Description
The Cyclopes were mythological beings with only one eye, members of a race of giants — strong, hot-tempered and prone to sudden emotions. Mythology tells us they were great builders and craftsmen, and this is why, during the Middle Ages, walls made of large worked blocks — like this one in Ibros — began to be discovered and came to be called "cyclopean structures", leading to the conclusion that only the Cyclopes possessed the skill and strength needed to build them.It was Manuel de Góngora, during his journey through the province of Jaén around 1860, who discovered this magnificent wall, stating for the first time that it was of Iberian construction. This Professor of Universal History and Inspector of Antiquities made a spectacular discovery: he was the first to identify the Iberian peoples of the Upper Guadalquivir. More recent studies have identified this type of cyclopean structure with towers and fortified enclosures dating from between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. In these later stages of Iberian culture, the Romans had already reached the lands of the Guadalquivir, imposing new models of land occupation in which these great defensive structures appear to correspond to strategic sites that delimit and control territories, roads, water sources and even farmland. The cyclopean wall of Ibros, today integrated into the townscape, has survived to the present day as an important architectural element of Iberian culture. Its huge stones, originally joined without mortar, teach us much about those people: their fears, technological advances, struggles and wars, conquests, social transformations… It is located in the northern part of the historic centre, in the district known as "el señorío". Its location makes strategic sense, as it defended the most vulnerable area, closest to the riverbed. It is one of the most celebrated prehistoric monuments in the province of Jaén. A large structure, originally formed by a quadrangular enclosure surrounding the perimeter of the settlement, of which today only a corner measuring 12 to 13 metres long survives. Its enormous ashlar blocks are fitted together without mortar and measure 3.60 metres in length by 1.70 metres in width. We hear nothing more of the town until Christian times, when it was taken in 1157. It later fell once again into Arab hands, until it was definitively conquered by Ferdinand III the Saint. During the reign of Philip IV, the town's defence consisted of a small castle and a wall in which the Ibero-Roman cyclopean wall was reused. The old castle of Ibros must have gradually fallen into disuse, like the rest of the region's fortresses, since after the fall of Granada in 1492 there was no immediate external threat, and advances in artillery made such fortifications unnecessary.
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