A doctoral student at the University of Seville may have finally discovered the location of the historic temple of Hercules Gaditano, a pilgrimage center built in the region of the Iberian Peninsula around the 8th century BC. The place was known to the Phoenicians as Melqart and years later received visits of the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar.
The discovery was reported in December by the Spanish newspaper El PaÃs.
According to Ricardo Belizón and his advisor Antonio Sáez Romero, from the institution’s Department of Prehistory and Archeology, traces that may be from the temple were found in the sea, between the Camposoto region (in the municipality of San Fernando, in southern Spain ) and the island of Sancti Petri, about 100 kilometers from Gibraltar.
The exact location would be between the castle of Sancti Petri and a strip of sand known as Ponta de Boquerón.
Prior to this discovery, other studies already pointed to the region as the likely location of the sacred space —archaeological discoveries have been made at the site for more than two centuries. This time, however, the evidence is stronger.
Initially, Belizón’s research aimed to investigate the coastal landscape of the Bay of Cádiz, in the region of Andalusia, where San Fernando and Sancti Petri are also located. The work, however, took on another direction after he found that the region was heavily anthropized (ie, where there was a conversion of natural environments by human action).
Among the distinct features of what was previously believed about the bay’s past were found a large building, breakwaters, moorings and a port.
“Researchers are very reluctant about the ‘spectacular archeology,’ fed by the media, but in this case we are faced with spectacular discoveries,” Francisco José GarcÃa, director of the Department of Prehistory and Archeology at the University of Seville told El PaÃs , in the presentation of the work.
The temple was considered the treasure of Gadir, the most important Phoenician city in the Iberian Peninsula, and one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. Several millenary works, ranging from 1 BC to 5 AD, address the history of the sacred space and claim that the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar wept when he came across a statue of Alexander the Great at the site.
Over the years, however, none of the sanctuary has survived, and its location has become uncertain. It is believed to have been modified by the various civilizations that dominated the region, until it was completely swallowed up by the sea.
The structure found in the ocean by archaeologists is rectangular and measures 300 meters by 150 meters, similar to the temple, according to historical accounts.
As highlighted by El PaÃs, the complex still had a façade, in which the 12 works of Hercules were narrated according to Greek mythology. Furthermore, it is believed that the temple housed a flame that never went out.
The site was still accessible to Phoenician, Punic and Roman ships and housed several supposed relics from the ancient world.
Despite the results of Belizón’s research, it is still not possible to confirm that the site is actually the exact spot where the temple functioned for centuries. Scholars will need to analyze many other remnants in an area of ​​difficult access and poor visibility.
The next steps will be the preparation of archaeological surveys (terrestrial and underwater) and documentary studies, in addition to other more technical procedures. At the end of the work, the archaeologists intend to reconstruct the history of the area and point out the chronology, typology and uses of each of the detected structures.
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