TANGIER

     Tangier has a rich history and unique geography. The beauty of its site and its light made it a source of inspiration for generations of artists among the greatest.

     This site tells the story of the city, provides an overview of the global environment, lists the works and artists linked to it and presents photographs and a discussion forum.


THE STORY :

To write this column, I found many books you will find in the list in the "Bibliography". Not being a historian by training, my overview of the history of Tangier may have some gaps and inaccuracies. I alone am responsible.

During this work, I've realized two things: the scientific work on the history of Tangier few seem numerous, fragmented and mostly old; books "popular" history on this subject also remain few. So advice to students looking for thesis topics ... and historians confirmed!

Truce chatter and good surfing!

MYTHOLOGY :

     The mythology of Tangier is a chapter of its rich and pleasant "history". This point especially if the whole Mediterranean, at the door of the unknown ocean, fed the imagination of all peoples of the mare nostrum. Today, tour guides revel in the often rough narration of these stories. To the knowledge of the author, legends recounting the birth of the city or facts that took the region as theater of action, have two sources: the Berber source based primarily on language and Greek source much more provided.

     Tangier The oral tradition tells the following story: after the flood of Noah's ark drifted in waiting to find land. One day, a dove came in to land on the deck of the ark with a little clay on his feet. The occupants of the ark are then exclaimed: "Tin jaa" is the earth arrived. Obviously, it is very unlikely that the language used by Noah was Arabic ... Tanja in Berber language, means a swamp, which would tend to prove the existence of a Amazigh human settlement long before the arrival of the Phoenicians .

     It is the Greek stories that have sent us the most beautiful legends about Tangier. According to Plato, the Tangier region and the rest of the "Libya", was the domain of the giant Antaeus.

     In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the son of Poseidon and Gaia. This giant "monstrous" attacking passengers with their skulls to build a temple dedicated to her father. He gave the name of his wife, Tinga in his field that included the famous gardens of the Hesperides, famous for their golden fruit. These gardens extended from the current Ceuta to Ancient Lixus (Larache region).

     Stealing three golden fruit, was one of the twelve labors of demigod most popular ancient Hellenic Heracles, the Roman Hercules. The Hesperides for their part were the nymphs of the West. They were three, Aegle, Erythia and Hespéritousa and watching over the wonderful garden full of golden fruit with the help of Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon. Hercules managed to seize by guile the coveted fruit by sending Atlas Ladon fight for him.

     Arriving on the field of Antaeus, Hercules found himself challenged by it during a battle whose traces persist in the local geography. Whenever the Herakles was slaying, Antaeus drew strength from contact with the earth, in other words, Gaia, mother. Finally, Heracles had to lift Antaeus ground while choking.

     In this titanic battle, a saber Heracles opened the Strait of Gibraltar. Then the son of Zeus and Alcmene rose two columns on either side of the groove. Another version of the legend attributes the opening of the Straits to shove Heracles. Hercules columns would symbolize for many centuries, the boundaries of the known world. Heracles took the wife of the deceased woman Antaeus, who bore him a son, Sophox. It founded a city he named Tingis in tribute to his mother. The son of Diodorus Sophox father who was originally the first royal dynasties of Mauretania ...! The legend also attributes Heracles development caves south of Cape Spartel, on the Atlantic coast. The Caves of Hercules are most likely originated in the Neolithic industry. Indeed, the locals were digging the rock to extract pieces used subsequently in the manufacture of grinding wheels. The legend says that the massive body of Antaeus was buried by his conqueror in the hill Charf.

     Tangier and its region were also cited as one of the sites of the exploits of Odysseus, the famous hero of the equally famous Homeric poem, the Odyssey. Hercules caves were then one of the Cyclops Polyphemus, Poseidon's son who will éborgné by Odysseus.

      Plato had also placed the famous Atlantis in the passage of the Pillars of Hercules in his "Timaeus". Recent archaeological work seem to support this track (see Le Monde, the original publication).

Source : tangernet