Pujades 17

Pujades Chronicle of Catalonia 1609

### Chapter 17

*Treating on Gerion, who found the mines, arrived at Coblliura, and founded Gerona.*

1. With the death of Betus without a legitimate heir or successor, as I have mentioned in the previous chapter, great alterations took place in Spain on claims, according to Beuter, with the greed and ambition to reign. But Beuter does not say between which people these alterations moved, nor how they were named. Master Pedro Medina expressly says that this greed to reign and rule did not move among the Spaniards, because although they already had sciences, as explained in the preceding chapter, ambition had not yet entered them: and only the literati understood in it, exercising them with simplicity, or as we usually say, simply; and the others understood in their dealings, that the majority were like cattle, according to most of the commerce of that time. If not, having learned of the death of Betus, he, a brave warrior, came to Spain to occupy her Lordship. Although our Viladamor says some have said that warrior was already in Spain before Betus died. And considering the great wealth of that man, which I will deal with below, I consider it more credible that he was already in Spain when Betus died; and thus supported by his wealth, he could tyrannize the kingdom more easily than if he had come after the vacancy.

2. I have not said the name of this warrior of whom I have just spoken, although the other historians writing about him name him right away; but I take as the basis of this delay the consideration that if it is true, as will be seen, that the name they gave him originated from the acts and effects of his life, it is true that they cannot be said well or understood, until the reasons why they put that name are seen. In pointing out the nature of this new Lord the writers are somewhat different. Because Beuter wants him to be a native of Libya, and Berosus, Annius, Lucio Marinéo, Juan Pineda and Tarafa write that he was from Mauritania; and to flee from these disputes Florian and Medina wrote in general that he was African.

[Stevens and Anderson mention that Geryon was the son of Hyarbas, who had previously ruled Tritonia, that is Libya, until being overthrown by Myrina in ca. 2143 BC.]

3. When this warrior and brave Lord arrived in Spain, as Beuter writes, he landed and disembarked at a headland in the ante-Pyrenees. And he says later that he founded a town there that he named Cobllybia, like the one he gave the Port of Lybia or Lybios, and that this is what today we call Coblliure, a town, port, and a very good fortress in the county of Roussillon, of the King our Lord, which in some ancient writings they name Collyberis, and others (as seen in the testament of King James the first, and we will say in due course) they name Canquilyberi. Pomponio Mela found it among the cities of Narbonne Gaul, naming it Vicus Elliberis, as one says Calle de Elibera, he and Pliny saying that it was a great city, although only very few traces are seen of its greatness and majesty. And it is not surprising that they put it in Narbonne Gaul, because as I said above, some were of the opinion that Spain began in Cap de Creus, which is on the same coast further here to the west. But in addition to what we have said above, we will see below proven by serious authors that Coblliure was and today is from Spain, and particularly from Catalonia, with which at least the rest of Roussillon is united and incorporated. This city came to be highly named, held in great honour and esteemed for having held the Council called Iliberitano from its name, which was at the time of Pope Silvestre and Constantine the Great, as we shall say in its place, being God served. Today it is not a city, but it is a town with little more or less two hundred fires, and in many parts of our history it will be mentioned. It seems to me necessary to warn here that Juan Olivario in the Additions to Mela, and the Bishop of Gerona want to make a difference from Iliberia to Coblliure, not as we did above, but in this way; that making Mela mention of Cervaria, Olivario comes and thus reveals Cervaria today Coblliure. So Iliberia would not be what Coblliure says today. But it was a mistake, because Cervaria not only was not what Coblliure is today, as we have already mentioned its foundation elsewhere, but there is some author who writes that it was not a town, but a promontory: he gets this from Micer Gerónimo Pau, who says that Cervaria was a mountain surrounded and beaten by the sea. And that is how I have seen it, because I had it within the county of Empurias, of which I was an ordinary Advisor; so I don't know how Olivario and the Bishop of Gerona received such an error. Therefore, it is convenient to beware of them, because when we speak of the aforementioned Council, we will see how all together by Iliberis they understand Coblliure.

[Beawes, as noted beneath the last chapter, says Geryon, coming from Africa, first seized the island Erethia off the coast of Portugal, which island is also where classical Greek mythography placed him.]

