περὶ δὲ τῆς κτίσεως τῶν Γαδείρων τοιαῦτα λέγοντες μέμνηνται Γαδιτανοὶ χρησμοῦ τινος, ὃν γενέσθαι φασὶ Τυρίοις κελεύοντα ἐπὶ τὰς Ἡρακλέους στήλας ἀποικίαν πέμψαι· τοὺς δὲ πεμφθέντας κατασκοπῆς χάριν, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν πορθμὸν ἐγένοντο τὸν κατὰ τὴν Κάλπην, νομίσαντας τέρμονας εἶναι τῆς οἰκουμένης καὶ τῆς Ἡρακλέους στρατείας τὰ ἄκρα ποιοῦντα τὸν πορθμόν, ταῦτα δʼ αὐτὰ καὶ στήλας ὀνομάζειν τὸ λόγιον, κατασχεῖν εἴς τι χωρίον ἐντὸς τῶν στενῶν, ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἔστιν ἡ τῶν Ἐξιτανῶν πόλις· ἐνταῦθα δὲ θύσαντας μὴ γενομένων καλῶν τῶν ἱερείων ἀνακάμψαι πάλιν. χρόνῳ δʼ ὕστερον τοὺς πεμφθέντας προελθεῖν ἔξω τοῦ πορθμοῦ περὶ χιλίους καὶ πεντακοσίους σταδίους εἰς νῆσον Ἡρακλέους ἱερὰν κειμένην κατὰ πόλιν Ὀνόβαν τῆς Ἰβηρίας, καὶ νομίσαντας ἐνταῦθα εἶναι τὰς στήλας θῦσαι τῷ θεῷ, μὴ γενομένων δὲ πάλιν καλῶν τῶν ἱερείων ἐπανελθεῖν οἴκαδε. τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ στόλῳ τοὺς ἀφικομένους Γάδειρα κτίσαι καὶ ἱδρύσασθαι τὸ ἱερὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἑῴοις τῆς νήσου, τὴν δὲ πόλιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἑσπερίοις. διὰ δὲ τοῦτο τοὺς μὲν δοκεῖν τὰ ἄκρα τοῦ πορθμοῦ τὰς στήλας εἶναι, τοὺς δὲ τὰ Γάδειρα, τοὺς δʼ ἔτι πορρώτερον τῶν Γαδείρων ἔξω προκεῖσθαι. ἔνιοι δὲ στήλας ὑπέλαβον τὴν Κάλπην καὶ τὴν Ἀβίλυκα, τὸ ἀντικείμενον ὄρος ἐκ τῆς Λιβύης, ὅ φησιν Ἐρατοσθένης ἐν τῷ Μεταγωνίῳ νομαδικῷ ἔθνει ἱδρῦσθαι· οἱ δὲ τὰς πλησίον ἑκατέρου νησῖδας, ὧν τὴν ἑτέραν Ἥρας νῆσον ὀνομάζουσιν. Ἀρτεμίδωρος δὲ τὴν μὲν τῆς Ἥρας νῆσον καὶ ἱερὸν λέγει αὐτῆς, ἄλλην δέ φησιν εἶναί τινα, οὐδʼ Ἀβίλυκα ὄρος οὐδὲ Μεταγώνιον ἔθνος. καὶ τὰς Πλαγκτὰς καὶ τὰς Συμπληγάδας ἐνθάδε μεταφέρουσί τινες, ταύτας εἶναι νομίζοντες στήλας, ἃς Πίνδαρος καλεῖ πύλας Γαδειρίδας, εἰς ταύτας ὑστάτας ἀφῖχθαι φάσκων τὸν Ἡρακλέα. καὶ Δικαίαρχος δὲ καὶ Ἐρατοσθένης καὶ Πολύβιος καὶ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων περὶ τὸν πορθμὸν ἀποφαίνουσι τὰς στήλας. οἱ δὲ Ἴβηρες καὶ Λίβυες ἐν Γαδείροις εἶναι φασίν· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐοικέναι στήλαις τὰ περὶ τὸν πορθμόν. οἱ δὲ τὰς ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλείῳ τῷ ἐν Γαδείροις χαλκᾶς ὀκταπήχεις, ἐν αἷς ἀναγέγραπται τὸ ἀνάλωμα τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ ἱεροῦ, ταύτας λέγεσθαί φασιν· ἐφʼ ἃς ἐρχόμενοι οἱ τελέσαντες τὸν πλοῦν καὶ θύοντες τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ διαβοηθῆναι παρεσκεύασαν, ὡς τοῦτʼ εἶναι καὶ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης τὸ πέρας. τοῦτον δʼ εἶναι πιθανώτατον καὶ Ποσειδώνιος ἡγεῖται τὸν λόγον, τὸν δὲ χρησμὸν καὶ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀποστόλους ψεῦσμα Φοινικικόν. περὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἀποστόλων τί ἄν τις διισχυρίσαιτο πρὸς ἔλεγχον ἢ πίστιν, οὐδετέρως παράλογον ; τὸ δὲ τὰς νησῖδας ἢ τὰ ὄρη μὴ φάσκειν ἐοικέναι στήλαις, ἀλλὰ ζητεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν κυρίως λεγομένων στηλῶν τοὺς τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅρους ἢ τῆς στρατείας τῆς Ἡρακλέους ἔχει μέν τινα νοῦν· ἔθος γὰρ παλαιὸν ὑπῆρχε τὸ τίθεσθαι τοιούτους ὅρους, καθάπερ οἱ Ῥηγῖνοι τὴν στυλίδα ἔθεσαν τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πορθμῷ κειμένην, πυργίον τι, καὶ ὁ τοῦ Πελώρου λεγόμενος πύργος ἀντίκειται ταύτῃ τῇ στυλίδι· καὶ οἱ Φιλαίνων λεγόμενοι βωμοὶ κατὰ μέσην που τὴν μεταξὺ τῶν σύρτεων γῆν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ἰσθμῷ τῷ Κορινθιακῷ μνημονεύεται στήλη τις ἱδρυμένη πρότερον, ἣν ἔστησαν κοινῇ οἱ τὴν Ἀττικὴν σὺν τῇ Μεγαρίδι κατασχόντες Ἴωνες ἐξελαθέντες ἐκ τῆς Πελοποννήσου καὶ οἱ κατασχόντες τὴν Πελοπόννησον, ἐπιγράψαντες ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ πρὸς τῇ Μεγαρίδι μέρους τάδʼ οὐχὶ Πελοπόννησος ἀλλʼ Ἰωνία, ἐκ δὲ θατέρου τάδʼ ἐστὶ Πελοπόννησος οὐκ Ἰωνία. Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ τῆς Ἰνδικῆς στρατείας ὅρια βωμοὺς ἔθετο ἐν τοῖς τόποις εἰς οὓς ὑστάτους ἀφίκετο τῶν πρὸς ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς Ἰνδῶν, μιμούμενος τὸν Ἡρακλέα καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον. ἦν μὲν δὴ τὸ ἔθος τοῦτο.
Concerning the foundation of Gades, the Gaditanians report that a certain oracle commanded the Tyrians to found a colony by the Pillars of Hercules. Those who were sent out for the purpose of exploring, when they had arrived at the strait by Calpe, imagined that the capes which form the strait were the boundaries of the habitable earth, as well as of the expedition of Hercules, and consequently they were what the oracle termed the Pillars. They landed on the inside of the straits, at a place where the city of the Exitani now stands. Here they offered sacrifices, which however not being favourable, they returned. After a time others were sent, who advanced about 1500 stadia beyond the strait, to an island consecrated to Hercules, and lying opposite to Onoba, a city of Iberia: considering that here were the Pillars, they sacrificed to the god, but the sacrifices being again unfavourable, they returned home. In the third voyage they reached Gades, and founded the temple in the eastern part of the island, and the city in the west. On this account some consider that the capes in the strait are the Pillars, others suppose Gades, while others again believe that they lie still farther, beyond Gades. There are also some who think that the Pillars are Calpe, and the mountain of Libya which is opposite, named Abilyx, and situated, according to Eratosthenes, amongst the Metagonians, a wandering race. Others fancy that they are two small islands near to the former, one of which is named the Island of Juno. Artemidorus speaks both of the Island of Juno and the temple there, but makes no mention either of mount Abilyx, or the nation of the Metagonians. Some have transported hither the Planctae and the Symplgades, supposing them to be the Pillars, which Pindar calls the Gates of Gades, when he says that they were the farthest limits at which Hercules arrived. Dicaearchus, Eratosthenes, and Polybius, with most of the Grecians, represent the Pillars as being close to the strait, while the Iberians and Libyans place them at Gades, alleging that there is nothing at all resembling pillars close by the strait. Others pretend that they are the pillars of brass eight cubits high in the temple of Hercules at Gades, on which is inscribed the cost of erecting that edifice; and that the sailors coming there on the completion of their voyage and sacrificing to Hercules, rendered the place so famous that it came to be regarded as the termination of the land and sea. Posidonius thinks this view the most probable of all, and looks upon the oracle and