The ancient Greeks called it Ophiussa (Land of Serpents), inhabited by the Oestriminis and dedicated here a temple to Heracles.

Strabo, in his Geography calls this cape the most western tip of the known world and reports the place was considered magical.

Common people believed the sun sank here hissing into the ocean, marking the edge of their world, which Strabo qualifies as "common and vulgar reports" and attributes to Posidonius[1] According to legend, the current name of this cape is linked to the story of a martyred fourth-century Iberian deacon St. Vincent whose body was brought ashore here.

King Afonso Henriques (1139–1185) had the body of the saint exhumed in 1173 and brought it by ship to Lisbon, still accompanied by the ravens.

[3] The statues of St. Vincent and St. Francis Xavier had been moved to church of Nossa Senhora da Graça on Point Sagres 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away.