumb|Leone Leoni. ''The Pillars of Hercules'' . Bronze, 1553. 4.2 cm. ], Washington. Gift of Lisa and Leonard Baskin. ]]

The '''Pillars of Hercules''' (]: ''Columnae Herculis'', ]: Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, ]: أعمدة هرقل / ''Aʿmidat Hiraql'', ]: ''Columnas de Hércules'') was the phrase that was applied in ] to the ] that flank the entrance to the ]. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the ]. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history,<ref>Strabo summarizes the dispute in ''Geographia'' 3.5.5.</ref> with the two most likely candidates being ] in ] and ] in ].
The '''Pillars of Hercules'''{{efn|
*{{langx|la|Columnae Herculis}}
*{{langx|grc|Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι|{{#invoke:Ancient Greek|translit|Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι}}}}
*{{langx|ar|أعمدة هرقل|Aʿmidat Hiraql}}
*{{langx|es|Columnas de Hércules}}
}} are the ] that flank the entrance to the ]. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the ]. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history,<ref>Strabo summarizes the dispute in ''Geographia'' 3.5.5.</ref> with the two most likely candidates being ] in ] and ] in ]. The term was applied in ]: ] included the Pillars of Hercules in his '']'' (Book III:3).


==History== ==History==
According to ] adopted by the ] and Romans, when ] had to perform ], one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle of ] of the far West and bring them to ]; this marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage of ] quoted by ] 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 by ]".<ref>Strabo, 3.5.5; no passage in Pindar has been traced in which the pillars are called "the gates of Gades" (Στήλας, ἃς Πίνδαρος καλεῖ πύλας Γαδειρίδας), but at ''Nem''. 3.20–23 Pindar does speak of "the trackless sea beyond the pillars of Heracles, which that hero and god set up as famous witnesses to ''the furthest limits'' of seafaring".</ref> Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles and ] since ], the "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modern ]) have sometimes been considered to be the true ''Pillars of Hercules''.<ref name="Burkert1985">{{cite book|last=Burkert|first=Walter|title=Greek Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC&pg=PA210|access-date=2 November 2012|year=1985|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-36281-9|page=210}}</ref>
], showing a representation of the Pillars of Hercules (''Columne Ercole'').]]
According to ] adopted by the ] and Romans, when ] had to perform ], one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle of ] of the far West and bring them to ]; this marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage of ] quoted by ] 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 by ]."<ref>Strabo, 3.5.5; the passage in Pindar has not been traced.</ref> Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles and ] since ], the "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modern ]) have sometimes been considered to be the true ''Pillars of Hercules''.<ref name="Burkert1985">{{cite book|author=Walter Burkert|title=Greek Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC&pg=PA210|accessdate=2 November 2012|year=1985|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-36281-9|page=210}}</ref>


According to ]'s account, the lost realm of ] was situated beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in effect placing it in the realm of the Unknown. Renaissance tradition says the pillars bore the warning ''Ne plus ultra'' (also ''Non plus ultra'', "nothing further beyond"), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further. ] placed the legendary island of ] beyond the "Pillars of Hercules".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Copley |first=Jon |date=19 September 2001 |title=Sea level study reveals Atlantis candidate |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1320-sea-level-study-reveals-atlantis-candidate/ |access-date=2019-12-12 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}</ref> Renaissance tradition says the pillars bore the warning ''Ne plus ultra'' (also {{Lang|la|]}}, "nothing further beyond"), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UuGrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 |title=Renaissance Futurities: Science, Art, Invention|publisher=Univ of California Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0520296985|editor-last=Villaseñor Black|editor-first=Charlene|pages=104}}</ref>


