known to the Greek and Roman geographers as Calpe or
Alybe, the two names being probably corruptions of the same local
(perhaps Phenician) word. The eminence on the African coast near
Ceuta, which bears the modern English name of Apes' Hill, was then
designated Abyla; and Calpe and Abyla, at least according to an
ancient and widely current interpretation, formed the renowned pillars
of Hercules (Herculis columnae), which for centuries were the limits of
enterprise to the seafaring peoples of the Mediterranean world.

The strategic importance of the rock appears to have been first
discovered by the Moors, who, when they crossed over from Africa in
the eighth century, selected it as the site of a fortress. From their
leader, Tarik Ibn Zeyad, it was called Gebel Tarik or Tarik's Hill;
and, though the name had a competitor in Gebel af Futah, or Hill of
the Entrance, it gradually gained acceptance, and still remains
sufficiently recognizable in the corrupted form of the present day.
The first siege of the rock was in 1309, when it was taken by Alonzo
Perez de Guzman for Ferdinand IV. of Spain, who, in order to attract
inhabitants to the spot, offered an asylum to swindlers, thieves, and
murderers, and promised to levy no taxes on the import or export of
goods. The attack of Ismail Ben Ferez, in 1315 (second siege), was
frustrated; but in 1333 Vasco Paez de Meira, having allowed the
fortifications and garrison to decay, was obliged to capitulate to
Mahomet IV. (third siege). Alphonso's attempts to recover possession
(fourth siege) were futile, though pertinacious and heroic, and he was
obliged to content himself with a tribute for the rock from Abdul
Melek of Granada; but after his successful attack on Algeciras in 1344
he was encouraged to try his fortune again at Gibraltar. In 1349 he
invested the rock, but the siege (fifth siege) was brought to an
untimely close by his death from the plague in February, 1350. The
next or sixth siege resulted simply in the transference of the coveted
position from the hands of the King of Morocco to those of Yussef III.
of Granada; and the seventh, undertaken by the Spanish Count of
Niebla, Enrico de Guzman, proved fatal to the besieger and his forces.
In 1462, however, success attended the efforts of Alphonso de Arcos
(eighth siege), and in August the rock passed once more under
Christian sway. The Duke of Medina Sidonia, a powerful grandee who had
assisted in its capture, was anxious to g