The Caves of Hercules, explore Tangier’s legendary grottoes

We are in Morocco.
The city of Tangier is situated on the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar on the North African coast.
According to Berber mythology, it was built by Sufax, son of Tinjis, and wife of the Berber hero Antaios, but there are also stories of the city being founded by the Greek demi-god, Hercules.

Along the most northwestern tip of the African continent, 14 kilometres west of Tangier, adjacent to the summer palace of the King of Morocco, is an intriguing cave complex steeped in myths and legends.
The cave was long thought to be bottomless and, according to the lore, it was even visited by one of Roman mythology’s most famous heroes, Hercules himself, adapted from the Greek Heracles.
As story goes, he slept here on his way to steal three golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides.
Stealing the apples, which were believed to confer immortality, was the 11th of the “12 Labors of Hercules”, which King Eurystheus of Tiryns had given to him and, according to the ancient writers, the garden was located in nearby Lixus, the current city of Larache at the Atlantic coast.
According to some Roman sources, while on his way to the garden of the Hesperides, he had to cross the mountain that was once Atlas but, instead of climbing the great mountain, he used his superhuman strength to smash through it. By doing so, he connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and formed the Strait of Gibraltar. One part of the split mountain is Gibraltar and the other is either Monte Hacho in Ceuta or Jebel Musa, known as the Mons Abyla in classical times, in Morocco.
These two mountains taken together have since then been known as the Pillars of Hercules, even if other natural features have been associated with the name.
Diodorus Siculus, however, held that instead of smashing through an isthmus to create the Straits of Gibraltar, Hercules narrowed an already existing strait to prevent monsters from the Atlantic Ocean from entering the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek mythology version is a little bit different and says that Heracles went to Atlas and offered to hold up the heavens while Atlas got the apples from the garden of his daughters, the Hesperides which was also guarded by the dragon Ladon.
Upon his return with the apples, however, Atlas attempted to trick Heracles into carrying the sky permanently by offering to deliver the apples himself, as anyone who purposely took the burden must carry it forever, or until someone else took it away. Heracles, suspecting Atlas did not intend to return, pretended to agree to Atlas’ offer, asking only that Atlas take the sky again for a few minutes so Heracles could rearrange his cloak as padding on his shoulders.
When Atlas set down the apples and took the heavens upon his shoulders again, Heracles took the apples and ran away.
Either way, another story goes that the cave is the one end of a 24-kilometers-long or, if you prefer, 15-mile, tunnel between Morocco and Spain and, it seems the famous macaque monkeys at the rock of Gibraltar came from Africa this way.

Well, actually you won’t find Hercules or not even monkeys within the caves, but they’re worth exploring in any case.
In 6000 BC, they were inhabited by Neolithic people, and the cave has two openings, one to the sea and one to land.
The one that faces the sea is known as “The Map of Africa” and not by chance, it resembles the shape of Africa.
It is said to have been created by the Phoenicians, and there are also some markings on the wall in the shape of eyes, which make up a map of the local area, while the opening that faces land was created by the local Berbers to cut stone wheels from the walls to make millstones, thus expanding the cave considerably.

The caves are close to the Cap Spartel lighthouse that was built between 1861 and 1864 by an international coalition (including the United States, France, Spain, and Morocco) and marks the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar.
In 1920, the caves were officially opened to the public, and they were declared a National Heritage site in 1952.

Images from web – Google Research