Dear travellers!

At Sevilla Now! we can finally begin to share with you all kinds of experiences, data, anecdotes etc, through our blog!

We intend this to be an instrument of communication that brings us a little closer to all of you so that, whether before or after your visit, we are always present.

Through the blog we will share various publications, some with more scientific data, others more personal, some funny anecdotes: in short, a little bit of everything!

One of the elements that undoubtedly characterises the city of Seville is it’s mixture of culture, art and gastronomy. So,while writing these lines we are also paying homage to our great city and to it’s particular way of living, being and feeling.

Because it is our first publication, we could not think of a better way to start than talking a little about the origins of the city of Seville. Finally,we want to remind you that you can make any suggestions you wish. If  you have any individual preferences, we assure you we will take them into account.

Jose Maria de Mena, in his fantastic work “History of Seville”tells us about the relative modernity of the land around Seville, hence the absence of Paleolithic settlements as the area at this time was under the Ligustino lake, the remains of which can still be observed today amongst the nearby marshes. To check the extent to which the ground level has changed in the city, we encourage you to visit Marmoles street where, wedged between the existing houses, you will find three impressive columns from the Roman era and which show the height of the old surface of Seville.

The oldest sign of construction can be found under the Yanduri Palace in the current Puerta de Jerez: it is an ancient prehistoric funerary monument from the Neolithic period. The findings dating from this era are scattered buildings in rural settlements, though we cannot consider them as an urban core.

The Tartessians, a people from Africa surrounded by a certain mysticism, lived in the vicinity of Seville between 1200 and 500 and left amongst other things the the fabulous legacy of the Carambolo Treasure (which will be discussed in future publication) and which was found hidden in the countryside in a town very close to Seville. However, the city was not founded by the Tartessians as the area was still flooded by the aforementioned lake Ligistinus.

Paraphrasing Jose Maria de Mena once more “Lake Ligustinus reduced in size and riverside lands emerged… perhaps the first thing to appear was an island between two arms of the river, going respectively through Alameda de Hercules, Tetuan, Avenida….and through Ronda de Capuchinos, Menendez y Pelayo and San Fernando (as of today) If you visit Seville, we recommend that you stroll, day or night, through the area of Alfalfa, where you can experience the authentic Sevillian atmosphere in such places as El Chiringuito and La Coto Taberna:bars small in size but oozing the unique atmosphere. When you walk through this area, remember that you are just a few meters from Cuesta del Rosario which is one of the few slopes in the oldest part of an otherwise flat city.

Now, returning to the main theme of this publication; who founded Seville? Most historians seem to agree that the first settlement comes from the Phoenician era, and was established as a commercial factory linking the interior areas of territory with the Mediterranean sea via the Guadalquivir river. Here, as often happens, myth and reality begin to merge. There is the legend of the Phoenician navigator Melkart who came up the river and succeeded in establishing a commercial monopoly in the are (probably of bull skins) and is also credited with the discovery of silver mines. The exploits of this ancient explorer and navigator made him an authentic legend to his people and transformed him into a hero and later into a true god. This deity was adopted by the Greek culture and given the name Herakles, and later assimilated by Rome where the name was to become the one we now know as Hercules.

The references to Hercules are abundant throughout the city and can be found in places such as Plaza de San Francisco amongst many others; not to be missed on our routes!

Below we show some of the testimonies of anciant historians who make references to this mythological foundation of the city:

If you visit the Alameda de Hercules, an ideal place for having a coffee, a drink, eating or listening to live music (and about which we will write in future posts), you will find two huge columns. These are topped by Hercules and Julius Ceasar , another one of the characters who marked a” before and after” in the course of events of his time and who also left his footprints in the ancient Hispalis. Considered by some historians as the true founder of the city, these theses have been questioned by the recent research of ancient history professor Antonio Caballos Ruffino, who attributes these merits to the proconsul Gayo Asinio Polion.

This is just a brief summary of the origins of a legendary city in which mythical and regal characters forged their majestic history, and which we invite you to investigate with the help of Sevilla Now!

Do not miss this opportunity, we are waiting to greet you!

Historian and tour guide of Sevilla Now!