By the Romans the city was called Malaca; and became one of their _confederates_, (of which there were but three in Boetica) as well as the great emporium for their Spanish trade; although Pomponius Mela speaks slightingly of its importance.[123] It was captured by the Moors under Tarik, A.D. 715; and probably such portions of the walls as still exist were built about that period; but the fortress on the _Gibralfaro_, and the _Alcazaba_, or Royal Palace, are said to have been erected only towards the end of the thirteenth century; when the Moors, by the rapid progress of the Christian arms, (which had already wrested from them both Cordoba and Valencia) saw the necessity of strengthening the towns of their diminished territories.
Malaga had become a separate kingdom, however, as early as the beginning of the eleventh century; when the Caliphat of Cordoba ceased under the imbecile Haccham II.
The first who mounted the throne of Malaga was Ali Aben Hameth. But it does not appear that the crown was regularly handed down in one family; it seems rather to have been a constant object of strife; and its power over other states seems to have varied according to the talents of him who wore it; for sometimes we find the sovereign of Malaga owning obedience to the Princes of Seville and Cordoba; at others claiming dominion over those kingdoms; and generally, over the city of Granada.
Ishmael, a prince of the house of Alhamares, was the last king who dwelt within the walls of the _Alcazaba_. From the time of his being called to the throne of Granada, (A.D. 1313), Malaga was governed by a prince of the royal blood.
Malaga was one of the last cities that fell to the Christian arms, Ferdinand and Isabella having succeeded in capturing it, after an obstinate siege, only five years prior to the conquest of Granada, viz., A.D. 1487.
The _Gibralfaro_ is, or rather has been, a fortress of great strength and considerable extent. Its ruins occupy the crest of a rugged mountain, from which, and a signal tower that formerly stood on the summit, it receives its present name, _Gibel al faro_.
The rocky ridge stretches east and west along the Mediterranean shore, falling precipitously towards the beach, and roughly and rapidly in the opposite direction, but less abruptly as it approaches the city, which it partially shelters to the S.E. A narrow, walled passage connects the castle with the _Alcazaba_, which, standing on a plateau near the termination of the rocky tongue, has a better and more immediate command over the city and harbour than even the _Gibralfaro_ itself.