PART
3 – Ch.XVI.6
(‘ERAKLEOS STELAI - The
Columns of Hercules)
XVI. 6. The islands called Gadeira (Gadira) near the Columns of
Hercules.
Close to the Columns of Hercules, the ancient geographers
also mentioned two islands named Gadeira, Gadira (Scylax,
Periplus, 1. 111), both situated inside the strait (Dionysus, Orbis Descriptio, v. 450).
One of these islands was considered as the extreme terminus
point of navigation on the old Oceanos, beyond which the commercial vessels
could not pass (Pindar, Nem. IV. 69;
Pliny, V. 17. 2; Eustathius, Commentarii in Dionysium,
v.451).
From the information which Herodotus had got from the Greeks of Scythia, this extreme island
called Gadira was situated in the
big river called Oceanos, beyond the Columns of Hercules, close to Erythia
island (lib. IV. c. 8); or in other words, the island Gadira was known also to
the
From the point of view of the actual geography, the old
island Gadira corresponded to the
island named today Ogradina, located
inside the gorge of the
The old geographical traditions told that further upstream
from the island Gadira, navigation was not possible. There the stone walls were
so close that, according to Pliny (H.
N. lib. IX. 3. 1), one single tree could hinder with its branches the passing
of the vessels [1].
[1.
This geographical tradition could not be applied to the
The famous strait of the
Later on though, when the true position of the Columns of
Hercules had become obscured, the island Gadira, exactly like the island
Erythia or Rusava, exactly like the Columns of Hercules, was dislocated and
transferred to the south-western parts of
The placing of Gadira in the
The second island, which the Greek geographers called Gadira, was considered as identical
with Erythia, the island renowned
for its exuberant vegetation.
Erythia, writes Apollodorus
(Bibl. Lib. II; 5. 10. 1), is an island which today is called Gadira, and in this island Geryon,
Chrysaor’s son dwelt (Priscian, v.
462-463; Stephanos Byzantinos writes
that Gadeira was a narrow and longish
island, like a band, therefore identical with Erythia or Rusava island. The
same wrote Eustathius in Dion. 64; Strabo, III. 2. 11; 5. 4). But,
according to the geographical poem of Avienus
(Descriptio orbis terrae, v. 98-102; v. 610), it was not the island
Erythia, but a nearby place, and a fort situated on top of a mountain which
overlooked the strait, which had the name Gadir
[2].
[2.
The first island near the Columns of Hercules (Erythia or Rusava), was
called in older times, as Avienus
tells us, Cotinusa, meaning the island of the wild olive trees,
from chotinos,
oleander. Pindar also writes (Ol. III.
13-14) that Hercules, travelling to
the Hyperboreans, took from the
shady sources of the Istru (or from its cataracts, the point from which the
river flew under this name), a wild
olive tree (Pausanias, V. 7. 7),
which he brought and planted near the temple of Jove at Olympia, to shade with
its branches the altars of the gods, and to serve for crowning the men who
distinguished themselves through virtuous deeds.
The oleander was therefore a holy
tree for the Hyperboreans.
The general opinion is that the olive tree was introduced in
Doctor Popovici
says the following about the climate of Mihadia,
in the Iron Gates region: “that the climate here is more moderate, is proved by
the whole type of the vegetation; here, around
these mineral baths, there are found Tauro-Caucasic plants,
as well as many from Istria, and
some of the flowers which grow in the western parts of France, and in the eastern part of the Apennines and the
Pyrenees. The air here is softer and calmer than in other parts of Banat
and Valachia….here the grape vines and the fig trees stay all winter exposed to
the cold, with no damage to their crops” (Baile lui Hercule, Pesta, 1872,
p.65-68)]
This “locus” and
“arx Gadir” corresponds from the
point of view of actual geography, to the southern promontory facing the island
Rusava, which even today is called Grad,
and where can still be seen ruins of an old fort. (The custom to build fortified places on the more strategic
places in order to guard the navigation routes, existed in pre-historical
antiquity too).
The word “grad”
with the meaning of fortification (geichos) is not of Slavic origin. It
belongs to the Pelasgian idiom from the
In Latin classical literature, the archaic gradus had also the military meaning of
“strong position, occupied by the combatants” (Livy, lib. VI. 32; Cicero,
Off. Lib. I. c. 23; Cornelius Nepotis,
Themistocles, c. 5).
Mars’ epithet of Gradivus also seems to characterize him
as god of the castra, citadels and every other fortification (Silius Italicus, IV. 222).