Columnae Herculis
"Pillars of Hercules." The two peaked rocks that flank the eastern entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar. Graeco-Roman legend has it that Heracles created the strait by separating the two rocks on his way to the island of Erytheia, hence they were called the Pillars of Hercules.
❧
References
Sources
- Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
- Bartelink, Dr. G.J.M. (1988). Prisma van de mythologie. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
- Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia iii, 4.
- Seneca. Hercules Furens, 235 ff.; Hercules Oetaeus, 1240.