Inancient Roman religion andmyth,Hercules was venerated as a divinized hero and incorporated into the legends ofRome's founding. The Romans adaptedGreek myths and the iconography ofHeracles into their own literature and art, but the hero developed distinctly Roman characteristics. Some Greek sources as early as the 6th and 5th century BC gave Heracles Roman connections duringhis famous labors.^[1]

Dionysius of Halicarnassus places Hercules among divine figures honored at Rome "whose souls after they had left their mortal bodies are said to have ascended to Heaven and to have obtained the same honors as the gods".^[2] Hisapotheosis thus served as one model during the Empire for the concept of thedeified emperor.^[3]

The cult of Hercules reached Rome as early as the 6th century BC, celebrated at a temple next to the shrine ofCarmenta and theCarmental Gate.^[4] By the 5th century BC, the mythological tradition was well established that Hercules had visited Rome during his tenth labor, when he stole the cattle ofGeryon in the far west and drove them through Italy.^[5] SeveralAugustan writers offer narratives of the hero's time in Rome to explain the presence of theAra Maxima dedicated to Hercules in theForum Boarium,^[6] the cattle market named after Geryon's stolen herd.^[7]

TheTemple of Hercules Victor, which still stands, is atypically round, as was the firstTemple of Hercules Musarum near theCircus Flaminius.^[8] The latter displayedfasti attributed to its founderMarcus Fulvius Nobilior, whichRüpke places among the earliest Latinantiquarian literature. ThepoetEnnius may have influenced or contributed to their composition.^[9] Fulvius Nobilior had attracted harsh criticism for enriching himself excessively with booty plundered from Greek temples during his military campaigns. When he becamecensor, he erected aportico around an earlier temple of Hercules, most likely that of Hercules Magnus Custos ("Hercules the Great Guardian") in theCampus Martius. He then transferred a statue group of theMuses from his private collection to dedicate at the temple,^[10] which later housed the Roman poets' guild (collegium poetarum).^[11]

Several place names in Italy were connected to Hercules' adventures.Vitulia as a name for the Italian peninsula supposedly came into usage because Hercules chased a runaway bullock (vitulus) there.^[12]

The altar of Jupiter Praestes atTibur was also alleged to have been established by Hercules himself.^[13]

• Hercules Augustus orHercules Augusti, Hercules "in his capacity as protector of the ruling emperor."^[14]
• Hercules Invictus ("the Unconquered"), at the Ara Maxima; women were excluded from this cult.^[15] AlsoHercules Victor ("the Victorious").^[16]
• Hercules Magnus ("the Great"), honored with games(ludi) that may have been first officially established bySulla.^[17]
• Hercules Musarum ("the Muses' Hercules", GreekHerakles Musagetes), created when Fulvius Nobilior dedicated statues of the Muses to a temple of Hercules.^[18]
• Hercules Olivarius ("the Olive Merchant"), in reference to a statue of Hercules dedicated by the guild of olive merchants.^[19]
• Hercules Salarius, ("of Salt"), worshipped atAlba Fucens^[20]
• Hercules Triumphalis ("Triumphal"), represented by a statue in the Forum Boarium, was dressed in the regalia of atriumphator when atriumph was held. It is mentioned by Pliny, who attributes it to the legendary Evander.^[21]

Roman sarcophagus (3rd century AD) depicting a sequence of theLabours of Hercules: theNemean lion, theLernaean Hydra, theErymanthian boar, theCeryneian hind, theStymphalian birds, thebelt of Hippolyta, theAugean stables, theCretan Bull, and theMares of Diomedes

Normally only those celebrating the rites took part in the communal meal that followed a sacrifice, but at the Ara Maxima, all male citizens were invited. None of the meat that resulted from the sacrifice could be allowed to remain at the end of the day, nor could it be removed from the precinct, so it all had to be eaten.^[22] Women were excluded from this rite.Macrobius explains:

When Hercules with Geryon's cattle was journeying over the fields of Italy, a woman, in reply to his request for water to quench his thirst, said that she was not allowed to give him any because it was the feast of the Women's Goddess and no man was permitted to taste of anything that concerned it. Hercules therefore, when he intended to institute a sacrifice, solemnly forbade women to be admitted, orderingPotitius andPinarius who were in charge of the rites not to allow any woman to be present.^[23]

The "women's goddess"(dea feminarum) is usually taken as theBona Dea. This relationship, however, should perhaps be thought of as complementary as well as adversarial; Hercules, Bona Dea, andSilvanus were honored jointly with a shrine and an altar inRegio XIII at Rome.^[24] The "Good Goddess" is identifiable with several goddesses, and in this instance her enmity with Hercules recalls that ofJuno. She also shared some characteristics withCeres, with whom Hercules was honored jointly on December 21, with the sacrifice of a pregnant sow, loaves of bread, andmulsum, sweet wine.^[25]

Hercules was among the divinities honored at the firstlectisternium held at Rome in 399 BC.^[26]

Heracles orHercules was a figure especially favored by theStoics, who attempted to incorporate traditionalpolytheism into their philosophy.^[27] In Stoicism, not only was the primitive substance God, the one supreme being, but divinity could be ascribed to the manifestations—to the heavenly bodies, to the forces of nature, even to deified persons.^[27]

Cornutus saw hisTwelve Labours as metaphors for human struggles, seeing theErymanthian boar, theNemean lion and theCretan bull as symbols of passion, theCerynean deer as cowardice, the cleaning of theAugean stables as purification from extravagance, the driving away of theStymphalian birds as banishing empty hopes, the kill of theLernaean Hydra as the rejection of endless pleasures, and the chaining ofCerberus as the philosophy being brought from the darkness.^[28]

Several Roman clans(gentes) lay claim to descent from various divine figures. TheFabii traced their genealogy to a daughter of Evander who lay with Hercules in his "dug-out"(fovea) and conceived the firstFabius.^[29]

The cult of Hercules at the Ara Maxima was in the keeping of thegens Potitia and thegens Pinaria until 312 BC, when maintenance was transferred to the state^[30] and thereafter administered bypublic slaves.^[31]

• Eppinger, Alexandra (2015).Hercules in der Spätantike. Die Rolle des Heros im Spannungsfeld von Heidentum und Christentum [Hercules in Late Antiquity. The role of the hero in the conflict between paganism and Christianity]. Philippika, vol. 89. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz,ISBN 978-3-447-10418-0.
• Ogden, Daniel (ed.) (2021).The Oxford Handbook of Heracles. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Media related toHercules in ancient Roman art at Wikimedia Commons

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