According to some Roman sources,<ref>Seneca, ''Hercules Furens'' 235ff.; Seneca, ''Hercules Oetaeus'' 1240; Pliny, ''Nat. Hist''. iii.4.</ref> while on his way to the garden of the ] on the island of ], Hercules had to cross the mountain that was once ]. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules used his superhuman strength to smash through it. By doing so, he connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and formed the ]. One part of the split mountain is ] and the other is either ] or ]. 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.<ref>"Close to the Pillars there are two isles, one of which they call Hera's Island; moreover, there are some who call also these isles the Pillars." (Strabo, 3.5.3.); see also .</ref> ],<ref>Diodorus 4.18.5.</ref> 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. In some versions, Heracles instead built the two to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas from his damnation. {{Citation needed|date=June 2018}} According to some Roman sources,<ref>Seneca, ''Hercules Furens'' 235ff.; Seneca, ''Hercules Oetaeus'' 1240; Pliny, ''Nat. Hist''. iii.4.</ref> while on his way to the garden of the ] on the island of ], Hercules had to cross the mountain that was once ]. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules used his superhuman strength to smash through it. By doing so, he connected the ] to the ] and formed the ]. One part of the split mountain is ] and the other is either ] or ]. 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.<ref>"Close to the Pillars there are two isles, one of which they call Hera's Island; moreover, there are some who call also these isles the Pillars." (Strabo, 3.5.3.); see also .</ref>


], 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.<ref>Diodorus 4.18.5.</ref>
==Phoenician connection==
Beyond Gades, several important ]n colonies (in modern-day ]) were founded by the ]ns as the Phoenician merchant navy pushed through the Pillars of Hercules and began constructing a series of bases along the Atlantic coast starting with ] in the north, then ] and finally ].<ref></ref>


In some versions, Heracles instead built the two to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas from his damnation.<ref>A lost passage of ] quoted by Strabo (3.5.5) was the earliest reference in this context: "the pillars which Pindar calls the 'gates of Gades' when he asserts that they are the farthermost limits reached by Heracles"; the passage in Pindar has not been traced.</ref>
Near the eastern shore of the island of Gades/Gadeira (modern ], just beyond the strait) ] describes<ref>(] 3.5.2–3</ref> the westernmost temple of ] ], the god with whom Greeks associated the Phoenician and Punic ], by '']''. Strabo notes<ref>Strabo 3.5.5–6</ref> that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each eight ]s 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. The ] at ] were also of religious significance.


===Phoenician connection===
] depicting Hercules carrying the two columns, by Couly Nouailher, mid-16th century (]).]]
Beyond Gades, several important ]n colonies (in modern-day ]) were founded by the ]ns as the Phoenician merchant fleet pushed through the Pillars of Hercules and began constructing a series of bases along the Atlantic coast starting with ] in the north, then ] and finally ].<ref></ref>


Near the eastern shore of the island of Gades/Gadeira (modern ], just beyond the strait) ] describes<ref>(] 3.5.2–3</ref> ] of ] ], the god with whom Greeks associated the Phoenician and Punic ], by {{lang|la|]}}. Strabo notes<ref>Strabo 3.5.5–6</ref> that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each eight ]s 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. The ] at ] were also of religious significance.
==The Pillars in Syriac geography==
] 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 as ''Ktaba d'ellat koll 'ellan''. "The Cause of all Causes", is unusual in asserting that there were three, not two, columns<ref>.</ref>


===The Pillars in Syriac geography===
==Dante's ''Inferno''==
] 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 as ''Ktaba d'ellat koll 'ellan'' ('']'') is unusual in asserting that there were three, not two, columns.<ref>.</ref>

==In art==
===Dante's ''Inferno''===
In '']'' XXVI ] mentions ] 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 of ] but encounters a ] from it that sinks his ship and all on it for their ] to approach Purgatory while alive, by their strength and wits alone. In '']'' XXVI ] mentions ] 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 of ] but encounters a ] from it that sinks his ship and all on it for their ] to approach Purgatory while alive, by their strength and wits alone.
]'s ''Instauratio Magna'', 1620.]]


===Sir Francis Bacon's ''Novum Organum''===
==Pillars as a portal==
<gallery style="float: right" width="120px">
File:Columnas Plus Ultra.png|] of ] in ]'s city hall.
File:Pillars of Hercules.svg|The columns as depicted in the ].
</gallery>


]'s ''Instauratio Magna'', 1620]]
The Pillars appear as supporters of the ], originating in the ] of Spain's sixteenth century king ], who was also the Holy Roman Emperor as ]. It was an idea of the Italian humanist ].<ref>{{cite book|title=Diálogo delas empresas militares y amorosas, compuesto en lengua italiana|last=Giovio|first=Paolo|publisher=|date=1658|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WDbIF2wnrUwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=di%C3%A1logo+de+las+empresas+militares+y+amorosas&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM0dCT057cAhVDSBQKHZnJDewQ6AEIMTAC#v=onepage&q=marliano&f=false|isbn=}}</ref> It bears the motto '']'', Latin for ''further beyond'', implying that the pillars were a gateway. This was modified from the phrase ''Nec plus ultra'', ''Nothing more beyond'' after the ], which laid to rest the idea of the Pillars of Hercules as the westernmost extremity of the inhabitable world which had prevailed since Antiquity.


