Editing Cádiz (section)

=== Part of the Carthaginian Empire ===
The expeditions of [[Himilco]] around Spain and France and of [[Hanno the Navigator|Hanno]] around Western Africa began there. The Phoenician settlement traded with [[Tartessos]], a city-state whose exact location remains unknown but is thought to have been somewhere near the mouth of the [[Guadalquivir River]].
{{See also|Temple of Hercules Gaditanus}}
One of the city's notable features during antiquity was the temple on the south end of its island dedicated to the Phoenician god [[Melqart]], who was conflated with [[Hercules]] by the Greeks and Romans under the names "Tyrian Hercules" and "Hercules Gaditanus". It had an oracle and was famed for its wealth.<ref name=willsmith/> In [[Greek mythology]], Hercules was sometimes credited with founding ''Gadeira'' after performing his [[labors of Hercules|tenth labor]], the slaying of [[Geryon]], a monster with three heads and torsos joined to a single pair of legs. (A [[tumulus]] near Gadeira was associated with Geryon's final resting-place.<ref>''[[Apollonius of Tyana|Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'', v. 5.</ref>) According to the ''[[Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'', the "Heracleum" (i.e., the temple of Melqart) was still standing during the 1st century. Some historians, based in part on this source, believe that the columns of this temple were the origin of the myth of the "[[pillars of Hercules]]".<ref>From the ''Life of [[Apollonius of Tyana]]'': " ... the pillars in the temple were made of gold and silver smelted together so as to be of one color, and they were over a cubit high, of square form, resembling anvils; and their capitals were inscribed with letters which were neither Egyptian nor Indian nor of any kind which he could decipher. But Apollonius, since the priests would tell him nothing, remarked: 'Heracles of Egypt does not permit me not to tell all I know. These pillars are ties between earth and ocean, and they were inscribed by Heracles in the house of the Fates, to prevent any discord arising between the elements, and to save their mutual affection for one another from violation.{{'"}}</ref>

[[File:Estatuillas votivas del templo de Hércules Gaditano.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Votive statues of Melqart-Hercules from the Islote de Sancti Petri]]

The city fell under the sway of [[Carthage]] during [[Hamilcar Barca]]'s Iberian campaign after the [[First Punic War]]. Cádiz became a depot for [[Hannibal]]'s conquest of southern [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]], and he sacrificed there to Hercules/Melqart before setting off on his famous journey in 218&nbsp;BC to cross the Alps and invade Italy.<ref>Livy, 21.21.</ref> Later the city fell to [[Roman Republic|Romans]] under [[Scipio Africanus]] in 206&nbsp;BC.<ref>Livy (epitome) 33.</ref>