Plus ultra is a Latin phrase and the national motto of Spain. A reversal of the original phrase non plus ultra, said to have been inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, it has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. Its original version, the personal motto of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, also Duke of Burgundy and King of Spain, was Plus oultre in French. The motto was adopted some decades after Christopher Columbus traveled to GuanahanÃ.
Wooden panelling in Charles V's palace in the Alhambra
Motto of the city of Binche, Belgium
The Pillars of Hercules are the promontories that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. The northern Pillar, Calpe Mons, is the Rock of Gibraltar. A corresponding North African peak not being predominant, the identity of the southern Pillar, Abila Mons, has been disputed throughout history, with the two most likely candidates being Monte Hacho in Ceuta and Jebel Musa in Morocco. The term was applied in antiquity: Pliny the Elder included the Pillars of Hercules in his Naturalis historia.
The European Pillar of Hercules: the Rock of Gibraltar (foreground), with the North African shore and Jebel Musa in the background.
Jebel Musa, one of the candidates for the North African Pillar of Hercules, as seen from Tarifa, at the other shore of the Strait of Gibraltar.
Jebel Musa and the Rock of Gibraltar seen from the Mediterranean Sea.
The title page of Sir Francis Bacon's Instauratio Magna, 1620
