Road station

Ad Calceum Herculis

El Kántara

Ad Calceum Herculis, at Hercules' Shoe, is today's El Kantara, an oasis at the mouth of a narrow gorge where the road from Lambaesis broke through the mountains towards the desert. The name suits the spot: Hercules was the great wanderer who forced his way through mountains to the ends of the earth. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries archers and camel riders from Emesa and Palmyra in Syria guarded the pass and brought their own gods with them; one of their Latin inscriptions carries a translation into Palmyrene.

Find Ad Calceum Herculis on the interactive Roman map →

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