Great Altar of Hercules
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Ara Maxima
)scale model of imperial Rome, Museum of Roman Civilization | |
Coordinates | 41°53′17″N 12°28′54″E / 41.88813°N 12.48163°E |
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The Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules (
cult location of Hercules in Rome, possibly originally dating as early as the 6th century bce. Its foundations possibly lie beneath the present church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, Italy
.
Legend
Roman tradition held that
History
The altar was the earliest
Varro that women were excluded from the ceremonies at the altar and from partaking in the sacrificial meat.[5]
Present location
A tentative identification of a tuff platform in the crypt of Santa Maria in Cosmedin with the foundation of the altar has been made by Filippo Coarelli and other archaeologists.[6][7]
See also
- Hercules in Roman religion
- Temples of Hercules Victor and Hercules Musarum
- List of Ancient Roman temples & ancient monuments in Rome
Notes
References
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid, Book VIII, l. 270.
- ^ James G. Winter, The Myth of Hercules at Rome, University of Michigan Studies, No. 4, 1910.
- ^ Tacitus, Annals, Book XV, §41.
- ^ Macrobius, Saturnalia, iii.6.17;
- ^ Celia E. Schultz, "Modern prejudice and ancient praxis: female worship of Hercules at Rome" Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 133 (2000:291-297) pp 292ff.
- ^ Coarelli, F. Il foro boario dalle origini alla fine della repubblica. Edizioni Quasar, Rome, 1992, vol. 2:61-77.
- ^ Claridge, A. Rome. Oxford University Press, 1998, pages 256-258.