ANTEQUERA (the

See also:

• ANCIENT
• ANCIENT (also spelt ANTIENT; derived, through the Fr. ancien, old, from the late Lat. antianum, from ante, before)

ancient Anticaria)  , a town of southern Spain, in the province of Malaga; on the Bobadilla-Granada railway . Pop . (1900) 31,609 . Antequera overlooks the fertile valley bounded on the S. by the Sierra de los Torcales, and on the N. by the river Guadalhorce . It occupies a commanding position, while the remains of its walls, and of a fine Moorish castle on a rock that overhangs the town, show how admirably its natural defences were supplemented by art . Besides several interesting churches and palaces, it contains a fine arch, erected in 1595 in honour of Philip II., and partly constructed of in-scribed Roman masonry . In the eastern suburbs there is ,one of the largest grave-mounds in Spain, said to be of prehistoric date; and with subterranean chambers excavated to a depth of 65 ft . The Pena de los Enamorados, or " Lovers' Peak," is a conspicuous crag which owes its name to the romantic legend adapted by Robert Southey (1774–1843) in his Laila and Manuel . Woollen fabrics are manufactured, and the sugar industry established in 1890 employs several thousand hands; but the majority of the inhabitants are occupied by the trade in grain, fruit, wine and oil . Marble is quarried; and at El Torcal, 6 m. south, there is a very curious labyrinth of red marble rocks . Antequera was captured from the Moors in 1410, and became until 1492 one of the most important outposts of the Christian power in Spain . See C .

Fernandez, Historia de Antequera, desde su fondacion (Malaga, 1842) .