Few places in the Peninsula accumulate as many legends and traditions as the Caves of Hercules in Toledo. Located in the alley of San Ginés, where the church with that name once stood, the enclave housed a large cistern that supplied water to the population in times of Roman rule. The Catholic temple was demolished in the 19th century and only its entrance wall remains.
Probably the ancient Iberian settlers lived in those caves that offered them safe protection. But they took the name Hercules because it was claimed in Visigoth times that the place had been the home of the Greek hero, son of Zeus, who had built there a lavish palace where he practiced the
occult arts and necromancy.
According to legend, Hercules kept an immense treasure, hidden in the network of caves under the city. Before dying, he left a locked chest, guarded by numerous doors, and predicted that whoever dared to desecrate his legacy would be the victim of a terrible curse.
The Visigothic king Don Rodrigo defied the interdict of Hercules, entered the underground enclosure and opened the chest in which the fall of his kingdom was predicted. The monarch died shortly following and the Arabs conquered the Visigothic territory, fulfilling the prophecy.
It was the Muslim invaders who built a mosque that functioned for several centuries until Alfonso VI conquered Toledo in 1085. According to an oral tradition, his soldiers infiltrated the city through the caves and finished off his enemies. Decades later, the Christians demolished the mosque and built a temple out of its stones.
The Caves of Hercules remained closed until 1546 when Cardinal Siliceus, driven by curiosity and ambition, ordered an expedition to explore the ancient water reservoir. There were no concrete results in the endeavor, except for the discovery of several Roman statues. It is said that the cardinal’s men drank water from the place and died days later.
Today everything related to caves is a legend in which fiction outweighs historical reality. But there is evidence that the cistern was built at the end of the 1st century by the Romans, probably during the rule of Domitian. One hundred years later, the work was remodeled and the stone walls of granite were clad. Three large arches were also built under the vault and the warehouse was divided in two, probably to rationalize consumption.
Although it is not accredited, following the Reconquest, the place belonged to a very rich Jew, named Samuel Haleví, who had loaned money to the kings of Castilla y León. He fell from grace and was tortured by order of Enrique II of Trastamara, nicknamed El Fratricida, to extract the location of the treasure. Haleví died without saying a word, according to Fernando Sánchez Dragó in his ‘Gárgoris y Habidis’. The monarch gave the property to the lordship of Villena, whose owner had a reputation as a witch and a necromancer.
Sánchez Dragó quotes a historian named Vicente Risco, who claimed that there are incredible treasures in the network of caves in Toledo, a labyrinthine structure that is very difficult to explore. This is why dozens of people hid in the area during the Civil War to avoid reprisals. What is certain is that, in the neighboring town of Mocejón, very close to Toledo, there are some enigmatic caves in which human beings inhabited in 4,000 BC.
The Caves of Hercules spread their fame beyond our borders so that the Marquis de Sade wrote a story regarding the treasures hidden there and their curse. “Stay away if you fear death,” warned the libertine philosopher.
After being declared an asset of cultural interest, the place has been restored and for more than a decade it has opened the doors to the curious. There is now a museum. It has not been possible to find the fabulous riches of Hercules, probably because he was never in Toledo. But, as the character in the Fordian Liberty movie Valance emphasizes, legend must prevail over fact.
.