Discovering Cartagena

More Articles By Phillip Bruce www.raxomnium.com

Try Some Desert Island Cruising

Looking For The Old Gods 

The five hills that made up the peninsula where the ancient settlements of what is now Cartagena were established were each dedicated to different gods. 

These gods have long passed into history and now the five hills all have good Christian names: Cerro de Molinete, Monte Sacro, Monte San José, Despeñaperros and Castilo de la Concepción.  But one wonders whether perhaps on some nights when the moon is full the laughter of the old gods can still be heard. 

Cartagena is a truly ancient city, with a heritage going back some 3 000 years and with its outstanding port and easily defended peninsula within a protected bay it has been home to many civilisations, Iberian, Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic Christian, Byzantine Christian, Islamic and from the 13^th century onwards Christian again. 

In addition, Greeks, Phoenicians and others traded along the coasts from ancient times and cultures from elsewhere in the Mediterranean and so it is not surprising that other religious and mythical elements were also incorporated into Cartagena’s long history of the sacred. 

The Cerro de Molinete is behind the Puerta de Murcia, at the back of the buildings opposite McDonalds. This used to be covered with dilapidated structures but these have now all been cleared and a distinctive but ruined tower can be seen on the ridge.  As the name in Spanish means “Windmill Hill,” it is natural to assume that this must be the tower of an old windmill.  However, a close inspection of the structure raises the possibility that it might have been a small chapel at some stage, no doubt for the worship of Christian saints. 

Molinete was once the site of Carthaginian and Roman palaces and warehouses and is said to have been the home of the warlike Barca, or “Lightning,” family, whose most famous son was Hannibal.  He gathered his armies and elephants in Cartagena before his march over the Alps. The hill was known as Ars Adrubalis. Many prayers must have been said there to the Carthaginian gods, including Baal.  Archaeologists have just begun excavating the ridge and many exciting finds are probably waiting to be discovered in the digs that will be carried out over the next decade or so.  Some excavations can already be seen in Morería Baja.  There were also docks and warehouses in this area as the Puerta de Murcia was on the waterfront and was filled with busy wharves in Carthaginian and Roman times. 

At the north of the city stands a rather sad looking hill, with the glorious name of Monte Sacro, currently left high and dry and surrounded by diggers knocking down the last of the slums that were a feature of the area for over a century.  The place is a dump at the moment but city planners promise great things in the future.  The nearby and famous Kentucky Bar, long a noted place for ladies of ill repute and carousing sailors has recently closed and the building will be demolished.   Citizens groups are mounting a strong campaign calling for proper long-term archaeological excavations to be carried out in the area before any development is allowed.  But economic pressures and development greed may mean that their hopes are not fully realised. 

Monte Sacro, or the Sacred Hill, truly was sacred in the old days.  At present it is not possible to get up to it for a look around as access is blocked but there seems to be an old rectangular stone structure at the top which was probably once a church. 

When Cartagena was part of the Mastieni region some  2 500 years ago, and probably also of Tartesus, known in the bible as Tharsis, there was a temple of longevity on this hill. The Mastians appear to have believed in one God and so their temples were dedicated to concepts, such as long life, rather than to a Babel of competing gods. 

Mention is also made of the worship of Moloch as having taken place later at this hill, although nothing to do with the Mastians.  The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, who played such important roles in the early history of Cartagena, had roots reaching back to the biblical rivals of the Jews - the Canaanites.  In ancient times both peoples have been accused of offering child sacrifices – vigorously denied by their descendants today.  At the ruins of ancient Carthage, in modern Tripoli, there are large numbers of child graves which some scholars have presented as evidence of sacrifice.  However, this opinion is judged an error by other scholars who point to the graves as evidence of high natural child mortality.  With regard to the early Jews, it has been suggested that, if child sacrifices were, in fact, made to their God then subsequently there was great shame at this and the deity for whom the victims were killed had its name changed to Moloch, which shifted the blame to a foreign god.   