4. Now let us leave Coblliure, and go back to talking about the Captain whom we have not named until now, who, to the point that he had taken land and inhabited the city, was named by those of the land Gerion, which according to Annius, Beuter, Tarafa and Pineda means upstart; and then with his industry and power he drew so many treasures from the mines, which with his good diligence had been recognized and found in that land, that he became the richest Lord in the world. And for this reason the natives of the land called him Deabus, and the Greeks Chriseos, and the Latin Aurus, which according to Annius, is all one; and that is why Florian, Tarafa, and Medina testify that this one was the first to find the measures in the country of Spain; and that he compelled her natives to remove them. What they say in general we have to particularize in our Catalonia; because if Gerion began to exercise his power in it, as has been seen here, and it will result from the founding of Gerona, it is certain that there he began to find them, where he had command and dominion, power and empire, and not in parts remote. From which the age of the riches and treasures of our Catalonia is deduced, rich and opulent of all things, and envied by all the provinces of the world. But just as his honor is not little, but much glory, we will also see that the abundance of his mines was caused by many wars, deaths, calamities and misfortunes.

[Stevens says Gerion means a stranger. His other name, Deabus, said to mean of gold, is clearly Semitic, where words for gold like 'dahab' are found. Chryseos or Chrysaur is merely the Greek translation of this name.]

5. With as much wealth as Gerion had, his power grew, because at all times this plague has happened that the rich take over everything. And taking over all the land, using afterwards sagacity and skill, he chose a good site and place, and founded a city, which from his name he named Geriona, and today it is called Gerona. It is true that some say that it was not founded by Gerion, but rather by his three sons, of whom we will talk below: but it is not as approved as the one that Gerion himself founded it, according to what the Girona Bishop, Micer Pons de Icart, Beuter, Florian, Tarafa, Medina, Viladamor, and Compte want. It could well be that the sons of Gerion continued the edifice begun by the father, and so some would think that they had begun it; and this seems to be confirmed by what Juan Sedeño says, who after having spoken of Gerion and the foundation of Gerona, speaking of his children and the Lomnimia population, says it was the same city of Gerona, and that it was called Lomnimia out of respect for them, who, as we will see below, were named Lomnimios: and thus it is inferred that Gerona was already first in the time of Gerion father of the Lomninios, and that taking their name was not because they founded it by beginning, if not later. This city persuaded me that it must have been the old city, which today they name La Forsa, because seen from the way the buildings of the walls and towers, they certainly denote its great antiquity. The territory is one of the best in all of Catalonia, because although it is cold in winter, so much so that by proverb it is often said: *fret negre de Gerona*; black cold of Gerona; it is very abundant of firewood, bread, wine, better meats, beautiful and famous cheeses of the forest, and finally abundant of all poultry. Three days a week they hold a market in it, and it is the best square in all of Catalonia, which sends many provisions to the city of Barcelona. The two rivers Ter and Oñar irrigate its territory, and it has many sources and gifts for the summer, good and healthy waters, and those of the Forsa very cool, so that in the summer it does not need snow. The view of the countryside is little, but good; the greatness of the city is such that after Barcelona it is the best in this Principality. And in various places we will mention it.

6. Seeing Gerion so rich and powerful, already Lord of two cities, then he began to tyrannize the land: and when King Betus died he seized, and was left with the command and dominion of it according to Annius; running the year 513 after the Flood according to Beuter, and that of 1793 BC according to Garibay and Florian, or according to Annius in the year 514 after the Flood, 371 of the population of Spain, and 1803 BC, and 2169 after the Creation of the world.

7. At this time that Gerion was Lord of Coblliure and Gerona, with Betus dead, he was taking over the land. The Celtic Spaniards, who (as we have said) were those from Catalonia, and moreover the natural neighbors of Gerona, began to resist him and hold him back in such a way that they had some battles and well-ordered skirmishes with him. And in order to be better able to use themselves, they retired to the coast of the sea to the southern part in a fortress, which because they left it well ordered, they called Paleopolim, according to Strabo, which means a well-ordered city of war; and it was the same that today we called Palamos, as Francisco Compte writes: also saying that those Spaniards were in it until the coming of Osíris Jupiter, of whom I will deal in the next chapter. Gerion, raised with the dominion of Spain, passed on his tyranny, mistreating the towns with robberies, and public robberies, forces, fires, insults, and little justice; and he also continued to draw riches from the veins of the earth. He owned many and numerous herds of cattle, with whose fruit he made a vast trade, because everything was at his discretion. He lasted in this tyranny for some 25 years according to Beuter; but according to Florian there were 33, or 35 according to Tarafa, whose opinion Viladamor approves more commonly. And this is what later makes us continue with uncertainty in the count of the years; but it is necessary to refer only what is found, and leave the choice to the taste of the reader.