the several expeditions as a Phoenician invention. As for the expeditions, what matters it whether any one should vehemently deny or credit the account, as neither the one nor the other would be inconsistent with reason: but the assertion that neither the little islands, nor yet the mountains, bear much resemblance to pillars, and that we should seek for pillars, strictly so called, [set up] either as the termination of the habitable earth, or of the expedition of Hercules, has at all events some reason in it; it being an ancient usage to set up such boundary marks. As for instance the small column which the inhabitants of Rhegium erected by the Strait of Sicily, which is indeed a little tower; and the tower called after Pelorus, which is situated opposite to this small column; also the structures called altars of the Philaeni, about midway in the land between the Syrtes; likewise it is recorded, that a certain pillar was formerly erected on the Isthmus of Corinth, which the Ionians who took possession of Attica and Megaris when they were driven out of the Peloponnesus, and those who settled in the Peloponnesus, set up in common, and inscribed on the side next Megaris, This is no longer Peloponnesus, but Ionia, / and on the opposite, This is Peloponnesus, not Ionia. / Alexander too erected altars as boundaries of his Indian campaign in those parts of the Indies he arrived at, which were situated farthest towards the east, in imitation of Hercules and Bacchus. That this custom existed, then, cannot be doubted.
Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς τόπους εἰκός ἐστι μεταλαμβάνειν τὴν αὐτὴν προσηγορίαν, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπειδὰν ὁ χρόνος διαφθείρῃ τοὺς τεθέντας ὅρους. οὐ γὰρ νῦν οἱ Φιλαίνων βωμοὶ μένουσιν, ἀλλʼ ὁ τόπος μετείληφε τὴν προσηγορίαν. οὐδὲ ἐν τῇ Ἰνδικῇ στήλας φασὶν ὁραθῆναι κειμένας οὔθʼ Ἡρακλέους οὔτε Διονύσου· καὶ λεγομένων μέντοι καὶ δεικνυμένων τόπων τινῶν οἱ Μακεδόνες ἐπίστευον τούτους εἶναι στήλας, ἐν οἷς τι σημεῖον εὕρισκον ἢ τῶν περὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ἱστορουμένων ἢ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἡρακλέα. κἀνταῦθα δὴ τοὺς μὲν πρώτους οὐκ ἂν ἀπιστήσαι τις ὅροις χρήσασθαι χειροκμήτοις τισὶ βωμοῖς ἢ πύργοις ἢ στυλίσιν ἐπὶ τῶν τόπων, εἰς οὓς ὑστάτους ἧκον τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους (ἐπιφανέστατοι δὲ οἱ πορθμοὶ καὶ τὰ ἐπικείμενα ὄρη καὶ αἱ νησῖδες πρὸς τὸ ἀποδηλοῦν ἐσχατιάς τε καὶ ἀρχὰς τόπων), ἐκλιπόντων δὲ τῶν χειροκμήτων ὑπομνημάτων μετενεχθῆναι τοὔνομα εἰς τοὺς τόπους, εἴτε τὰς νησῖδας τις βούλεται λέγειν εἴτε τὰς ἄκρας τὰς ποιούσας τὸν πορθμόν. τοῦτο γὰρ ἤδη διορίσασθαι χαλεπὸν ποτέροις χρὴ προσάψαι τὴν ἐπίκλησιν, διὰ τὸ ἀμφοτέροις ἐοικέναι τὰς στήλας. λέγω δὲ ἐοικέναι, διότι ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἵδρυνται τόποις, οἳ σαφῶς τὰς ἐσχατιὰς ὑπαγορεύουσι, καθʼ ὃ καὶ στόμα εἴρηται ὁ πορθμὸς καὶ οὗτος καὶ ἄλλοι πλείους· τὸ δὲ στόμα πρὸς μὲν εἴσπλουν ἀρχή ἐστι, πρὸς δὲ ἔκπλουν ἔσχατον. τὰ οὖν ἐπὶ τῷ στόματι νησίδια ἔχοντα τὸ εὐπερίγραφόν τε καὶ σημειῶδες οὐ φαύλως στήλαις ἀπεικάζοι τις ἄν· ὡς δʼ αὕτως καὶ τὰ ὄρη τὰ ἐπικείμενα τῷ πορθμῷ καὶ ἐξοχήν τινα τοιαύτην ἐμφαίνοντα οἵαν αἱ στυλίδες ἢ αἱ στῆλαι. καὶ ὁ Πίνδαρος οὕτως ἂν ὀρθῶς λέγοι πύλας Γαδειρίδας, εἰ ἐπὶ τοῦ στόματος νοοῖντο αἱ στῆλαι· πύλαις γὰρ ἔοικε τὰ στόματα. τὰ δὲ Γάδειρα