Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-25
Placed on a Rock in the Cen
ter of a Plateau.
THRONE OF HERCULES
HAS STOOD FOR MORE THAN 1000
YEARS,
Romans, Visigoths, Saracens and
Christians Reigned in Turn
Expulsion of the Jews.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star ana
Chicago Record Herald.
TOLEDO, Spain. November Is. 1903
From the center of of the widest
plateaus in Spain arises a mountain OF
rock, rugged, irregular and unapproachabie
except upon one side, where it reaches the
level of the surrounding country by gen.
tie slope-a promontory arising from sur
roun1ings of land instead of water. The
venerable and romantic city OF Toledo COW
ers it's surface. 1t is about the area of
Gibraltar and of similar form, although the
altitude is only half as great. 1t resembles
Lookout mountain, Tennessee, in it's con-
formation and is nearly the same height
Around the base of the mighty buttresses
which nature framed to sustain this mass
of rock and earth flows the river Tagus,
deep and rapid stream. rising in the neigh
boring mountains and turning the wheels
of industry for nearly 200 miles. 1t is one
of the largest and one of the most useful
rivers in Spain and abOundS in fish AS 1t
encrcleS this great rock the Tagus forms
a horseshoe curve leaving but one narrow
strip of land. One bank OF the river slopes
gradually back to the plateau 1t drains. On
the other side are precipitous cliffs which
could not be scaled by an army. For twenty
centuries the only approach to Teledo- mas
been defended by lines of fortiftcationS, and
even from the earliest times 1t has been the
fortress and the refuge. the stronghold and
the impregnable bulwark of five different
races
The Throne of Hercules.
1t has been called the throne of Hercules
and some of the legends claim for him the
honor of founding it. This honor Is also
credited TO Tubal Cain and to other heroes
of mythology. Probably the mythical Her
cules was some enterprising Phoenecian
ito of
Syria and started colony where 1t could
be more easily defended from the barba-
rians that surrounded him, and 1t is proba-
BILE also that he was followed from Pales-
tine by families of Jews who escaped the
captivity of their nation under Nebuchad-
nezzar. At any rate. for more than 1900
years upon the crest of this rock has stood
a citadel known by the Hebrew name To
ledoth'' (the City of Generations) which
was afterward the capital of the Romans
the pride of the Goths, the Gibraltar of the
Moors. the, court and residence of Emperor,
Charles when he was the master of the
world.
The Romans came about 200 B. c.. and
remained until Al; the Cloths held the
stronghold for 300 years. and the Moors
from III until 1892, when they were driven
from the land by the united armies of Fer
dnand and Isabella under the command of
Ell Gran Captain Cordova and Cardinal Cis-
neros. They made imperial the city of the
Goths, the seat of the Spanish church.
ArchblShopS OF Toledo.
The archbishops of Toledo became mitered
kings, they monopolized the learning of
their age and the ecclesiastical authority.
They were omnipotert in their influence and
as great in the arts of war as in those of
peace. They were called ''the third kings
of Spain; they led legions in battle; they
drew up charts for engineers and codes of
law for courts; they founded universities,
L., iIro IN,,;Jt
aces, bridges roads and fortresses as well
as cathedrals, and controlled the manu-
featuring and agricultural industries of the
nation Their wealth was enormous. Their
incomes sound fabulous even in these days.
for, according to a letter written by the We
netian ambassador in the days of Charles
Q524), the revenues of the archbishop of
Toledo. then as now the primate of Spain
(who claimed precedence in the cortes, as
well as the cathedral, and authority in tenn
poral as well as spiritual matters), exceeded
1000, 900.
And yet imbedded in the floor of the ca
thedral. over the tomb of one of the proud
est of them-Cardinal Portocarrero-is an
epitaph he himself composed:
''Hic facet Pulvis. Cinis ct Mill"
(Here lie dust, ashes and nothing)
Expulsion of the Jews.
1t has been said by graphic writer that
in Toledo 1.-The voice of the Goth echoes
amid Roman ruins and the step of the
Christian treads on the heel Of the Moor
for Romans, Visigoths, Saracens and Chris.
tians have each reigned in turn, while for
sixteen centuries the Jews controlled the
wealth and the commerce of the city When
1t became the capital of the Moors two
thirds of the population were Jews, and
synagogues were more numerous than
mosques. All the mosques and synagogues
have since been converted into Christian
churches. and there Is not a single Jew in
Toledo today. The librarian of the arch
bishops palace told me that there had been
no Jew in the city within his recollection
and from other authorities 1 have heard