[*Defloratio* has Deabus' rule start six years before the end of Armatritis and continue to the 29th year of Belochus, which gives the correct figure of 35 years, dated 2047-2012 BC, although Stevens computes him to 1794-1759 BC, and Anderson to 1799-1764 BC. Swinton says he ruled 25 or 34 years.

Geryon's reign is described in these sources in the following terms:

*Defloratio*: "*In the thirty-second year of Armatritis, Deabus became a tyrant over the Celtiberi [sic]. He earned this title from digging up gold and precious things, which he was the first to acquire and discover there, putting the colonies under service.*"Stevens: "*These Names were given him on account of the vast Riches he gather'd, being the first that heap'd Treasures of Gold and Silver in Spain.*"Anderson: "*for knowing that Spain was full of Mines, he forc'd the People to work so hard in digging for them that many succumb'd and lost their Lives by their hard Labour, so that his Cruelty was abhorr'd by all Nations.*"Beawes: "*Geryon stepped into the Throne, but being once confirmed therein, he, under the Title of a King, governed like a Tyrant, oppressing his Subjects, and making them groan under the Yoke of his insupportable Avarice.*"As Beawes says his invasion began at Erethia, he must have then attacked the mainland and subdued it as far as Catalonia, over the years of Betus' reign, while Betus' realm retreated southward to the confines of Andalusia, the former Betica or Turdetania. Betus probably held the line of the river named for him, the Betis or Guadalquivir, while his Libyan rival Gerion Deabus expanded everywhere else, until finally overthrowing him in 2047 BC and claiming the throne of Iberia as his successor.

Geryon was, by most accounts, defeated and slain in 2012 BC by Pharaoh Osiris, who then installed Geryon's three sons, the Lomnini, over Iberia. In Greek mythography there is some confusion between Geryon and the Lomnini, who were also called Geryones, so that there Geryon is called son of Chrysaur, said to have three heads or bodies, and to have been slain by Heracles, when in fact it seems it was the three Lomnini who would be slain by Hercules, son of Osiris Apis.]

### Chapter 18

*Referring to how Osiris Jupiter came to Spain, defeated and killed Gerion, and divided the kingdom among his three sons.*

1. The flying fame of Gerion's tyrannies was published throughout the Universe, for which reason it reached the ears of an honored and famous man named Osiris, of whom all the writers mentioned in the last chapter make mention. This Osíris was Egyptian, according to what Florian de Ocampo says, and King of Egypt, and he goes on later saying they named him Osíris, and the same say Medina and Garibay. Canon Tarafa says he was the Monarch of Egypt, and going on further he says they named him Osiris Jupiter, and also Dionysius Lybicus, as the other authors say. Antonio de Nebrija names him Dionysius Liber and Pater, and the same seems to be in Eusebius. Annius and Juan Pineda deal at length with the genealogy, kingdom, names of Osíris. Ambrosio Calepino in his Dictionary says that Osiris was a native and King of the Argives, who are in the Peloponnese, part of Greece that was later named Achaia: and that having left his brother Agilaus as president of that land, he went to Egypt, taking with him his wife Isis, only to obtain honor and glory with his deeds. And Guillermo Rovile (Dr of our faculty) says that this Osíris Jupiter was the first inventor of the Royal scepters, and of the use of them, and that on the shield of his arms he carried a scepter for insignia, which in the upper end had the figure of an eye, to signify the Royal vigilance in the correction and government of the peoples. He cites serious authors, and it is a curiosity noticed by a few. On the symbol and figure of the Royal scepter with the eye, the curious can read Vincencio Chartario, since I have already noted the principle of using insignia and weapons on shields in chapter fourteen.

[Pharaoh Osiris Apis went by numerous names and titles over his long life. As *Defloratio* reveals, he was the son of Ham and Rhea, daughter of Noah. Ham had married his own sister Rhea, seizing her from king Hammon of Tritonia, some time after his first marriage to Nayella who had been on the Ark. Their son Apis was later made Pharaoh of Egypt, although he would travel abroad often to supervise agricultural development, leaving regents behind in Egypt. By the time he intervened against Geryon, 2012 BC, he was already ruling Syria, Anatolia, and the Balkans as far as the Danube, which is why he appears on the roster of kings for both Sicyon and Argos, two early city states in the Peloponnese. Two of his more famous historical reigns in Egypt are as Mentuhotep II and Mentuhotep III. Sometimes he was confused with Dionysius Liber Pater, quite a distinct character who lived several centuries later than this (as Eusebius makes plain), and corresponds to the historical Hittite king Labarna I, who also seems to have campaigned in Spain.]

