La più antica menzione delle Colonne d’Ercole? Il testo sui Ba occidentali nella tomba di Ramses VI in Egitto.

Abstract

The maps on the ceilings of the tomb of Ramses VI (1142/40-1134/32 BC), describing the solar circumnavigation, include four excursus, partially cryptographic, devoted to the cardinal points and their divine inhabitants, the Bas. The text devoted to the Western Bas describes their land, located in the far western boundary of the known world, as «The Two Big Rocks amidst the sea», «country of the peoples living», «at World’s End». Although the Egyptians of the time had no direct knowledge of the Strait of Gibraltar, it is possible that in the 12th century BC an echo of those remote regions had reached Egypt, helping to draw a mythical geography which nourished many legends, not only in Egypt.