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IRAKLIA (Ancient city) SPAIN
Karteia or Herakleia, Cadiz, Spain.
Town on the Cortijo de El Rocadillo near the Guadarrangue area, in
the S Roque district on the bay of Algeciras, the S coast of Hispania Ulterior.
Although it is Phoenician or Punic in origin, as its name indicates, there are
few remains of these cultures. In antiquity it was called Karteia and Herakleia,
since its foundation was attributed to Herakles according to Timosthenes of Rhodes.
Strabo (3.1.7-8) stated that in Timosthenes' time, ca. 280 B.C., its circuit wall
and arsenals were visible.
Part of this wall has been uncovered, as well as Campanian ware A,
B, C, and Hispano-Carthaginian silver coins. However, most of the remains are
Roman, the oldest from the Republican period. The Roman foundation dates from
171 B.C. when it was called Colonia Libertinorum (Livy. 28.30.3). There are frequent
references to the city, some stating that it was the site of the legendary Tartessos
(Strab. 3.151; Paus. 6.19.3; Mela 2.96; Plin. 3.7; and Sil. Pun. 3.396). The port
was of great importance in both the Iberian and the Imperial age according to
Strabo and the author of De Bello Hisp. (26.1-37.1-2), who calls it navale presidium.
In 46 B.C. the squadron of Accius Varo took refuge in Karteia when pursued by
Caesar's ships under Caius Didius, and Cn. Pompeius embarked in the same port
after the defeat at Munda (De Bello Hisp. 26.1-17, 1-2), when the partisans of
Caesar in Karteia compelled him to leave the city. On the death of Cn. Pompeius,
Sextus Pompeius returned to Baetica, and Karteia, which had declared itself for
Pompey, again surrendered to him (Cic. Ep. 15.30.3).
Remains include the Roman wall, the theater, the baths, part of a
monumental building with Corinthian columns and bull protomes (apparently a temple);
the supposed Capitolium; remains of the salting basins for the manufacture of
garum; and finds of sculptures, inscriptions, coins, and pottery.
C. Fernandez-Chicarro, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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