2. And before proceeding further, it occurs to me to mention that this name of Jupiter is not an appellative, but a renown which means dignity and honor, as Beuter has well mentioned for this very purpose, and thus Hartman Schadel says that there have been many men who were named Jupiter. The same is written of those who were named Hercules, who were also many, as it seems to Eusebius, and Ambrosio Calepino says it in the *Gloss to the triumphs of Petrarch*, Annius, Juan Sedeño, Jacob Bergomense, Luis Vives, the Bishop of Gerona, St Augustine and others. So for a perfect understanding of this, it is to know that the founders of some city were named as Saturn, their firstborn sons Jupiters, the grandchildren, if they were courageous and did some feats or deeds, were named Hercules, as can be seen in the rest of the aforementioned authors. This is mentioned not only to know who this Osiris was, and why he could be named Jupiter, and why his son, whom we will deal with in the next chapter, was named Hercules, but it will also serve for the intelligence of poetry to those who are fans of it.

[Ham, Nimrod and Sebtah were all referred to as Saturns. The title Jupiter was applied to scattered kings, not their sons, and the epithet Hercules, probably from Egyptian, was also applied to a few scattered individuals, not necessarily sons of those styled Jupiter.]

3. And going back to history, I say that, Osiris Jupiter knowing, by the fame that spread, the tyrannies of Gerion, and herds of cattle that he owned, as Justin says, hoping to steal them, he left his brother Typhon as Governor in Egypt, and he came to Spain. Others say that only out of his good nature and pious inclination did he come to punish Gerion: because most of those already mentioned agree in this, Osiris used to go through the world to undo wrongs and liberate the oppressed. And so it is to believe that only from his own movement, accompanied by many warlike people, with an attempt to defeat and destroy Gerion and free Spain, did he come to her; and although those already cited do not specify where Osiris landed, Master Francisco Compte wants to persuade us that he came to Roussillon, and it seems Medina means that he landed on the coast of Andalusia. After Gerion had news of the coming of Osíris, he began to gather his people, and went to meet Osíris': they fought the battle in the Tartessian or Carteyos fields, which are all one, and from Andalusia. And Florian de Ocampo specifies that he went near the city of Tarifa, which was called Carteya at the time, as I said above in the fifteenth chapter. The battle was very cruel and very close; but at last Osiris defeated Gerion, and he died in battle, having reigned with tyranny the years that I left said at the end of the last chapter. The same authors affirm that this was the first pitched battle that took place in Spain; given from power to power, since other minor ones have already been referred to in the last chapter. But this was so celebrated, that they say it was the origin of the fable of the poets, wherein they said there was war between the gods and the giants: and for this reason Osiris Jupiter was considered a god among the Gentiles, and they say that Gerion was of the lineage of the Titans, who were giants. Others say the fable did not originate from that war, but from the one Hercules had with the sons of Gerion, which I will deal with in the next chapter. Don Antonio Agustin says that neither one nor the other battle gave rise to the fable, but it is the one that happened between Jupiter of Crete and the Giants. It seemed good to me to touch everything without affectation.

[Stevens and Beawes both mention the battle was fought near Tarifa. The fabled war of the Titans was not this battle, but occurred much earlier between Ham with the Titans, and Hammon of Tritonia, and later Hammon's son Dionysius, who drove Ham and Rhea from Tritonia and adopted their then young son Apis, first making him pharaoh in Egypt.]

4. After Osiris Jupiter defeated Gerion, he tried to calm some disturbances, which had moved due to past tyranny; and then he had Gerion's body buried with many ceremonies in a place just beyond where the battle took place, near Cape Trafalgar, seven leagues distant from the Strait of Gibraltar. And they say this was the first burial that was made in Spain; for before they did not bury the corpses, but hung them on the trees, left them in the fields, or threw them into the rivers. They also say that since Osíris understood the dead Gerion had three children, he had them brought before him, and according to what can be read, especially in Sedeño, Bergomense, Casaneo, and Garibay, they were triplets born all three of a kind, and for this they named them Tergéminos. When they arrived in the presence of Osiris, he admonished them not to imitate the bad habits of their father, if they wanted to preserve themselves in his grace; and he distributed to them all the lands that belonged to their father Gerion. He also left some of his people scattered in the other lands, and it persuaded me it would be in the way that I will say in the next chapter.

[Anderson asserts that one of the Three Lomnini married Osiris' sister Erythree.]

