Silencing Silenus: The <i>paradoxon</i> of the Fountain of Gades (Str. 3.7–9) in the Context of Barcid Propaganda

Abstract In his account of the islands of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the third book of his Geography , Strabo introduces a lengthy debate about an unusual and apparently well-known phenomenon which could be witnessed there: a spring in the Heracleion of Gades whose flow behaved in reverse sympathy with the tides. This spring had previously been investigated by Polybius, Artemidorus, Silenus, and Posidonius, and featured ἐν τοῖς παραδόξοις. Of the three earlier authors, Polybius, Artemidorus, and Silenus, Polybius is judged by Strabo to be the first and only credible source, and it is against his account that Posidonius’ observations in situ are pitted. The opinion of Silenus is silenced, and his name shafted and reduced to a tertiary source employed by Artemidorus, and yet there are historical reasons supporting the notion that he was the original source. In this paper, we will advance further in this direction and propose the theory that this reverse sympathy spring described by Polybius was, in fact, created by Silenus, so his account of his patron Hannibal’s visit to the temple of Gades would echo Alexander’s famous expedition to the temple of Ammon in Siwah.