MALACA in SPAIN 2ndCenBC Hephaestus Vulcan Star Ancient Greek Coin i52693

Hephaestus
(Ancient
Greek: Ἥφαιστος Hēphaistos)
is the
Greek god
of
blacksmiths
,
craftsmen
,
artisans
,
sculptors
,
metals
,
metallurgy
,
fire
and
volcanoes
. Hephaestus’
Roman
equivalent is
Vulcan
. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the
son of Zeus
and

Hera, the king and queen of the gods. In another version, he was
Hera’s
parthenogenous
child, rejected by his mother
because of his deformity and thrown out of heaven and down to earth.

As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus. He
served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing
and industrial centers of Greece, particularly
Athens
. The cult of Hephaestus was based in
Lemnos
. Hephaestus’ symbols are a smith’s
hammer
,
anvil
, and a pair of
tongs
.

Málaga is a
municipality
, capital of the
Province of Málaga
, in the
Autonomous Community
of
Andalusia
,
Spain
. With a population of 568,479 in 2013,^[1]
it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the
sixth largest
in Spain. The southernmost large
city in Europe, it lies on the
Costa del Sol
(Coast of the Sun) of the
Mediterranean, about 100 km (62.14 mi)
east of the
Strait of Gibraltar
and about 130 km (80.78 mi)
north of Africa.

The
Roman theatre of Málaga

Málaga’s history spans about 2,800 years, making it one of the
oldest cities in the worlddd
. It was founded by
the
Phoenicians
as Malaka about 770 BC, and
from the 6th century BC was under the
hegemony
of
Ancient Carthage
. Then from 218 BC it was ruled
by the
Roman Republic
and later the
Roman Empire
as Malaca (Latin).
After the fall of the empire it was under Islamic domination as Mālaqah (مالقة)
for 800 years, but in 1487 it again came under Christian rule in the
Reconquista
. The archaeological remains and
monuments from the Phoenician, Roman, Arabic and Christian eras make the
historic center of the city an “open museum”, displaying its history of more
than 3,000 years.

This important cultural infrastructure and the artistic heritage have
culminated in the nomination of Málaga as a candidate for the 2016
European Capital of Culture
.

The internationally acclaimed painter and sculptor
Pablo Picasso
, Hebrew poet and Jewish
philosopher
Solomon Ibn Gabirol
and actor
Antonio Banderas
were born in Málaga. The
magnum opus of Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, “Malagueña“,
is named for the music of this region of Spain.

The most important business sectors in Málaga are tourism, construction and
technology services, but other sectors such as transportation and
logistics
are beginning to expand. The
Andalusia Technology Park (PTA)
, located in
Málaga, has enjoyed significant growth since its inauguration in 1992. Málaga is
the main economic and financial centre of southern Spain, home of the
region
‘s largest bank,
Unicaja
, and the fourth-ranking city in
economic activity in
Spain
behind
Madrid
,
Barcelona
and
Valencia
.

History

 

The
Phoenicians
from
Tyre
founded the city as Malaka about
770 BC. The name Malaḥa or mlḥ is probably derived from the
Phoenician
word for “salt” because
fish was salted
near the harbour. (Cf. “salt”
in other
Semitic languages
, e.g.
Hebrew
מלח mélaḥ
or
Arabic
ملح malaḥ).

After a period of
Carthaginian
rule, Malaka became part of the
Roman Empire
. In its Roman stage, the city
(Latin name, Malaca) showed a remarkable degree of development. Transformed into
a confederated city, it was under a special law, the Lex Flavia Malacitana.
A Roman theatre was built at this time. After the fall of the
Western Roman Empire
, it was ruled first by the
Visigoths
and then by the
Byzantine Empire
(550–621).^{[citation
needed]}

In the 8th century, during the
Muslim

Arabic
rule over Spain, the city became an
important trade center. Málaga was first a possession of the
Caliphate of Córdoba
. After the fall of the
Umayyad
dynasty, it became the capital of a
distinct kingdom ruled by the
Zirids
. During this time, the city was called
Mālaqah (Arabic
مالقة). From 1025 it was the capital of the autonomous
Taifa of Málaga
, until its conquest by the
Emirate of Granada
in 1239.

The traveller
Ibn Battuta
, who passed through around 1325,
characterised it as “one of the largest and most beautiful towns of Andalusia
[uniting] the conveniences of both sea and land, and is abundantly supplied with
foodstuffs and fruits”. He praised its grapes, figs, and almonds; “its ruby-coloured
Murcian pomegranates
have no equal in the world.”
Another exported product was its “excellent gilded pottery”. The town’s mosque
was large and beautiful, with “exceptionally tall orange trees” in its
courtyard.

 

Málaga was one of the
Iberian
cities where Muslim rule persisted the
longest, having been part of the Emirate of Granada. While most other parts of
the peninsula had already been conquered by the
reconquista
, the medieval Christian Spanish
struggled to drive the Muslims out. Málaga was conquered by Christian forces on
18 August 1487,^[7]
The Muslim inhabitants resisted assaults and artillery bombardments before
hunger forced them to surrender, virtually the entire population was sold into
slavery or given as “gifts” to other Christian rulers,^[8]
five years before the fall of
Granada
.

On 24 August 1704 the indecisive
Battle of Malaga
, the largest naval battle in
the
War of the Spanish Succession
, took place in
the sea south of Málaga.

After the
coup of July 1936
the government of the
Second Spanish Republic
retained control of
Málaga. Its harbour was a base of the
Spanish Republican Navy
at the beginning of the
Spanish Civil War
. It suffered heavy bombing by
Italian warships which took part in breaking the Republican navy’s
blockade
of Nationalist-held
Spanish Morocco
and took part in naval
bombardment of Republican-held Malaga.^[9]
After the Battle of Málaga and the
Francoist
takeover in February 1937, over seven
thousand people were killed.^[10]
The city also suffered shelling later by Spanish Republican naval units. The
well-known British journalist and writer
Arthur Koestler
was captured by the Nationalist
forces on their entry into Málaga, which formed the material for his book
Spanish Testament
. The first chapters of
Spanish Testament
include an eye-witness
account of the 1937 fall of Málaga to
Francisco Franco
‘s armies during the
Spanish Civil War
.

After the war, Málaga and Koestler’s old haunts of
Torremolinos
and the rest of the Costa del Sol
enjoyed the highest growth of the tourism sector in Spain.