5. Those people from Egypt that Osiris left in Spain, taught the Spanish about sacrifices and prayers, and from here it is said that idolatry remained in her, which was one of the greatest calamities she had, at least in the spiritual, because it lasted until the time of the Evangelical preaching, as we will tell in its place, being God served. Among other places where the first sacrifices were made, Compte says they were in the mountains of Coll de Aras, between Camprodon and Roussillon, and in that of Aras between Conflent and France, and that since then the name remained. Having finished these things by Osiris, he embarked and returned to Egypt, where he had left his brother Typhon as Governor: with whom what we will see in the next chapter happened to him, first relating something about the Geriones who remained in Spain.

[Stevens adds that Osiris also "brought into Spain the Egyptian Computation by the Lunar Year of four Months", that "he taught the use of Corn, and the manner of Tilling", and that "the Invention of the Plow, and Pruning of Vines, is attributed to him." It seems the plow had been invented by the young Abraham in Ur a few decades before Apis discovered it being used in Canaan, although Apis did much to spread its use in Africa, Asia and Europe. Likewise viniculture had already been practised by Noah.

As *Defloratio* indicates, one year after establishing the Lomnini over Iberia, or in 2011 BC, Osiris Apis invaded Italy to liberate it from the Three Palensan tyrants. It was not until 2001 BC that he made his final return to Egypt, taking over from his regent, Antef III or Typhon (not really his brother), to rule one last time there as Mentuhotep III.]

### Chapter 19

*Referring to how the Geriones possessed Spain, and Hercules came against them touching the islands of Majorca, and how after having defeated them he went to Italy.*

1. Osiris having dealt the three sons of Gerion the lordship of Spain, as in the last chapter referred to (or having distributed it themselves after many wars as Beuter wants), they began to reign in the year 1758 before the coming of Christ our Lord, and 406 after the population of Spain, and 547 after the Flood according to Florian de Ocampo, or 1770 BC according to Canon Tarafa, and 549 after the Flood according to Beuter, which is the account of Juan Annio, Goes, and García , which comes to be in 406 of the population of Spain, 1763 BC. The provinces that went to each of these three brothers, in the distribution made between them, it is not well ascertained which they were. But the agreement of all, and notably the Bishop of Gerona, Beuter, Lucio Marinéo, and Justino, is that the conformity these brothers had after having divided the land was so great that the poets pretended various and sundry things about them. Because wanting to signify a union and insurmountable power, they had no other symbol or figure better than that of these three brothers, as Andrés Alciato paints them in his Emblems, represented with the image of a crowned man, with three faces, and three joined arms, hanging from them three swords by the part of the cross, but divided by the tip, and together the tips a scepter, as shown in the following figure.

And that is why some poets pretended that he was a King Gerion with three heads. And it seems Tomic understood it that way, when he wrote of a single Gerion defeated by Hercules. Others said that Gerion was a King who ruled three kingdoms, Galicia, Lusitania, and Betica, as our Doctors Guillermo de Vallseca, Jaime Marquilles, Mosen Diego de Valera, and D Rodrigo wrote. Ambrosio Calepino says that the kingdoms of these were the islands of Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza, and this seems to conform to that of Justin, when he writes that Gerion ruled the Islands. And whoever wants to see many other things that are attributed to these Geriones will find them briefly compiled in the Glosa to the verses of Juan de Mena, and in Fr Juan Pineda: but Justin reprimands them all as fabulous. So that we only have the agreement that there were three very unanimous and concordant brothers, who possessed Spain divided and partitioned among themselves. And if someone wants to say that perhaps the partition between the three of them was to divide the three Islands, or the three kingdoms of Galicia, Betica, and Lusitania, we have a difficulty, and it is; who was Lord of the rest of Spain? If we say that the Egyptians who remained from the Osiris company, and split Spain, as I noted in the next last chapter, in my opinion it does not follow: before that I am convinced that the Geriones remained lords of all Spain, and mainly from Catalonia. Because we have seen in the preceding chapter that these were lords of the city of Gerona, which was named for them Lomnimia: it turns out that if some people of Egypt from the Osiris company remained in this land, it would not be with lordship or government, rather to populate some lands already divided by others, leaving the dominion and supreme domain to the Geriones.

These Geriones brothers, with the conformity and union they had, became so powerful that in a short time they were richer, and more powerful than any other prince of their time, and likewise they were more tyrants than their father: the land where they were born named them Lomnimios or Lonimios according to some; or as others want Lomnimios or Lomnitos, which all has the same meaning, and means strong princes, of armed people, and government: as Annius, Beuter, Tarafa, Florian, and Medina write it.