==Sir Francis Bacon's ''Novum Organum''==
The Pillars appear prominently on the engraved title page of ]'s ''Instauratio Magna'' ("Great Renewal"), 1620, an unfinished work of which the second part was his influential '']''. The motto along the base says ''Multi 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 Pillars appear prominently on the engraved title page of ]'s ''Instauratio Magna'' ("Great Renewal"), 1620, an unfinished work of which the second part was his influential '']''. The motto along the base says ''Multi 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.


===Statue of the pillars of Hercules in Ceuta===
==In architecture==
The Spanish enclave in the extreme north of the African continent, the town of ] is home to a modern-day statue called “The Pillars of Hercules” (Spanish: Columnas de Hércules).]
The statue consists of two huge bronze pillars, which are held apart by Hercules. The statue was made by Ceuta artist ].<ref>Pagan Places. '' {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20230724071250/https://paganplaces.com/places/pillars-of-hercules-at-ceuta/ |date=24 July 2023 }}''. Pagan Places, 2020.</ref>

===In architecture===
On the Spanish coast at ] are ] which are twin towers that were inspired by the ''Pillars of Hercules''. These towers were the tallest in Andalusia until ] was completed in ] in 2015. On the Spanish coast at ] are ] which are twin towers that were inspired by the ''Pillars of Hercules''. These towers were the tallest in Andalusia until ] was completed in ] in 2015.


In the southern wall of the ] ], the mural ''Historical Representation of Culture'', created by the artist ], portrays a depiction of the Pillars of Hercules as an allusion to the ] and the house of ].<ref>http://www.bibliotecacentral.unam.mx/murales07.html</ref> In the southern wall of the ] ], the mural ''Historical Representation of Culture'', created by the artist ], portrays a depiction of the Pillars of Hercules as an allusion to the ] and the house of ].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bibliotecacentral.unam.mx/murales07.html |title=Biblioteca Central |access-date=2019-05-28 |archive-date=2019-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190530222652/http://www.bibliotecacentral.unam.mx/murales07.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>


==In the world== ==Coat of arms==


The Pillars appear as supporters of the ], originating in the ] of Spain's sixteenth century king ], who was also the Holy Roman Emperor as ]. It was an idea of the Italian humanist ].<ref>{{cite book|title=Diálogo delas empresas militares y amorosas, compuesto en lengua italiana|last=Giovio|first=Paolo|date=1658|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WDbIF2wnrUwC&q=marliano}}</ref> It bears the motto '']'', Latin for ''further beyond'', implying that the pillars were a gateway. This was modified from the phrase ''Nec plus ultra'', ''Nothing more beyond'' after the ], which laid to rest the idea of the Pillars of Hercules as the westernmost extremity of the inhabitable world which had prevailed since Antiquity.
<center><gallery>

File:Escudo de España (mazonado).svg|] of ].
<gallery class="center">
File:Escudo_de_Andalucía_(oficial2).svg|] of ].
File:Escudo de Extremadura.svg|] of ]. File:Pillars of Hercules.svg|The columns as depicted in the ].
File:Coat of Arms of Melilla.svg|] of ]. File:Escudo de España (mazonado).svg|].
File:Escudo de Andalucía (oficial2).svg|].
File:Escudo de Extremadura.svg|].
File:Coat of Arms of Melilla.svg|].
File:Seal of San Diego, California.png|Seal of ], ]. File:Seal of San Diego, California.png|Seal of ], ].
File:Coat of arms of Veracruz.svg|Coat of arms of ], ]. File:Coat of arms of Veracruz.svg|Coat of arms of ], ].
Line 57: Line 66:
File:Third Coat of Arms of Potosi.svg|Coat of arms of ], ]. File:Third Coat of Arms of Potosi.svg|Coat of arms of ], ].
File:Escudo de Cádiz (oval).svg|Coat of arms of ]. File:Escudo de Cádiz (oval).svg|Coat of arms of ].
File:Escudo de Tumbes.svg|Coat of arms of ].
</gallery>

