Hercules

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 Roman A god, closely associated with

the Greek hero Heracles. Ancient Romans also saw

Hercules as the patron and guardian of merchants

and soldiers. He was a helper to those in need and

protected men at sea from danger and disease.

A shrine to Hercules stood on the edge of the

Palatine Hill in Rome. He was honored in the Roman

festival calendar on August 12, when men held a great

celebration that included slaughtering oxen. Women

were not allowed at this festival.

The cult of Hercules arrived early in Italy from

Greece, about the second century b.c. and soon

developed a very strong following. Greek colonists

who settled in communities on the eastern shores

of Italy brought the stories of this much-loved deity

with them when they traveled across the Ionian Sea.

Hercules’ cult grew until he commanded a wide following

throughout the Italian peninsula.

Many of the stories of Hercules traveled across

the seas with his religious celebrations, but Roman

poets shared details their own people added to the

mythology.

Hercules and Cacus According to Livy, a

Roman historian of the first century b.c., Hercules

arrived at the Tiber River in central Italy on his way

back to Greece after capturing the cattle of Geryon,

which was the 10th labor he undertook for King

Eurystheus. The hero stopped to rest by the river.

As he slept, a strong, fierce local shepherd named

Cacus (2) stole the finest cattle in the herd. Cacus

tried to disguise his theft by dragging the cattle by

their tails. He hid his treasure in a nearby cave.

When Hercules awoke, he was confused at the

disappearance of so many cattle. Unable to find the

missing animals, he began to drive the remaining

cattle on their journey. As these cows bellowed, the

cows hidden in the caves began to moo in reply. Hercules,

hearing this evidence, discovered the cave, killed

Cacus with a club, and continued on his journey.

Virgil, a Roman poet who lived at the same time

as Livy, told a much more dramatic version of this

story in the Aeneid.

In astronomy, Hercules is a large constellation in

the northern celestial hemisphere. It is also the name

of a large crater on the Moon.