2. After these began to reign and were powerful, they became proud and presumed to be capable of the most arduous enterprise. And remembering the death of their father, they thought how they could take revenge. And finding no better means, they dealt with Osiris' brother Typhon, requesting that he kill him, offering him all favor and help so that he would place himself on the throne of Osiris. This seems to be the same as what Ambrosio Calepino and Beuter say, where he writes that Typhon, eager to reign, agreed with many enemy tyrants of Osiris his brother, and killed him. The way in which this murder was carried out is recounted by Luis Vives at length, referring to Diodoro Siculo, Juan Annio, Estéban Forcátulo, Beroso and Juan de Pineda. But for us it is enough to know, according to Jacobo Bergomense, and the same authors referred to, that Typhon, in order to congratulate himself with the Geriones, and make the death of his brother Osiris evident, tore his body to pieces, and sent a piece to each one of the Confederates; and then straightaway rose to the land, and made himself Lord of it. After the Geriones made sure of the death of Osiris, their fear of him was removed; and they were seizing all the lands that they did not possess before, continuing in the exercise of their tyrannies.

[Typhon, or Antef III, had, after 2008 BC, been regent pharaoh for Osiris Apis during his absence in Europe. Osiris returned from Italy in 2001 BC, leaving Lestrigon as his governor, to rule Egypt one last time as Mentuhotep III. Typhon, Lestrigon and the Lomnini however all became part of the conspiracy against Osiris that resulted in Typhon assassinating him in 1995 BC, then being killed in turn by Apis' son Hercules, who took the throne name Mentuhotep IV Nebtawyre.

Note there had already been a myth widespread in antediluvian times that Osiris (ie User Khentiamentiu or Cain) had been killed and physically partitioned by his brother Seth, who was then defeated by Osiris' son Heru. This myth came from the denial of their descendants that it was Cain who killed Abel, and Cain was later killed by his own descendants, and then after the 'Following of Seth' arrived, they were later enslaved by the hybrid 'Following of Heru'. A millennia later, Apis (ironically himself a pure descendant of Seth via Noah, Ham and Rhea) chose to be identified as the deity Osiris, ie Cain; thus his slayer Antef or Typhon would become identified with Seth in the myth, and his avenger Nebtawyre would be identified as Heru or Hercules.]

3. When Osiris died, he left alive his wife named Isis, and also a son named Oron Lybio, who although young, for the heroic actions he had already done, and for those he did later, deserved to be named Hercules. And so they named him the Libyan Hercules, and with other names referred to by Annius, unlike others, particularly the Greek Theban Hercules, whom many confuse with this Libyan, like Antonio Nebrisense, who puts everything we say here about the Libyan, a hundred years later in the time of the Theban; and at that same time the Bishop of Gerona and Amniano Marcelino put it. This Oron at the time of the death of his father Osiris was in Asia with a powerful army, and as he was of little age he concealed for some years the aforementioned offense. Or, according to Medina says, he made peace, and made a truce with his enemies the Scythians, with whom he had war in Asia, and after a short time he went to Egypt, and there, according to Berossus, he did so much that he drove out of the kingdom, or (according to the other authors) himself by his own hands killed the traitor Typhon his uncle, in revenge for the death of Osiris his father: and he was so good at it that he recovered most of his father's bones, and had them buried, and later he built a city on his tombs that he named Tafosíris, which is the same as saying the tomb of Osíris; and he also instituted a certain mode of anniversaries and sacrifices, the ceremonies of which are read in S Agustin and in Luis Vives.

4. After Oron did this (whom from now on I will name Hercules), knowing that Typhon had killed his father by induction of the Geriones, he prepared a large army to come to Spain against them, in the year of the Flood 658 according to Goes and Garcia, or 599 according to Beuter: it seemed to Diego de Valera that Hercules not only came induced by the desire to avenge his father's death, but also called and invited for it by the people of the land, who could no longer suffer the tyrannies of the Geriones.

[Mentuhotep IV after ruling Egypt about a year, left Amenemhat I in his place there, before campaigning around the Mediterranean. This would have been about 761 years after the Flood by my count.]