== Gallery ==

<gallery class="center">
File:PillarsHerculesPeutingeriana.jpg|Modern conjectural depiction of the lost western section of the ], showing a representation of the Pillars of Hercules (''Columne Ercole'').
File:Columnas Plus Ultra.png|] of ] in ]'s city hall
File:Couly Nouailher - Hercules Carries the Two Columns - Walters 44265.jpg|] depicting Hercules carrying the two columns, by Couly Nouailher, mid-16th century (]).
File:Leone Leoni, The Pillars of Hercules (reverse), 1553, NGA 92018.jpg|alt=<nowiki>The reverse of a bronze medal from 1553 by the sculptor Leone Leoni, 4.2 centimeters 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]</nowiki>|Leone Leoni. ''The Pillars of Hercules'' . Bronze, 1553. 4.2 cm. ], Washington. Gift of Lisa and Leonard Baskin.
</gallery> </gallery>
</center>


==See also== ==See also==
*] *]
*] *]

==Notes==
{{noteslist}}


==References== ==References==
{{commons category|Pillars of Hercules}}
{{reflist}} {{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category inline|Pillars of Hercules}}


{{Hercules media}} {{Hercules media}}
{{Gibraltar topics}} {{Gibraltar topics}}
{{Ceuta}} {{Ceuta}}
{{coord |36|0|N|5|21|W|type:mountain_region:XZ|display=title}} <!-- Straits of Gibraltar -->


{{coord|36|0|N|5|21|W|type:mountain_region:XZ|display=title}}<!-- Straits of Gibraltar -->

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Latest revision as of 01:01, 14 November 2024

Phrase used in antiquity to label the promontories of the Strait of Gibraltar For the Paul Theroux book, see The Pillars of Hercules (book). For the London pub, see Pillars of Hercules, Soho.
The European Pillar of Hercules: the Rock of Gibraltar (foreground), with the North African shore and Jebel Musa in the background.
Jebel Musa, one of the candidates for the North African Pillar of Hercules, as seen from Tarifa, at the other shore of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Jebel Musa and the Rock of Gibraltar seen from the Mediterranean Sea.

The Pillars of Hercules are the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history, with the two most likely candidates being Monte Hacho in Ceuta and Jebel Musa in Morocco. The term was applied in antiquity: Pliny the Elder included the Pillars of Hercules in his Naturalis historia (Book III:3).

History

According to Greek mythology adopted by the Etruscans and Romans, when Hercules had to perform twelve labours, one of them (the tenth) was to fetch the Cattle of Geryon of the far West and bring them to Eurystheus; this marked the westward extent of his travels. A lost passage of Pindar quoted by Strabo 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 by Heracles". Since there has been a one-to-one association between Heracles and Melqart since Herodotus, the "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modern Cádiz) have sometimes been considered to be the true Pillars of Hercules.

Plato placed the legendary island of Atlantis beyond the "Pillars of Hercules". Renaissance tradition says the pillars bore the warning Ne plus ultra (also Non plus ultra, "nothing further beyond"), serving as a warning to sailors and navigators to go no further.

According to some Roman sources, while on his way to the garden of the Hesperides on the island of Erytheia, Hercules had to cross the mountain that was once Atlas. Instead of climbing the great mountain, Hercules used his superhuman strength to smash through it. 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 either Monte Hacho or Jebel 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.

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.

In some versions, Heracles instead built the two to hold the sky away from the earth, liberating Atlas from his damnation.

Phoenician connection

Beyond Gades, several important Mauretanian colonies (in modern-day Morocco) were founded by the Phoenicians as the Phoenician merchant fleet pushed through the Pillars of Hercules and began constructing a series of bases along the Atlantic coast starting with Lixus in the north, then Chellah and finally Mogador.

Near the eastern shore of the island of Gades/Gadeira (modern Cádiz, just beyond the strait) Strabo describes the westernmost temple of Tyrian Heracles, the god with whom Greeks associated the Phoenician and Punic Melqart, by interpretatio graeca. Strabo notes that the two bronze pillars within the temple, each eight cubits 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. The columns of the Melqart temple at Tyre were also of religious significance.

