Pillars of Hercules

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For the Paul Theroux book, see The Pillars of Hercules (book). For the pub in London, see Pillars of Hercules (pub).
The European Pillar of Hercules: the Rock of Gibraltar (foreground), with the North African shore in the background.


Jebel Musa, the North African Pillar of Hercules, as seen from Tarifa, at the other shore of the Strait of Gibraltar.


Modern conjectural depiction of the lost western section of the Tabula Peutingeriana, showing a representation of the Pillars of Hercules (Columne Ercole).

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."[2] There is one to one association between Herakles and Melqart since Herodotus, thus "Pillars of Melqart" in the temple near Gades/Gádeira (modern Cádiz) were widely proclaimed to be the true Pillars of Hercules.[3]

Before the 6th Century BCE several mountains in the edges of mainland Greece were seen as pillars that supported the sky. Amongst others, the two southward pointing headlands on each side of the Gulf of Laconia were "pillars of Hercules".[4] Support for this Peloponnesian location for the pillars comes from Medinet Habu in Egypt, dating to 1,200 BCE, which describes the Sea Peoples invading from the islands of the north "from the pillars of heaven", by which the Egyptians meant the ends of the earth as they knew it.[5] Earlier in the Aegean region there was, during Minoan and Mycenaean times a "pillar cult" in the region, that may relate to the pillars of Hercules. Crete, in Egypt was called "Keftiu" which has been etymologically related to the Greek word "Kapita" meaning "pillar" (hence the Capital of a pillar). Hercules, Ἡρακλῆς, Hēraklēs, from Hēra, "Hera", and kleos, "glory", was brought to Hera after his birth, and Hera did not recognize Heracles and nursed him out of pity. Heracles suckled so strongly that he caused Hera pain, and she pushed him away. Her milk sprayed across the heavens and there formed the Milky Way. But with divine milk, Heracles had acquired supernatural powers. Hera as a Snake Goddess sent two giant snakes just after the birth of Hercules to kill the child, but the child easily killed the snakes. Later Hercules was sent to Crete in the 7th Labour to capture the Bull of Knosses. Rodney Castledon writes of the pallace of Knossos, "There are two pillar crypts in the West Wing covered with double axe carvings. The double axe symbolises the Goddess, which implies that the carvings confirm the dedication of the west wing, at least, to the worship of the goddess. The temple´s overall plan revolves around the large rectangle of the central bull court... The East face of the square pillar, the face as you see as you enter the crypt, coincides with the Snake Goddess´s sanctuary".[6]

According to Plato's account, the lost realm of Atlantis 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 Nec 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,[7] 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.[8] Diodorus Siculus,[9] 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.

Pillars as portals[edit]

The Pillars appear as supporters of the coat of arms of Spain, originating from the famous impresa of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, who was King of Spain in the years following the discovery of the Americas. It bears the motto Plus Ultra (Latin for further beyond), encouraging him to ignore the ancient warning, to take risks and go further beyond. It 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 well as indicating Spain's overseas possessions.[citation needed]

One of the commonly held theories about the origin of the dollar sign derives it from the above personal device, which appeared on the Spanish dollar from which the American one was derived. Thus, the two vertical lines on the dollar sign ultimately represent the Pillars of Hercules.[citation needed]

Coat of arms of Cádiz.

Phoenician connection[edit]


Near the eastern shore of the island of Gades/Gadeira (modern Cádiz, just beyond the strait) Strabo describes[11] the westernmost temple of Tyrian Heracles, the god with whom Greeks associated the Phoenician and Punic Melqart, by interpretatio graeca. Strabo notes[12] 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.

Limoges enamel depicting Hercules carrying the two columns, by Couly Nouailher, mid-16th century (Walters Art Museum).

The Pillars in Syriac geography[edit]

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. "The Cause of all Causes", is unusual in asserting that there were three, not two, columns[13]

Dante's Inferno[edit]

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.

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

Sir Francis Bacon's Novum Organum[edit]

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").

In architecture[edit]

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 are the tallest buildings in Andalucía.[14]


  1. ^ Strabo summarizes the dispute in Geographia 3.5.5.
  2. ^ Strabo, 3.5.5; the passage in Pindar has not been traced.
  3. ^ Walter Burkert (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-674-36281-9. Retrieved 2 November 2012. 
  4. ^ Davis, J.L. and Cherry, J.F., (1990) "Spacial and temporal uniformitarianism in LCI: Perspectives from Kea and Melos on the prehistory of Akrotiri" in Hardy, D.A and Renfrew, A.C. (Eds)(1990) "Thera and the Aegean World III, Proceedings of the Third International Conference, Santorini, Greece, 3–9 September 1989" (Thera Foundation)
  6. ^ Castledon, op cit, p.145
  7. ^ Seneca, Hercules Furens 235ff.; Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1240; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4.
  8. ^ "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.
  9. ^ Diodorus 4.18.5.
  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. ^ ‘Torres de Hercules’ in Cadiz / Spain by Rafael de la Hoz Architects (ES), Nora Schmidt, Daily Tonic, accessed 8 January 2012

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