What Hercules had to do so far away from home?

ANCIENT GREECE - INTRODUCING HERCULES AND HIS LABORS

CONNECTIONS TO CÁDIZ’S MYTHICAL PAST

Rota, Spain

2025, January 9-10

It’s (not) all Greek to me!

Some historical tips…�The Phoenicians and Greeks were two of the most influential civilizations�in the ancient Mediterranean,�shaping the region’s trade, culture and colonization patterns.

• Phoenicians in the Mediterranean
• Originated from the Levant (modern-day Lebanon)
• Renowned for their seafaring and trading skills.
• Colonies throughout the Mediterranean (North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and southern Spain )to facilitate trade. Carthage (in modern Tunisia) became their most famous and powerful settlement.
• Developed an alphabetic script that greatly influenced the Greek alphabet and, later, modern alphabets.
• Skilled artisans, trading goods like purple dye (Tyrian purple), glass, and metalwork.
• Cádiz, one of the oldest cities in Europe, was founded by the Phoenicians around 1100 BCE.

​

• Greeks in the Mediterranean
• Starting in the 8th century BCE, the Greeks embarked on their own colonization efforts, establishing settlements across the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
• Greek colonies acted as extensions of the homeland, spreading Greek culture, language, and political ideas.
• Linking the Mediterranean world from edge to edge, Greeks promoted the exchange of goods like wine, olive oil, and pottery, bringing silver, tin, and salt back home.
• Greek art, philosophy, and governance (like democracy in Athens) it is regarded to shape Western civilization.
• Their mythology and religion influenced neighboring cultures.

​

​

Cádiz

Qādis' (قادس')

Gades

Gadir (גדר fortress)

Γάδειρα

Phoenicians founded Cádiz c.1100 B.C.

Hercules founded Cádiz c.1400 B.C.

As master seafarers and traders, we spotted another interesting site and founded a new port, assumed to be the Tartessian Astaroth!

Spain divided: Phoenicians at the west, Greeks at the east…

Interactions between Phoenicians and Greeks

1. Competition and Cooperation:

• particularly in areas like Sicily and southern Italy.
• Despite The Phoenicians and Greeks often competed for control of trade routes and access to resources, competition, they also

engaged in trade, exchanging goods, ideas, and technology.

2. Influence on Each Other:

• The Phoenicians introduced their alphabet to the Greeks, who adapted and expanded it into their writing system.
• Greek pottery and artistic styles influenced Phoenician art, and vice versa.

3. Shared Impact on the Mediterranean

• Both civilizations were influential in making the Mediterranean a connected economic and cultural space.
• Their colonies served as bridges between East and West, facilitating the flow of goods, ideas, and people.
• The combination of Phoenician trade networks and Greek cultural influence laid the groundwork for the Roman Empire's dominance of the Mediterranean.

Heracles (Greek) - Melqart (Phoenician)�Two parallels met in Cádiz some 3000 years ago!

Key words:

strength, protection and the spirit of exploration

Shared Mediterranean Trade:

Both Cádiz and Greek city-states succeeded in maritime trade,

exchanging goods like olive oil, wine, and ceramics.

​

Mythological Connections:

Cádiz's location was linked to Greek myths, such as the Garden of the Hesperides and the Pillars of Hercules, representing the western boundary of the known world.

​

Gods and heroes travelling with the traders…

Mythical hero Hercules was son of Zeus and a common woman, Alcmene. Zeus’s wife, Hera, suffering from jealousy, was chasing him in all his mortal life. He was strong, famous and happy when she drove him crazy. Hercules murdered his wife and children…

In order to purify himself, he received an oracle from Delphi , according to which he had to serve Eurystheus, king of Tiryns, for twelve years and perform the labours he commanded, one more difficult than the other.

In his 10^th labor, Eurystheus commanded him to bring him the oxen of Geryon, guarded by Orthros, a terrible two-headed dog. Geryonis was a giant with three bodies and three heads who lived in an island on the western edge of the Ocean. After many difficulties and after fighting with the waves to reach the island, he killed Geryon and his dog Orthros.

This happened here!

