Pillars of Hercules
Gibraltar and neighbor
The Pillars of Hercules are the two promontories flanking the Strait of Gibraltar—the Rock of Gibraltar on the European side and a peak in Morocco on the African side.
In ancient mythology, Hercules set them as markers at the western edge of the known world.
The phrase sometimes appears figuratively for a gateway or boundary: We had reached the Pillars of Hercules of our endurance.
- columnsUpright structural shafts
- gatewayPoint of access
- mythicalOf folklore, not fact
- AtlasSky-bearing Titan of myth
- fabledCelebrated in folklore
legendary · monoliths · unknown · sea monsters · Strait of Gibraltar · boundaries · Argonauts · Greek mythology · choke point · edge · end of the world · known world · ancient world · Age of Exploration · rocks · mountains · threshold · Rock of Gibraltar
- Ancient GeographyMediterranean, Aegean Sea, Adriatic Sea, Black Sea, Nile
- Atlantislost city, lost continent, sunken city, Plato, Poseidon
- ancient worldancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, pyramids, pyramid
- ancient GreeceAthens, Sparta, Zeus, Parthenon, Acropolis
- PhoeniciaTyre, Phoenicians, Carthage, Tyrian purple, cedar wood
Pillars of HerculesHellespont
Narrow strait, classical name
Bosphorus · Dardanelles · Alexandria · Rome · Athens
pillar, pillars, Herculean, Hercules, Heracles, peristyle, Herculaneum