{{Short description|Roman lighthouse}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Tower of Hercules | native_name = Torre de Hércules, Faro Bregancio | native_language = gl | native_name2 = Torre de Hércules | native_language2 = es | image = Torre de Hércules 2023.jpg | caption = View from the south-east in 2023. | locmapin = Spain Galicia#Spain | map_caption = Site of the Tower of Hercules in Galicia | coordinates = {{coord|43|23|9|N|8|24|23|W|region:ES-GA_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | location = A Coruña, Galicia, Spain | elevation = {{convert|57|m}} | built = 1st century AD | architect = | architecture = | visitation_num = 149,440<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?s=11&i=15|title=As visitas á Torre de Hércules incrementáronse en 20.000 persoas durante o ano pasado|trans-title=Visits to the Tower of Hércules have grown in 20.000 people during last year|language=es|date=January 4, 2010|work=www.torredeherculesacoruna.com|access-date=8 March 2018}}</ref> | visitation_year = 2009 | governing_body = Ministry of Culture | designation1 = WHS | designation1_offname = Tower of Hercules | designation1_date = 2009 <small>(33rd session)</small> | designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1312 1312] | designation1_criteria = iii | designation1_type = Cultural | designation1_free1name = Region | designation1_free1value = Europe and North America | designation2 = Spain | designation2_offname = Torre de Hércules | designation2_type = Royal property | designation2_criteria = Monument | designation2_date = 3 June 1931 | delisted2_date = | designation2_partof = | designation2_number = (R.I.) - 51 - 0000540 - 00000 | designation2_free1name = | designation2_free1value = | designation2_free2name = | designation2_free2value = | designation2_free3name = | designation2_free3value = }}
The '''Tower of Hercules''' ({{langx|gl|Torre de Hércules}}, {{langx|es|Torre de Hércules}}) is the oldest known extant Roman lighthouse. Built in the 1st century, the tower is located on a peninsula about {{convert|2.4|km|mi|abbr=on}} from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in northwestern Spain. Until the 20th century, it was known as the '''Farum Brigantium'''.<ref name="unesco"/> The Latin word ''farum'' is derived from the Greek Φάρος, ''Pharos'', for the Lighthouse of Alexandria in Egypt. The structure stands {{convert|55|m|ft}} tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. The tower was renovated in 1791.
There is a sculpture garden on the grounds of the lighthouse featuring works by Pablo Serrano and Francisco Leiro.<ref name="Baldwin1847">{{cite book|author=Thomas Baldwin|title=A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-7MBAAAAYAAJ&q="Tower%20of%20Hercules"&pg=PA169|year=1847|publisher=Lindsay & Blakiston|page=169}}{{failed verification|date=March 2018}}</ref> The Tower of Hercules is a National Monument of Spain and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 27 June 2009.<ref name="unesco">UNESCO website, [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1312|Tower of Hercules]</ref> It is the second-tallest lighthouse in Spain, after the Faro de Chipiona.
==Construction and history== thumb|upright|left|Cornerstone with name of the ancient Roman architect The tower is known to have existed by the 1st century. It was built (or perhaps rebuilt) by the Emperor Trajan, possibly on foundations following a design that was Phoenician in origin. The design was based on the original plans of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Its base preserves a cornerstone with the inscription {{lang|la|<small>MARTI AVG.SACR C.SEVIVS LVPVS ARCHITECTVS ÆMINIENSIS LVSITANVS.EX.VO</small>}},<ref name="Arte">{{cite book |last1=Martínez de la Torre |first1=Cruz |last2=Storch de Gracia yAsensio |first2=José Jacobo |last3=Vivas Sainz |first3=Inmaculada |title=Arte de las grandes civilizaciones clásicas: Grecia y Roma |date=21 December 2016 |publisher=Editorial Centro de Estudios Ramon Areces SA |isbn=978-84-9961-228-7 |page=514 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDXIDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA514 |access-date=1 September 2022 |language=es}}</ref> ascribing the tower's design to the architect Gaius Sevius Lupus, from Aeminium (present-day Coimbra, Portugal) in the former province of Lusitania, as an offering to the Roman god of war, Mars. The tower has been in consistent use since the 2nd century. The original tower was shorter and wider than the current tower, as the surviving core was surrounded by a spiral ramp. The outline of this ramp is still visible in the restored exterior. The final storey of the tower was probably topped with a dome.
