Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-14
THE WORLDS GATES
Gibraltar. Its Sieges and Gen.
turtles of BI00dShed.
SACRED TO THE WAR GOD
Evidence That in Remote Ages
Land Joined Europe
and Africa.
From the Theosophical Path.

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There are certain places on the sur
face of the earth which are. one may
say, sacred cor perhaps rather UNI
sacred) 10 Mars the war god, the his
tory Of which has been but record of
battle. murder and sudden death: they
are the danger spots and powder
magazines OF civilization Among
these the Rock Of Gibraltar stands pre-
eminent In the course OF 800 wears
it stood some fifteen sieges: some OF
them among the most notable in his
tory.
With the ancients il was Calpe one
OF the pillars of Hercules, the oiher
being the hill called .Abyla. near
Ceuta on the African coast These
marked the boundaries of the world.
except for the Phoenicians. for cen-
turtles: later the Greeks ventured be-
yond them, although always Greek in
tercourse with ancient britain. what
there was OF 1t, was mainly by way OF
Massilia and through Gaul. But neither
Phoenicians, Greeks nor Romans ap-
pear to have understood the true inn
port of Gibraltar. or surely the Caesars
would have crowned its heights with
a great temple to Mars. Its military
value first made itself manifest TO the
Arabs. who. when they crossed over
from Africa in the eighth century. Sc
lected IL as the site OF a fortress. They
gave ii two names: Gebel af-Futahh
or the Hill of the Entrance, because il
was the place where they first set foot
on Spanish soil. and Gebel Tarik. the
Hill Of Tarik, from their leader, Tarik
ibn-Zeya6: it is. of course, this second
name that has remained.
Cockpit Of Southern Europe.
However. 1t was not until the beginning
of the fourteenth century that Gibraltar
became the cockpit OF southern Europe
In the year 1909 the first siege took place;
the rock was taken by Alonzo Perez de
GuZman for Ferdinand ~, who. I'm order
to attract inhabitants TO a spot otherwise
somewhat uninvi.ing, proclaimed ii an
asylum to aurdercrs. swindiers and
thieves. and romised to levy no axes
on imports and exports. In 1915 the Sec
ond siege took Llacc, when the Arabs
under lsma'n Fere1 attacked it. and
were defeated. T.. 81. however. the gov
ernor Vaseo p: Aeir2, having al
lowed the defen 1-cay, was obliged
to cap;,ulate 10 med ". Almost
Immediately tn nth siege began.
under Alfonso y OF Castle. THE
AveEger." His attempts, though heroic
and pertinacious. were IN vain; and he
was obliged to content himself with a
tribute for the rock from Abdul Melck
of Granada. In 134o. October -. as lead
er Of the allied armies of the Christian
Kingdoms Of Spain. he wen the great vie
tory OF the SalaGo over the kings OF
Granada and Morocco, after which the
booty was SO great that the value of
gold fell One-siXteeEth. He followed up
his successes in 1912 by laying siege to
Algeciras. where for the first time in
Europe cannon We're used-by the Moors
defending. After a two-year siege they
a. "a To-
truce: but the King OF CASTLE broke his
| word In 134g by again besieging Gibral-
tar. This, the fifth siege, resulted in the
transference OF Gibraltar from the pos
session of the King of Morocco To thai
Of Yusuf III of Granada. The seventh
undertaken by Enrico de GuZman. Count
OF Niebla. proved fatal to the besiegei
and his forces In 1902 success attended
the efforts OF the Spaniards under Alfonso
de ARGOS and in August OF that year
the rock was lost to the Arabs forever.
By the ninth siege the rock fell to the
Duke of Medina Sidona. who won il from
the Spanish crown: in 1869 Henry Nv
was constrained to declare his son and
heirs perpetual governors of Gibraltar.
Ten years later Ferdinand and Isabel
created the second duke Marques of
Gibraltar: but i'm 1901 Gars;aso de Ia
Vega was ordered to take possession Of
the rock for the crown. and IT was FORM
ally Incorporated with the Spanish do
minions. After the death of Ferdinand
and Isabel, the duke Don Juan tried in
1906 to recover possession. and added a
tenth siege to the list: his attempt was
in VAIN. The eleventh siege took place in
1910. when the pirates o. Algers .rieei
to regain il for the Moslem cause: the
conflict was severe, bat resulted n I e
repu!se of the besiegers. After this the
SpaniardS strengthened the place until l.
was regarded throughout Europe as inn
pregnable.
English Flag aaised.
During the war of the Spanish succee
sion ii was taken by a combined Eng
fish and Dutch feet Under Sir George
Rookie. The captors had ostens;bly been
fighting in the interests of the Archduke
Charles of Austria afterward Charles
III: nevertheless Sir George Rookie en- his
own responsibility caused the English
flag TO be hoisted. and annexed the rock
in 1IO4 in the name Of Queen Anne OF
England. The English government rati-
fed the annexation. but lief: unrcwarded
the general to whose INSCRIPTIONS pa
triotism it was due. Since then Gibraltar
has been In the occupa ton of the Eng
lish. Three terrible sieges in 1Ioi-5. 1927
and 1119-S3, tie last the most famous OF
them all, have left its ownership un-
6altar has been uneventful.
To the militarist an interesting history
perhaps but to the rest of US mere long
and dreary record of s.eges-sieges frus-
trated and sieges successful. victories
AND defeats for he Spaniard. the Arab
the Frenchman and the Englishman. But
away back in the days of prehistory
Gibraltar was tie scene CT an event of
far greater import and interest.
The Barbary Apes.
Those little Barbary apes that still in
habit the rock, though so few now in
number that there are probably not many
who have ever. seen them. are of vast ina
portance as proof that Spain and Africa
were once united: they are found no
where else in Europe. Over that ia:h-
mus perhaps at that time it Was not even
an Sthmus, but as wide stretch of land
as Spain itself-migrated in antique for
gotten times tie great Iber:an race that
preceded the Celts ia western Europe.
and TO whose type many of the pe"-
pies of Europe seem to be slowly but
surely returning, as if they were the
most permanent race stock on the conHl-
nent. Ages after they merged themselves
with the Celts to form the basic popu-
lation of Spain. France. the British Isles,
and, indeed, all central Europe: IL was
they I'm all proba bility, who impaired to
the fusion that leaning toward mysticism.
poetry and romance which is the marked
heirloom of the Celtic peoples, and which
has been their main contribution 10 Eu-
ropean art and letters. Who were their
leaders? Whence came they by heir
ysticism--that which was 10 blossom