ARISTOTLE

ARISTOTLE: De Mundo – 393.a.16 to 393b.4

“Firstly then it is said that the Pillars of Heracles are found embraced on the right as one navigates inwards, to the two types of the so called Syrtes (plural of Syrti), of which the one they call great, whereas the other small; and oppositely on exiting the bay not in the same way (as when entering), are formed (in the region outside the bay) three pelages (seas), the Sardinian and that which is named Galatikon (Gallic) or Adrian and following on from them dissecting them sideways vertically is the Sicilian, after this is the Cretan, and following from this, on the one (side) the Egyptian, the Pamfilian and the Syrian, and on the other the Aegean and the Myrtoan”.

In one translation there is the blatant rendition “… as one comes from the Straits of Gibraltar…” (!) There is no such reference in the original writings nor could there have been, since the name Gibraltar is a relatively recent designation, not an ancient one known by Plato so that the translator could safely assume that it was Gibraltar that he meant..! This is a classic example of a grossly arbitrary translation which inexorably misleads and confuses.

(Maps under publication rights)

It is crystal clear that the true location of the Pillars of Heracles written of by Plato was at the Lesser Syrtis at Gabes, where even today there is a river which flows from the vanished Pelagos in the interior behind the gulf. Even now, in summer, there are many places in the desert where boats lie on the sand, moored to a stake. Should the winter rains fall, the desert converts partially to a Pelagos once more.

Many additional analyses and explications are provided in “The Apocalypse* of a Myth”. However, the above representative data is convincing evidence in support of the assertion that the Pillars of Hercules referred to by Plato, were nowhere else but at today’s Gulf of Gabes. Missing, for the moment, is archaeological evidence. Proof positive, is that no such evidence has for 2.000 years been found to substantiate the location of the Pillars of Heracles as having been at the island of Gadiz or elsewhere in that vicinity. The present author is confident that fairly soon there will be proof in the coming for the Gulf of Gabes (certainly sooner than 2.000 years from now)

* see Disambiguation of the word Apocalypse