Port
Portus Herculis
Porto d’Ercole
Listen to the story
Porto Ercole, on the Monte Argentario promontory in Tuscany, still carries the name of Portus Herculis, the harbour of Hercules, the wandering hero whom traders and travellers took as their protector. It was the same harbour that served nearby Cosa, and the Greek geographer Strabo, the first to call it after Hercules, mentions a lookout for tuna close by. The map shows just the name, with the road ending at the shoreline. Its twenty miles from Cosa seem far too many, perhaps a figure mixed up with another road. Roman wrecks lie offshore, and two lead anchors came from the islet in front of the harbour.