Calpe (2 syl.)

Calpë and Abʹyla. The two pillars of Hercules. According to one account, these two were originally only one mountain, which Hercules tore asunder; but some say he piled up each mountain separately, and poured the sea between them.

“Heaves up huge Abyla on Afric’s sand,

Crowns with high Calpë Europe’s salient strand,

Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene,

And pours from urns immense the sea between.”

Darwin: Economy of Vegetation.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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