It is also suggested that a Greek-origin god, Cronus, was worshipped on the hill at one time.  In early Greek creation myth, Heaven, represented by Uranus, was separated from his consort, Earth, represented by Gaea, who was then able to bear her children.  The separation was achieved when the son of Uranus, Cronus, cut off his father’s genitals.  A similar story is found in Babylonian creation tales. Cronus was also the Greek god of agriculture. 

A far more cheerful god was worshipped at the Roman temple that stood on Monte Sacro and that was Saturn – whom we have to thank for Christmas celebrations and for the name of the day – Saturday.  The Romans conquered Cartagena in 209BC and it flourished as a Roman city for some 600 years so it’s not surprising that the place is full of Roman remains.  Saturn was also a god associated by the Romans with the sewing of seed and agriculture, following on the traditions relating to Cronus. 

Eight columns of the temple of Saturn remain at the west end of The Forum in Rome.  In the middle of winter everyone gets a bit fed up but the festival of Saturnalia gave the Romans a chance to party.  The god’s festival was originally on December 17 but this was later extended to a week ending on December 24.  During that time there were lots of fun evetns, drinking bouts, dancing, satires, gambling and other hilarity. “Moral restrictions were relaxed,” which meant that there were orgies to enjoy.  Slaves were granted liberty to say and do what they liked. 

Christians frowned on such things and so they chose the day after the end of Saturnalia, December 25, to celebrate Christmas.  This was also the birthday of the Iranian god of light. 

Moving on around the city, the next of the hills to be found is a short distance away behind the Punic Wall Interpretation Centre. This hill has a bedraggled palm tree on the top. Quite how long this tree will last is not known. This is another hill that you can’t get up to as there is no visible means of access.  It’s worth having a short walk down the nearby street, Capitanes Ripoli, to have a look at the back of this hill where a section of the 18^th century city wall can be seen.  Note how Ripoli runs slightly downhill.  Originally this was a shore of the big lagoon at the back of the city. 

Local histories say that this hill was dedicated to Aletes, who was the man who, in times of Mastia, discovered the silver mines in the hills that run away to the east of Cartagena and which produced fantastic wealth.  He was later promoted to a god.  Not much else is written about this Aletes and it would be interesting to learn more of his story. 

Then, crossing the road from the Punic Wall Centre, if you walk past the main tourist office you will see another hill immediately on the right of the road. The great god of the ancient Near East, Baal Hammon, was worshipped here. He was a particular favourite of the Canaanites, ancestors of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, and was honoured as a fertility figure.  This god was massively important to many communities and it is natural to find it in a place of honour in ancient Cartagena.  When Jezebel tried to introduce her Phoenician cult of Baal worship into Israel in the 9^th Century BC there was big trouble.  Apparently, Baal was also identified by the Greeks with Cronus and by the Romans with Saturn.  One theory is that the alleged child sacrifices of the Carthaginians were to Baal rather than to Moloch. It all gets very complicated but it is certain that this hill, which, like the previous two, you can’t gain access to, was of enormous ritual significance. 

Later worship of the Greek/Roman god Hephaistos/Vulcan took place on this hill. Hephaistos originated in Asia Minor and he was the Greek god of fire.  A handy vent of burning natural gas at Lycian Olympus provided his place of worship and he was also the patron of ironworkers and craftsmen.  The cult was significant in Athens but less so in the rest of Greece and it subsequently traveled to Italy.  The god was usually shown as a middle-aged man with a beard wearing a short jacket without sleeves and a close fitting hat over unruly hair. 

The Romans turned him into Vulcan, still the god of fire.  But you had to be very careful with him as he was particularly the god of destructive fire, such as volcanoes and the fires that torched neighbourhoods and cities.  For that reason, his temples were usually outside the city.  In Cartagena, the hill is right at the edge of the city.  His feast day was August 23 and there appears to have been a little-understood ceremony where people would throw small fish into fires in his honour. Naturally, he was much prayed to by people seeking protection from fire.  In Athens today a Hephaistos temple in the Agora known as Theseum can still be seen. It is older than the Parthenon that sits on the Acropolis above it. 

