The southern half of the island is from one to four miles broad; but the northern consists of a long spit of land running out to the north-west, in places not more than a furlong in width, but expanding at its northern extremity to a breadth of nearly two miles.

The long isthmus, and the peninsula in which it ends, have been compared to the stalk and blossom of a flower.[5175] The flower was the ancient Gades, the modern Cadiz.

The Phoenician occupation of the site is witnessed to by Strabo, Diodorus, Scymnus Chius, Mela, Pliny, Velleius Paterculus, AElian and Arrian,[5176] and is further evidenced by the numerous coins which bear the legend of "Agadir" in Phoenician characters.[5177] But the place itself retains no traces of the Phoenician occupation.

The famous temple of Melkarth, with its two bronze pillars in front bearing inscriptions, has wholly perished, as have all other vestiges of the ancient buildings.

This is the result of the continuous occupation of the site, which has been built on successively by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Moors, and Spaniards.