Dear Friends, In Greek and Roman mythology the Mediterranean was a closed sea.  In a battle with another God Hercules struck the mountains closing off the Med from the Atlantic with his mace, opening a passage to the Atlantic creating the Straits of Gibraltar (although it did not get that name until much later, during the Arab conquest, when “the Rock” was named Tarik’s Mountain, “Jebel Tarik,” shortened to Gibraltar.) The straits are framed on each side by the “Pillars of Hercules.”  Both pillars are geopolitical anomalies, The European pillar, Gibraltar, is physically attached to Spain but is ruled by … Continue reading Gibraltar, 2013