The final sacred site is the large hill that faces the harbour, where in later times Cartagena’s castle stood.  This was the place where people went to pray for good health. The temple was dedicated to the god known by the Greeks as Asklepios and to the Romans as Aesculapius.  However, it is spelled, he was, according to the Greeks, the son of Apollo the god of light, truth and prophecy, and of the nymph Coronis. 

Aesculapius was taught the secrets of healing by the half-man, half-horse, centaur Chiron.  Zeus, the king of the gods, didn’t like this as he feared that, without sickness and disease, men might become immortal.  So he slew Aesculapius with a thunderbolt.  

Nonetheless, his cult spread very widely throughout the Mediterranean and he was the god to turn to if there were any problems at all with health. The cult arrived in Rome in 293BC, about 70 years before the Romans captured Cartagena, at a time when there was a pestilence raging.   Many people slept at his temples as Aesculapius was credited with often curing people or prescribing remedies during dreams.  It may well be that people slept at his Cartagena temple. 

He was usually shown standing, dressed in a long coat with one side of his chest bare.  He was also shown with the true symbol of medicine, which is a staff with a serpent coiled around it.  There is often confusion of this symbol with that of Hermes or Mercury, the messenger of the gods, who is also the patron of trade.  His symbol (pictured below), the caduceus, features a winged staff with intertwined serpents.  You can see one of these represented in the stonework of the Port Authority building on the waterfront next to the Heroes of Cavite monument. 

The five mounts that held the places of worship for the ancient gods now all have modern names. For reference, these are: 

Cerro de Molinete                                         Ars Asdrubalis

Cronos/Saturn                                               Monte Sacro

Aletes                                                             Monte San José

Hephaistos/Vulcan                                        Despeñaperros

Aesculapis                                                     Castilo de la Concepción 

In addition to these five hills of the ancient city itself, there is a sixth hill that was across a small valley from the walls at the eastern entrance.  This can be seen today, with an 18^th century fort running along its ridge, the Castilo de los Moros. 

One local source says that in ancient times a “Temple of Mercury Theut” stood on this prominent hill. 

Mercury was, of course, a very common Roman god and he is identified with the Greek Hermes.  Cartagena was a great trading port and Mercury was the god of merchants, with his festival being held on May 15, the day when his temple in Rome was dedicated in 495BC. 

His statues show heavy Greek influence and he is generally shown holding a purse, which indicates his trading background. As a messenger of the gods he also has winged sandals and a winged hat.  A very attractive statue of Mercury, dating to the late Roman period, was found in excavations of a Roman villa near Lorca, south of Cartagena. 

The reference to “Theut” is intriguing, although the source offers no further explanation of his naming of the temple.  Could this, although it’s a very long stretch, be something related to the Egyptian god Thoth?  He was the moon god and later became the god of arithmetic and of learning.  He was held to be the inventor of writing, the lord of magic and scribe of the gods.  You can recognise him in the emblems of the Egyptian tombs as the figure with an ibis head, with the crescent and disk of the moon shown.  His appearance in Cartagena is extremely unlikely and there is probably some other explanation of “Theut.” 

The Castilo de los Moros, where the temple stood, was used by Scipio in 209BC as his observation and command post for the successful attack on the city. 

The ancient gods are forgotten now but their spirits may still haunt the hills of Cartagena. 

end

BACK

© Phillip Bruce 2006-2008 All Rights Reserved

Legal Notice - All script & pictures on this website are legally registered and the copyright property of Phillip Bruce. Any copying of material whatsoever from this site is strictly forbidden and legal action will follow unless prior permission is sought.

Gary Smith Fishing