RT journal article
T1 Tuna Across the Strait of Gibraltar: Traces of a Lost Fishing Myth?
A1 Fernández Camacho, Pamina
A2 Filología Clásica
K1 Tuna fishing
K1 Strait of Gibraltar
K1 Phoenician myth
K1 Heracles
AB The fishing industry was the main source of livelihood for many populationsliving near the Strait of Gibraltar from the VI-V century BC onwards, as testified by archeological and literary sources. At the Phoenician colony of Gadir, and allied settlements, coinswere struck with the image of the tuna fish on one side and the god Melqart, protector of theWestern Phoenicians, on the other. In this article, we propose that this relationship betweenthe Phoenician god and tuna fish could have been the subject of a local myth, adapted from aSemitic cosmogonic myth into a fishing myth and located in the geographical landscape of theWest. We analyze its potential traces in ritual, iconography, and Greco-Roman texts dealingwith the exploits of Heracles and other seafarers in the West, which are suspect of having beensubject to various forms of Euhemerism and syncretism, without obliterating all traces of theprevious mythology.
PB Brepols
SN 2736-3082
YR 2017
FD 2017
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/38777
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/38777
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 08-nov-2026