The Pillars in Syriac geography

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 as Ktaba d'ellat koll 'ellan (Cause of All Causes) is unusual in asserting that there were three, not two, columns.

In art

Dante's Inferno

In Inferno XXVI Dante Alighieri mentions Ulysses 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 of Purgatory but encounters a whirlwind from it that sinks his ship and all on it for their daring to approach Purgatory while alive, by their strength and wits alone.

Sir Francis Bacon's Novum Organum

The title page of Sir Francis Bacon's Instauratio Magna, 1620

The Pillars appear prominently on the engraved title page of Sir Francis Bacon's Instauratio Magna ("Great Renewal"), 1620, an unfinished work of which the second part was his influential Novum Organum. The motto along the base says Multi 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.

Statue of the pillars of Hercules in Ceuta

The Spanish enclave in the extreme north of the African continent, the town of Ceuta is home to a modern-day statue called “The Pillars of Hercules” (Spanish: Columnas de Hércules).

The statue of the Pillars of Hercules in Ceuta

The statue consists of two huge bronze pillars, which are held apart by Hercules. The statue was made by Ceuta artist Ginés Serrán-Pagán.

In architecture

On the Spanish coast at Los Barrios are Torres de Hercules which are twin towers that were inspired by the Pillars of Hercules. These towers were the tallest in Andalusia until Cajasol Tower was completed in Seville in 2015.

In the southern wall of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Central Library, the mural Historical Representation of Culture, created by the artist Juan O'Gorman, portrays a depiction of the Pillars of Hercules as an allusion to the colonial past of Mexico and the house of Charles V.

Coat of arms

The Pillars appear as supporters of the coat of arms of Spain, originating in the impresa of Spain's sixteenth century king Charles I, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V. It was an idea of the Italian humanist Luigi Marliano. It bears the motto Plus Ultra, Latin for further beyond, implying that the pillars were a gateway. This was modified from the phrase Nec plus ultra, Nothing more beyond after the discovery 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.

Gallery

See also

Notes

References

  1. Strabo summarizes the dispute in Geographia 3.5.5.
  2. Strabo, 3.5.5; no passage in Pindar has been traced in which the pillars are called "the gates of Gades" (Στήλας, ἃς Πίνδαρος καλεῖ πύλας Γαδειρίδας), but at Nem. 3.20–23 Pindar does speak of "the trackless sea beyond the pillars of Heracles, which that hero and god set up as famous witnesses to the furthest limits of seafaring".
  3. Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-674-36281-9. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  4. Copley, Jon (19 September 2001). "Sea level study reveals Atlantis candidate". New Scientist. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  5. Villaseñor Black, Charlene, ed. (2019). Renaissance Futurities: Science, Art, Invention. Univ of California Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0520296985.
  6. Seneca, Hercules Furens 235ff.; Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1240; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4.
  7. "Close to the Pillars there are two isles, one of which they call Hera's Island; moreover, there are some who call also these isles the Pillars." (Strabo, 3.5.3.); see also H. L. Jones' gloss on this line in the Loeb Classical Library.
  8. Diodorus 4.18.5.
  9. A lost passage of Pindar quoted by Strabo (3.5.5) was the earliest reference in this context: "the pillars which Pindar calls the 'gates of Gades' when he asserts that they are the farthermost limits reached by Heracles"; the passage in Pindar has not been traced.
  10. C. Michael Hogan, Mogador, Megalithic Portal, ed. Andy Burnham, 2007
  11. (Strabo 3.5.2–3
  12. Strabo 3.5.5–6
  13. Adam C. McCollum. (2012). A Syriac Fragment from The Cause of All Causes on the Pillars of Hercules. ISAW Papers, 5. .
  14. Pagan Places. Pillars of Hercules at Ceuta Archived 24 July 2023 at archive.today. Pagan Places, 2020.
  15. "Biblioteca Central". Archived from the original on 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  16. Giovio, Paolo (1658). Diálogo delas empresas militares y amorosas, compuesto en lengua italiana.

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36°0′N 5°21′W / 36.000°N 5.350°W / 36.000; -5.350

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