The earliest known reference to the lighthouse at Brigantium is by Paulus Orosius in {{lang|la|Historiae adversum Paganos}}, written around 415–417:<ref>Paulus Orosius, ''Historiae adversum Paganos'', [http://attalus.org/translate/orosius1A.html#2-60 i.2.71].</ref> :{{lang|la|Secundus angulus circium intendit, ubi Brigantia Gallaeciae civitas sita altissimum farum et inter pauca memorandi operis ad speculam Britanniae erigit}} :("At the second angle of the circuit circumnavigating Hispania, where the Gallaecian city of Brigantia is sited, a very tall lighthouse is erected among a few commemorative works, for looking towards Britannia.") thumb|upright|left|Plan and elevation, from Joseph Cornide, {{lang|es|Investigaciones sobre la fundación y fábrica de la torre llamada de Hércules}}, 1792
In 1788, the surviving {{convert|34|m|ft|adj=on}} tower core was given a neoclassical restoration, including a new {{convert|21|m|ft|adj=on}} fourth storey.<ref name="unesco"/> The restoration was undertaken by naval engineer Eustaquio Giannini during the reign of Charles III of Spain, and was finished in 1791.<ref name="unesco"/> UNESCO praised the work: "The Tower of Hercules was restored in the 18th century in an exemplary manner, which has protected the central core of the original Roman monument while restoring its technical functions".<ref name="unesco"/> Within, the much-repaired Roman and medieval masonry remains visible.
The Romans who conquered this region of Spain believed it to be, in a figurative sense, the end of the Earth – hence its name, {{lang|gl|Finisterra}}. This region is notorious for shipwrecks, earning it the name {{lang|gl|Costa da Morte}}, "Coast of Death".
==Myths== [[File:Torre de Hércules - DivesGallaecia2012-62.jpg|thumb|Breogán and the Tower of Hercules]] thumb|View of the Tower of Hercules Through the millennia, many mythical stories of the lighthouse's origin have been told. According to a myth that mixes Celtic and Greco-Roman elements, the hero Hercules slew the giant tyrant Geryon after three days and three nights of continuous battle. Hercules then, in a traditional Celtic gesture, buried the head of Geryon with his weapons and ordered that a city be built on the site. The lighthouse, standing atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules' slain enemy, appears in the coat of arms of the city of A Coruña.
According to another legend from the 11th-century Irish compilation {{lang|ga|Lebor Gabála Érenn}}—the "Book of Invasions"—King Breogán, the founding father of the Galician Celtic nation, constructed a massive tower of such a grand height that his sons could see a distant green shore from its top. The glimpse of that distant green land lured them to sail north to Ireland. According to the legend, Breogán's descendants stayed in Ireland and are the Celtic ancestors of the current Irish people. A colossal statue of Breogán has been erected near the Tower.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The legend of Breogan - Torre de Hércules A Coruña|url=http://www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?s=91&l=en|access-date=2021-03-10|website=www.torredeherculesacoruna.com}}</ref>
Throughout the Middle Ages, multiple naval crusading itineraries to the Holy Land mentioned the obligatory stopover at the Lighthouse. Usually, the crusader fleets would disembark there to reach the shrine of the Apostle James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela on foot. {{lang|la-x-medieval|De expugnatione Lyxbonensi}} and {{lang|la-x-medieval|De itinere Frisunum}} helped to perpetuate the legend that the lighthouse had been built by Julius Caesar perhaps due to a misreading of the ancient inscription.<ref>De expugnatione Lyxbonensi, trans. Charles W. David (Philadelphia, 2000); Villegas-Aristizábal, Lucas, [https://www.academia.edu/37460772/A_Frisian_Perspective_on_Crusading_in_Iberia_as_part_of_the_Sea_Journey_to_the_Holy_Land_1217_1218 "A Frisian Perspective on Crusade in Iberia as Part of the Sea Journey to the Holy Land, 1217–1218"], ''Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History'', 3rd Series 15 (2018): 69-149.</ref>
==Possible locations of Brigantia== thumb|upright|Close-up of wall and spiral that once supported a ramp
Early geographical descriptions of ''Brigantia'' point out that the town's location could either be A Coruña or alternatively some 26 kilometres away, where the town of Betanzos now sits. The people of Betanzos claim it as a fact that Betanzos is "the former city of Brigancia"<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zmZEAQAAMAAJ&q=Betanzos+formerly+Brigancia&pg=PA442|title=Eulogium: (historiarum Sive Temporis): Chronicon Ab Orbe Condito Usque Ad Annum Domini M.CCC.LXVI, a Monacho Quodam Malmesburiensi Exaratum. Accedunt Continuationes Duæ, Quarum Una Ad Annum M.CCCC.XIII., Altera Ad Annum M.CCCC.XC. Perducta Est|last=Haydon|first=Frank Scott|date=1863|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts|language=la}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6HphdE7IlQC&q=Betanzos+formerly+Brigancia&pg=PA442|title=Eulogium (Historiarum Sive Temporis)|last=Haydon|first=F. S.|date=2012-11-15|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-04260-4|language=la}}</ref> until the 17th century, both in literary accounts as well as in maps, and they also believe that the name ''Betanzos'' is a phonetic evolution from ''Brigantium > Breganzo > Betanzos''. The proponents of the A Coruña tradition and others suggest, however, that this is a false etymology.