5. Hercules making his trip to Spain, incidentally stopped on the islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza, and other adjacent islands, according to Florian de Ocampo, Medina and Tomás Porcatcho in the Description of the Islands. These were already populated by some Spaniards and Africans, who were all very rude and very simple, and Hercules seeing them so mountainous, wishing to instruct them, or perhaps also for their usefulness, left them as captain and Lord a companion of his named Baleus, from whom those islands took their name, and they were called the Balearic Islands. It is true that according to the same authors, S Antonino de Florencia and Ambrosio Calepino in the Dictionary, some want these Islands not to take the name of Baleus, but because their inhabitants were great snipers or slingshots, which in Greek the use of them is called Balin, in Latin jactus, and in Catalan tir; and thus the Balearis word is equivalent to this other, great marksmen, or the islands of great marksmen. And I do not find any repugnance in this, because if (as in chapter 17 I have said) Osiris left Greece when he passed to Egypt, it would not be a wonder that his son Hercules and his people still retained some Greek words: and it may be that one one of them was this baleus, and that it was from the time of Osiris, and that he also called himself Baleus, because he was a great marksman, from whom perhaps those of those Islands learned to shoot. And perhaps that is why the name would remain, both because they were great marksmen and the one who had taught them to shoot. It is, however, to note that although some say Hercules' going to those Islands was after he had defeated the Geriones, as Beuter writes, nevertheless the most true and common thing is what I am leaving here referred to, and it is in accordance with the already mentioned authors, and Mtro Medina, the Glosa of Juan de Mena, Pedro Juan Nuñez, Garibay and Francisco Compte.

[Anderson adds that one of the Lomnini had a son named Norac, who built Norca in Sardinia. In the classical Greek historian Pausanias, Norax was son of "Hermes" and Erythea, daughter of Geryon, who built Nora in Sardinia, coming from Tartessos in Spain according to Solinus. *Defloratio* however has around the same time, this entry: "In the tenth year (=1995 BC) of Baleus (here meaning Ur Nammu of Ur, not the Baleus mentioned above) Porcus filled Cados Sene island {= Sardinia} with colonies from Vetulonia (Italy), leaving part to the Lygures for their posterity."]

6. After Hercules left his companion Baleus in the Islands, he continued his navigation for Spain, and the first land that he set foot on, they say, was Cádiz, where there are two patterns called Hercules. And while sailing along the coast of Spain, near Gibraltar, he had some columns put up, or what is more likely, he made heaps of earth and stone so high that they were named later the columns of Hercules. Although some who have seen it say it is a construction of nature herself, and nothing artificial: from what we infer to be a fable that, referring to Seneca in the Tragedies, says the Gloss of the triumphs of Petrarch: and no less fabulous than what Pomponio Mela writes about Hercules, stating that he opened a mountain, and made the Greater Sea pass through there, from which the smaller or Mediterranean Sea came to form; and what remained to this one, and to the other part, is what today is commonly called the Pillars of Hercules. All this is fable; but whoever wants to know more about this matter and why they call them columns of Hercules, read Master Pedro Juan Nuñez, De situ Orbis, who will find it there at length.

7. Almost all Spanish historians, and particularly Mosén Diego de Valera, with our Tomic, adhering to the Chronicle of King Alfonso of Castile, agree that after Hercules had placed his columns, he entered Spain through the land called Betica; he went up the river Guadalquivir, and populated the old Seville. But this opinion is rebuked by Florian de Ocampo, for some reasons that the curious can see in it. And for me one of them is enough, namely: that to go up there was to turn back, and not to go looking for the Geriones or Lomnimios their enemies, since they entertained themselves in founding towns, contrary to the end that had led them to Spain. And although Florian does not say where he judges Hercules would go after the columns were raised, we argue that considering his reasons, going as he went in search of the Lomnimios his enemies, it is plausible that to approach them he would take the coast of Spain, and disembark in Rosas de Ampurdan, as Francisco Compte wants it, and it seems to be deduced from the following.

8. When the Geriones knew of the new coming of Hercules, they met him with many armed people, and presented him with battle, which Beuter says was the first in Spain, and the one the poets fabulously said had occurred between the Gods and the Giants. But this opinion has no place, from what was said with many authorities in the last chapter. And also because although some think that between Hercules and the Geriones there was a field battle formed, and from power to power of the people, different opinions run on this, as can be seen in Fr Juan Pineda. The most likely result is that there was no formal power battle between one people and another, but rather a singular battle, as specified by Annius and Tarafa, saying that Hercules alone defeated them. And Alfonso de Cartagena says that it was a duel: that is, a challenge from body to body, one after the other. This is how Garibay writes it, and is confirmed by Florian, Viladamor, and Medina, saying that just as Hercules saw the two armies facing each other, recognizing that many deaths were to follow if the battle were to take place, he sent to tell the Geriones that as they alone were the culprits in the death of their father Osiris, it would be fair that the armies remain quiet, and that the quarrel and question were only with them. And since the Geriones were strong men and trusted in their courage, they admitted the duel; and they fought with Hercules one after the other with great bravery and fatigue. But at last Hercules overcame them and killed all three in battle, whereby he destroyed that force and power, which together was insurmountable: what happened after they had reigned in Spain 36 years, according to Annius, or 40 at the most according to the others, or 42 according to Damian Goes and Felipe Garcia, or 43 according to Medina.

