Laser scanning a site along the coast of the Bay of Cadiz may have located this historical site.
Archaeologists Identify Possible Location of Lost Temple of HerculesAncient accounts suggest that Roman leaders Julius Caesar, Hannibal [a Roman leader?] and Scipio Africanus worshipped at the Temple of Hercules Gaditanus, a religious sanctuary in what is now southern Spain. But the pilgrimage site’s exact location has long remained a mystery.
Now, researchers say they’ve discovered the ruins of that fabled temple—one of the “holy grails of archaeology,” according to Jesús A. Cañas of El País—in a shallow channel in the Bay of Cádiz. Using digital terrain modeling, the team detected a nearly 1,000-foot-long, 500-foot-wide structure that is only visible at low tide.Built by the Phoenicians around the eighth or ninth century B.C.E., the sanctuary reportedly featured enormous bronze carvings of the 12 labors of Hercules. Also known as the Temple of Melqart, it boasted grand columns and an eternal flame maintained by a priest. The house of worship was an important pilgrimage site for ancient Greeks and Romans.
In Greek mythology, Hercules was the son of Zeus, the ruler of all the gods on Mount Olympus. He was a demigod of superhuman strength who protected his people from a succession of monsters and villains.
According to El País, the Temple of Hercules Gaditanus appears in classical literature as the place where Julius Caesar wept when he saw a depiction of Alexander the Great and Hannibal offered tribute for victory in his military campaigns on the Italian Peninsula.