The Betanzos tradition claims that the port of Betanzos was getting too small for the larger medieval ships and that king Alfonso IX of León decided to create a bigger port nearby in the 13th century. The place he chose was an uninhabited place called ''Clunia'', which later on evolved to ''Cruña'' and eventually ''Coruña''. The place name Clunia is believed to come from the Proto-Celtic root ''*klou̯ni'' (cf. Old Irish ''cluain''), meaning ''meadow''.
However, the A Coruña tradition maintains that the "port" of Betanzos (which is a fluvial one on a relatively small river) was far too small for Roman warships to dock at; Julius Caesar, for example, is said to have visited this area <ref>{{cite web |url=http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/brigantium/brigantiume.htm |title=Brigantiume |website=personal.telefonica.terra.es |access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713162703/http://personal.telefonica.terra.es/web/brigantium/brigantiume.htm |archive-date=13 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> with "more than a hundred triremes". A Coruña was an important Roman site, as graveyards and other Roman remains have been found in the city centre,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.que.es/coruna/200811190922-tres-mujeres-romanas-cara-primeros.html|title=Tres mujeres romanas dan la cara por los primeros coruñeses|trans-title=Three Roman women show their faces for the first people from A Coruña|language=es|website=www.que.es|access-date=2017-12-17|archive-date=2014-03-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305170237/http://www.que.es/coruna/200811190922-tres-mujeres-romanas-cara-primeros.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.laopinioncoruna.es/secciones/noticia.jsp?pRef=2500_2_127860__A_Coruna_/_Metro-romana-Riego-Agua|title=A Coruña - La Opinión A Coruña – Hemeroteca 29-08-2007|last=Coruña|first=La Opinión de A|website=www.laopinioncoruna.es|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref> demonstrating that the site was inhabited in the Roman period and was deserted only during the early Middle Ages due to Viking attacks, when its people moved inland to O Burgo (now Culleredo). The proponents of A Coruña as Brigantia also explain the different name as a change that occurred in the Middle Ages and point out that the lighthouse, which was called "Pharum Brigantium", was erected in A Coruña, and is at least 25 km (15 miles) (or a day's walk) from Betanzos.
== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed" heights="120"> File:Escudo de A Coruña.svg|The Tower of Hercules in the coat of arms of Corunna File:Maregeo coruna2.jpg|Oil tanker ''Aegean Sea'' burning behind the Tower of Hercules in 1992 File:Torre de Hércules, La Coruña, España, 2015-09-25, DD 35-37 HDR.jpg|View of the tower and its surroundings. File:Tower of Hercules in A Coruña.jpg|View of Torre de Hercules from the street. </gallery>
==See also== *Roman architecture *Roman engineering *Roman technology *List of Roman sites in Spain *List of World Heritage Sites in Spain *List of lighthouses in Spain
==References== ;Specific references: {{Reflist}}
;General references: {{refbegin}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060409192509/http://www.estudioshistoricos.com/articulo/jlv/jlv_06.htm "Documentos para estudiar la Torre de Hércules"] (in Spanish) *[http://www.mareblucamogli.com/storie_di_fari/la_torre_di_ercole.html Mareblucamogli.com] *[http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090630052916/http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Arte+y+Cultura/?language=EN Tower of Hercules] from Spain.info *[http://www.udc.es/dep/com/ingles/hercules/tor_her.htm Torre de Hércules] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414205309/http://www.udc.es/dep/com/ingles/hercules/tor_her.htm |date=2012-04-14 }} (in English) from the Universidade da Coruña website *[http://ciav.torredeherculesacoruna.com/en/ Tower of Hercules Visitor Services and Interpretive Center] (in English) {{refend}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Torre de Hércules}} * [https://www.panoramio.com/photo/31082424 Torre photo] * [http://www.torredeherculesacoruna.com/ Official website] * [http://www.factoriagrafica.com/fnt/imaxes/imaxes_e.htm Images of the Roman Tower of Hercules and futuristic visual legends] * [http://www.galicianflag.com/county/corunna.htm#timeline Historical timeline of the Tower of Brigantia], from galicianflag.com
{{World Heritage Sites in Spain}} {{World Heritage Sites in Galicia}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT: Tower Of Hercules}} Category:Ancient lighthouses Category:Towers completed in the 2nd century Category:Lighthouses in Galicia (Spain) Category:Buildings and structures in the Province of A Coruña Category:World Heritage Sites in Spain Category:Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Spain Category:Tourist attractions in Galicia (Spain) Category:Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of A Coruña Category:History of A Coruña category:Hercules