The Moroccan Pillar of Hercules

The Pillars of Hercules were the traditional landmark defining the beginning of the "Maghreb", or Occidental Africa. When defining the central area he describes in The Cosmographia, Leo speaks of a region extending from the Pillars of Hercules to the Cape Noun (a cape South of Agadir, which long constituted the Portuguese's furthest Southern boundary in their Atlantic expeditions).The narrowest point in the Gibraltar Strait, these pillars were two 800 meter rocks marking each coast: Gibraltar on the Spanish side and Djbel Moussa on the Moroccan side. The Gibraltar Pillar owes its name to General Tarek, the man who led the conquest of Spain in the 8th century: Mountain of Tarek, "Djbel Tarek", "Gibraltar".

The Moroccan coast is said to be the location for many of Hercules' 12 labors, and more generally of many an antique legend. Some say the mythical city of Atlantis lies at the bottom of the Strait, other claim the Atlas mountains were no other than Atlas himself, giant who carried the weight of the world.

A few miles down the coast, South of Tangier,one can visit the "Caves of Hercules"- a set of natural excavations, nested in the Atlantic coast. Hercules is said to have slept there, the night before his eleventh labor: "the golden apple" to be found in the Garden of the Hesperides. This garden is believed to be in Lixus, a Roman city near Larache. Hercules did not hunt for the "golden apple" himself, but sent Atlas to do so, while he held the globe for him. The real trick was of course to convince Atlas to take the globe back, after he came back with the Apple! It isn't hard to imagine Moroccan oranges having been mistaken for Golden Apples!

These caves are also said to be the dwelling of cyclops, one of Ulysses' many enemies.

Today, Hercules and other myths are well exploited by the Moroccan tourist industry.

Gibraltar- the Spanish pillar

Hercules' Golden Apples