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History & Culture

Sacred Mount of Cartagena

Cartagena

Spanish name: Monte Sacro Cartagena

The five hills of Cartagena are a number of rises of which the Carthaginian general Asdrubal the Fair erected in the year 227 BC on an Iberian settlement called Mastia a urban area called Qart Hadasht, predecessor of modern Cartagena.

Due to its location between hills, historians from the Roman period referred to Cartagena as "little Rome", comparing it to the Eternal Seven Hill City.

The temple Baal Hammon was built in Monte Sacro, called Moloch or Baal (Mons Saturnus) during the Roman period. The name of the other four hills were:

Mount Asclepio or Eshmún, today's Monte de la Concepción, on which a temple dedicated to Asclepio was built and where the Concepción Castle is based.
Mount Hefesto, Cabero de la Crus or Cabezo de las Bruxas, known currently as Monte Despeñaperros, is a hill overlooking the Polytechnic University area.
Mount Aletes or Aleto, known now as Monte San José.
Mount Ciudadela de Asdrúbal, today's Monte Molinete on which the palace of Asdrubal the Fair was built.