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Herakleion

a Pleiades place resource

Creators: Jr., F.H. Stanley, R.C. Knapp

Contributors: R. Talbert, Sean Gillies, R. Scott Smith, R. Warner, Jeffrey Becker, Greta Hawes, Tom Elliott

Last modified May 21, 2026 06:31 PM — History

An ancient sanctuary of Hercules (Melqart) that Strabo places at one end of the long island (Cotinussa) that extended south from ancient Gades. Significant landscape and coastal change have occurred since antiquity, disrupting the integrity of these islands. Nonetheless, modern scholars have consistently identified the location of the sanctuary as at or near the 17th-18th century Castillio de Sancti Petri, which today occupies a separate homonymous islet. Archaeological finds possibly associated with the sanctuary have been made in the vicinity (both terrestrial and underwater) over the years, but precise location of foundations or other identifiable architecture have remained elusive.

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Canonical URI for this page:
https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/256197

Representative Point (Latitude, Longitude):
36.3801277403, -6.22002993097

Locations:

Representative Locations:
- OSM location of Islote de Sancti Petri (modern) accuracy: +/- 20 meters.

Names:

Geographic Names:
- Ἡράκλειον (Herakleion: Ancient Greek, 330 BC - AD 300)
- Temple of Hercules Gaditanus (English, AD 2000 - AD 2099)
- Temple of Hercules-Melqart (English, AD 2000 - AD 2099)
Labels (map, atlas, gazetteer):
- Herakleion (English, AD 1900 - AD 1999)

Herakleion makes connections with:

Herakleion located on Cotinussa (island) (30 BC - AD 300)

Herakleion receives connections from:

Ad Herculem located near Herakleion (30 BC - AD 300)

Place type:
island, sanctuary (religious center)

References:

Evidence:

See Further:

See Also:

Wikipedia (Spanish) Castillo de Sancti Petri

Related:

Initial Provenance:
Barrington Atlas: BAtlas 26 D5 Herakleion

Details:

The Barrington Atlas Directory notes: on Isla Sancti Petri

Alternate representations:
Atom, JSON, KML, RDF+XML, Turtle

Suggested citation:
Jr., F.H. Stanley, R.C. Knapp, R. Talbert, Sean Gillies, R. Scott Smith, R. Warner, Jeffrey Becker, Greta Hawes, and Tom Elliott, 'Herakleion: a Pleiades place resource', Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places, 2026 <https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/256197> [accessed: 17 October 2026]

Cite this resource in Wikipedia:

            {{cite web |url=https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/256197 |title=Places: 256197 (Herakleion) |author=Jr., F. Stanley, R. Knapp |accessdate=October 17, 2026 4:42 pm |publisher=Pleiades}}

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Herakleion