The Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules (Herculis Invicti Ara Maxima) stood in the Forum Boarium of ancient Rome. It was the earliest cult-centre of Hercules in Rome, predating the circular Temple of Hercules Victor. The altar stood until it was demolished by order of Pope Sixtus IV. Roman tradition made the spot the site where Hercules slew Cacus and ascribed to Evander its erection. In modern Rome, the site is in the north-east corner of Piazza di Bocca della Verità , north of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
The original altar burned in the Great Fire of Rome, CE64, but was rebuilt and was still standing in the fourth century. Its exact site is uncertain, as no traces of it have been identified. A tentative identification of a tufa platform in the crypt of Santa Maria in Cosmedin with the foundation of the altar has been made by Filippo Coarelli and other archaeologists.
Various references, with Varro as their source, justified the exclusion of women from ceremonies here, or of partaking in the sacrificial meats. The rites at the Ara Maxima were unique within the cult of Hercules in that they were performed ritu Graeco, with heads uncovered.
Famous quotes containing the words altar and/or hercules:
“Wherever an altar is found, there civilization exists.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“I have travelled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.... The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)