[Per *Defloratio*, the three Lomnini ruled from the 29th year of Belochus, or 2012 BC, until Hercules drove them out, which was in about 1994 BC, or only after around 18 or so years by my calculation. Stevens and Anderson agree on 42 years for the Lomnini, Stevens placing them 1759-1717 BC, and Anderson 1764-1722 BC. Swinton gives them "almost 40" years.]

9. But before going on further, it should be noted that just as Hercules was the son of Osiris Jupiter, so also was he from his wife Isis, as I have said in this chapter, and according to what, referring to Diodorus and Plutarch, Luis Vives writes it about St Augustine, saying that Isis was wife of Osiris. And in addition to this, it is to know that this Isis was also named Céres, whose name the Egyptians gave her: who had her for a Goddess, because she gave them rules and instructed them in agriculture, and was the first who taught them to sow and plant crops, particularly barley, as the aforementioned authors. This prudent and wise Lady undoubtedly came with her son, Hercules, to avenge her husband Osiris. Because Francisco Compte says that she founded the town of Ceret, and that she taught agriculture to those of Roussillon, among whom she founded that town. And all these things effectively persuade that Isis came to this earth with her son Hercules. And no better time than this, when Hercules came from Africa and Ethiopia for the revenge and punishment of the Geriones. But if Ceres founded Ceret before or after the Geriones' punishment, it seems to me to leave it to a better decision.

10. When Hercules won the victory over the Geriones, Diego de Valera says that he went to Cartagena, which was where Cacus reigned, and that Hercules defeated him, and he fled to Italy; but that Hercules followed him until he caught up with him and killed him, and then he returned to Spain where he built many towns, of which we will mention later; and it seems that Tomic also understood it this way. But Florian and others, who I will refer to instead, note that Cacus was not at that time, but at that of Palatuus (whom I will discuss below). And so Annius and Alfonso de Cartagena have it for a fable. Therefore, leaving Cacus, we will once again agree with the common opinion of the aforementioned authors, who say that once things in Spain had been appeased with the deaths of the Geriones, Hercules began to visit the whole land, looking at it and recognizing it. And I omit the altercation about the founding of Mérida, as something outside my intention, and I also leave what Lucio Marinéo says, that Hercules did not make any buildings in Spain, and that those that exist are all from the time of the Romans: as if until that time there had been no buildings in Spain, having found as many as we have seen up to now, and will appear from now on. And also leaving aside if Hercules arrived where Sagunto is today, if Zacinto died there, and if the city Sagunto was named after him, as Antonio de Nebrija can be seen among others that he wants it that way, and I have said my opinion above in the eleventh chapter: the most certain is, that Hercules visited the land and went to Italy, of whose journey Bergomense, Florian and Viladamor write. Beuter says Catalan historians write that after Sagunto, before going to Italy, he founded Barcelona, ​​and it seems that this opinion does not settle him. And if he got this from a Catalan historian, it would be from Tomic, whom I will not follow for now, because I am persuaded that this happened on another occasion that I will discuss below. And so I say, following the other authors, that after the Geriones were conquered, recognizing or not recognizing the land, founding or not founding peoples, Hercules went to Italy, and left for King and Lord, or only for Governor as some want, Hispalus in Spain.

[*Defloratio* relates this entire episode as follows:

* "*Egyptian Typhon, in alliance with all the giants of the world, slew his brother Osiris Iovis Iustus Aegyptius, and he himself assumed the rule over Egypt as a tyrant. Busiris did the same in Phoenicia, another Typhon in Phrygia, Anteus in Libya, in Celtiberia the Lomnini, in Italy the Lestrigones, and over the whole sea Milinus of Crete.*
* *Hercules the son of Osiris, whose name was Libyus, along with Isis in Egypt took on Typhon, in Phoenicia Busiris, another Typhon in Phrygia, Milinus in Crete, Anteus in Libya, the Lomnini in Celtiberia, whereupon Hispalus was substituted as their king instead, and then he returned to deal with the tyrants of Italy.*"]

11. Finally, it is worth noting, according to some of those already mentioned, that Hercules brought to Spain the use of coins, and the Spaniards laughing, neither wanted to receive them, nor did they receive them until the time of the Rhodesians, of whom, and of their coming, and using the coins we'll talk in its place.

[Proper marked coins as we know them were not invented until around 630 BC in Lydia, but lumps of metal began to be used for money elsewhere around this time, if not in Iberia where perhaps they were too common with all the mines.]

* Next page: Chapter 20