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Pyrenees
Unless otherwise indicated, pictures on this page © Marco Prins and Jona Lendering. Photos can be downloaded and used for non-commercial purposes, but you have to acknowledge Livius.
The Pyrenees. Photo Marco Prins. Like a straight line between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Pyrenees are the natural border between modern France and Spain, or ancient Gaul and Iberia. The name of these mountains is derived from Pyrene, a rich town on the Mediterranean coast. In Antiquity, the Pyrenees were believed to be the highest mountains of Europe.
The northern slopes are more steep and wet than the southern slopes, and the Roman author Pliny the Elder correctly observes that there were more forests on the slopes facing Gaul. There are several mountain passes. In the far west the road that became famous as Roncevalles is an important corridor, in the east the Coll de Pertús, which is about 20 kilometers from the sea. In 218 BCE, Hannibal used this pass to cross into Gaul; in 121, the Romans constructed a road (Via Domitia).
Photo Nathan Hamblen;
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