| has gloss | eng: Hercules of the Forum Boarium is a gilded bronze statue discovered on the site of the Forum Boarium of ancient Rome during the papacy of Sixtus IV (1471-84). It was already noted in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio in 1510 and it remains there today. It is likely to have been the cult image that was mentioned by Pliny in the circular Temple of Hercules Victor that stood by the ancient cattle market, which also featured an open-air altar dedicated to Hercules. The figure of Hercules bears his club at the ready, and in his left hand holds the three apples of the Hesperides. The apples identify him specifically as a Hercules of the West, where he was the victor over Geryon. In Roman versions of the narrative of the Labours of Hercules, on the Aventine hill Cacus stole some of the cattle as Heracles slept. Heracles drove his remaining cattle past a cave, where Cacus had hidden the stolen animals, and they began calling out to each other. Heracles then killed Cacus, and according to the Romans, founded an altar where the Forum Boarium, the cattle market, was later held. |
