The Oldest Town in Europe

Toledo, according to Spanish tradition, is not only the oldest town in Europe, but the oldest in the world. For, they say, Adam was the first King of Spain and Toledo was his Capital. Then, too, the sun started upon his endless round at a point in the heavens vertical with Toledo. After the flood the city was rebuilt by Tubal, son of Japhet and grandson of Noah. According to Jewish traditions, at the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, such Jews as escaped fled to "the utmost corner of the earth," to Tarshish (Spain), and settled at Toledo, which received its name from the Hebrew word Toledoth, "the city of generations." Counting "the generations" from Adam, it is no wonder that the Jews loved Spain, or that the expulsion of the Jews, in 1492, was the ruin of Toledo; one hundred and seventy thousand Jews left the city in a body rather than submit to Christian baptism. According to Greek traditions, Toledo was the throne of Hercules, he being King of Spain. Authentic history goes back more than 2000 years, when the Romans took Toledo, in 194 B. C., from the Carthaginians. They strengthened its fortifications and built an aqueduct to supply the city with water.

The Goths took Toledo from the Romans, and it was their capital from 476 to 714. They continued to improve the city until it became, to them, "the crown of Spain, the light of the world."

Toledo, under the Moors, attained a still higher degree of prosperity, having a population of 200,000, with schools and art that rivaled Cordova. It was retaken by the Christians in 1085, and has ever since been the metropolitan, or ecclesiastical center of Spain. The Archbishop of Toledo is the Primate of all Spain, and is sometimes styled "the second King." It is a fortress city, situated upon an almost inaccessible height; a rocky peninsula formed by the deep gorge of the rapid river Tagus, which encircles it on three sides, while the fourth is so well defended by double walls and towers that it has withstood many a memorable siege, one lasting four years. The city is entered across the venerable bridge Alcantara, which, although repaired from age to age, is the same bridge, resting upon the same cliffs and upon the same Roman arches, as the bridge over which a long line of rulers among men, Roman Emperors, Gothic Kings, Arab Moors, and Christian Kings, Knights, Arch-bishops, and Pope's Legates have passed, to reach the northern capital of Spain. "The Gateway of the Sun," the portal of Toledo, is a massive Moorish structure of great beauty, a splendid symbol of its ancient glory. It is built of granite of a rich orange-red.