A fascinating example of syncretism, where the myths and deities of different cultures were blended as they interacted.�

• 1. Shared Characteristics
• Heroic Strength and Protection: Both Heracles (Greek) and Melqart (Phoenician) were revered as symbols of strength and protectors of their people. Heracles was celebrated for his Twelve Labors, which demonstrated his superhuman might, while Melqart was worshipped as a god of kingship, city protection, and maritime ventures.
• Association with Fire and Renewal: Melqart was often linked to the cycle of life, death, and renewal, symbolized by his connection to the eternal flame in his temples. According to legend, this temple housed an eternal flame and contained the remains of Hercules himself.

Similarly, Heracles’ death and apotheosis (becoming immortal) echoed themes of renewal and divine existence.

• 2. Cultural Exchange
• Phoenician Influence on Greek Mythology: The Phoenicians, great traders and seafarers, spread the worship of Melqart throughout the Mediterranean. When they established colonies in places like Gadir (modern Cádiz), Greek settlers and travelers met Melqart and began linking him with their own hero Heracles, whose qualities were similar.
• Greek Adoption of Phoenician Elements: The Greeks likely adapted Melqart’s legends into the Heracles myths. For example, Melqart’s role as a divine protector of cities and travelers aligns with Heracles’ role as a protector and his association with founding cities and establishing trade routes.

​

• 3. The Pillars of Hercules/Melqart
• Both Heracles and Melqart are associated with the Strait of Gibraltar, marking the boundary of the known world.
• In Greek mythology, the "Pillars of Hercules" were established by Heracles as a monument to his journey during the Tenth Labor (the cattle of Geryon).
• This mirrors Melqart’s widespread respect in Phoenician colonies along the western Mediterranean, including Cádiz.

​

• 4. Temple Syncretism
• The Temple of Melqart in Gadir (Cádiz) was one of the most famous religious sites of the ancient Mediterranean.
• As Greek and Roman travelers came across it, they identified Melqart with Heracles and referred to the temple as the Temple of Hercules Gaditanus.
• This identification strengthened the blending of their myths and secured Melqart’s place within Greco-Roman culture.
• The legend of Hercules founding Cádiz and setting the boundary of the known world by creating the "Pillars of Hercules” reflects Cádiz's importance as a religious and cultural crossroads in the ancient world.

…blending the myths of different civilizations into a shared Mediterranean heritage.

Hercules with the sun's cup crosses the ocean to Erythia, in Cádiz’s gulf

• 5. Maritime Connections
• Both figures were linked to maritime exploration. Melqart was considered a protector of sailors, while Heracles’ myths often placed him at the edges of the known world, symbolizing exploration and adventure.

​

A legend about Mediterranean unity and the interaction of peoples.

Hercules didn’t stop at Gibraltar!�One more labor, one more legend!

About these beautiful Nymphes, Hesperides, Atlas's daughters, who lived in a gorgeus garden…

…guarded by Ladon, a terrible dragon…

…whom Hercules fought to death…

…while in others, Atlas, brought them to Hercules who cheated on him. Atlas was punished by the gods, forever to hold earth on his back after being defeated in the Titan-Gods war and here’s what Hercules did to him!

In some versions,

Hercules took the apples himself, going around the garden…

…in order to steal three golden apples from the many Hesperides were taking care of in their garden!

Finally, one of the apples was to cause a 10-year-war at Helen’s hands who followed Paris in Troy…

Is it about harmony and cosmic order, an ideal place where Greeks thought it was the end of the known world?

Are the apples…citrons?

Is this a legend about cultivation of oranges and lemons and citrons that Phoenician traders import to West having taken them from the East?

Do they symbolize immortality and divine knowledge?

Does the myth speak about desire and temptation?

Are Hesperides and their garden related to the Christian Paradise and the apple of knowledge?

Are the apples a positive sign of chasing one’s goals till the end of the world?

Is it about taking risks?

Are we ready to face the extraordinary?

Is there anything really extraordinary?

Or is it –in fact- an antiwar myth to prevent people from disaster and sadness?

Is earth still standing on Alta’s back?

Myth, History or Philosophy?

Anyway, it all happened around here…

Gracias!

Theodora Betsou, 4^th Junior High School

of Petroupoli, Athens

…by the people of the Mediterranean Sea, then and as times go by…