οὐκ ἐν τοιούτοις ἵδρυται τόποις ὥστε ἀποδηλοῦν ἐσχατιάν, ἀλλʼ ἐν μέσῃ πως κεῖται μεγάλῃ παραλίᾳ κολπώδει. τὸ δὲ ἐπʼ αὐτὰς ἀναφέρειν τὰς ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλείῳ στήλας τῷ ἐνθάδε ἧττον εὔλογον, ὡς ἐμοὶ φαίνεται· οὐ γὰρ ἐμπόρων ἀλλʼ ἡγεμόνων μᾶλλον ἀρξάντων τοῦ ὀνόματος τούτου, κρατῆσαι πιθανὸν τὴν δόξαν, καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἰνδικῶν στηλῶν. ἄλλως τε καὶ ἡ ἐπιγραφὴ ἥν φασιν, οὐκ ἀφίδρυμα ἱερὸν δηλοῦσα ἀλλὰ ἀναλώματος κεφάλαιον, ἀντιμαρτυρεῖ τῷ λόγῳ· τὰς γὰρ Ἡρακλείους στήλας μνημεῖα εἶναι δεῖ τῆς ἐκείνου μεγαλουργίας, οὐ τῆς Φοινίκων δαπάνης.
It is probable that the places themselves took the same name [as the monuments], especially after time had destroyed the boundary marks which had been placed there. For instance, at the present day the altars of the Philaeni no longer exist, but the place itself bears that designation. Similarly they say that in India neither the pillars of Hercules or Bacchus are to be seen, nevertheless certain localities being described and pointed out to the Macedonians, they believed that those places were the pillars in which they discovered any trace either of the adventures of Bacchus or Hercules. In the instance before us, it is not improbable that they who first [visited these regions], set up boundary marks fashioned by the hand of man, such as altars, towers, and pillars, in the most remarkable situations, to indicate the farthest distance they had reached, (and straits, the surrounding mountains, and little islands, are indubitably the most remarkable situations for pointing out the termination or commencement of places,) and that after these human monuments had decayed, their names descended to the places [where they had stood]; whether that were the little islands or the capes forming the strait. This latter point it would not be easy now to determine; the name would suit either place, as they both bear some resemblance to pillars; I say bear some resemblance, because they are placed in such situations as might well indicate boundaries. Now this strait is styled a mouth, as well as many others, but the mouth is at the beginning to those sailing into the strait, and to those who are quitting it at the end. The little islands at the mouth having a contour easy to describe, and being remarkable, one might not improperly compare to pillars. In like manner the mountains overlooking the strait are prominent, resembling columns or pillars. So too Pindar might very justly have said, The Gaditanian Gates, if he had in mind the pillars at the mouth; for these mouths are very similar to gates. On the other hand, Gades is not in a position to indicate an extremity, but is situated about the middle of a long coast forming a kind of gulf. The supposition that the pillars of the temple of Hercules in Gades are intended, appears to me still less probable. It seems most likely that the name was originally conferred not by merchants, but generals, its celebrity afterwards became universal, as was the case with the Indian pillars. Besides, the inscription recorded refutes this idea, since it contains no religious dedication, but a mere list of expenses; whereas the pillars of Hercules should have been a record of the hero’s wonderful deeds, not of Phoenician expenditure.
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