Introduction

Introduction Arlene Allan 1 Herakles’ Dissemination across the Mediterranean World and Roman and Byzantine Empires It should come as no surprise that the legendary Greek hero Herakles, whose famous labours took him to the very edges of the known world and beyond, would continue to have a presence in the cultures that came after the glory days of Greece. Moving into the Latin-speaking world relatively early in his long career, he became most familiar to the generations who encountered him in the context of the Roman Empire as Hercules – although, he may have passed through Etruria first on his way to Rome: they knew a god named Hercle, who shared with Herakles some of his activities and attributes.1 This was but the first stage in his appropriation by successive cultures in which a place was made for this hero-turned-god (-turned-hero again) in their reper- toires of stories and images.2 It is generally believed that Herakles came to Rome at some point in the seventh century BCE, with clear evidence of his presence in Latin-speaking areas in the fifth century BCE (all dates in this volume are CE, unless otherwise stated). Certainly, Dionysius of Halicarnassus believes that the Greeks, includ- ing Herakles himself, were involved in the founding of Rome (Roman Antiquities 7.70, 72) and at least as early as 125 BCE, if not earlier, Herakles was being linked with the earliest stages of Rome’s history by Romans themselves. Fabius Pictor, the Pontifex Maximus at that time, took note of Herakles’ activities in the area in his Annals, suggesting that the story was already a part of the Roman ‘history’ and the hero’s status as (quasi- or preliminary) co-founder of Rome with Aeneas and then Romulus generally appreciated.3 Virgil, however, is the Latin poet whose Aeneid provides us with the greatest detail of the Roman Hercules’ activity: in the process of completing his tenth labour, Hercules quite literally prepared the ground for Rome by destroying the fire-breathing, cattle-stealing 1 On Etruscan Hercle, see e.g. Emmanuel-Rebuffat, 1985; McDonough 2002. 2 Some would even argue that Greek Herakles is himself an import from lands east of Greece. See, for example, Bayet 1926; Dussaud 1946–8; van Berchem 1967; Mierse 2004. 3 See Galinsky (1969) 52–3. Strabo (5.3) is another author who associates Hercules with the later founders; Livy (1.7.3) notes that at Romulus’ founding of Rome, he sacrificed to Hercules in the Greek way, implying that the ritual existed prior to his founding of the city. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004421530_002 2 Allan monstrosity Cacus, who was resident on what would become one of the seven hills of Rome (Aeneid 8.219–61).4 Herakles/Hercules is certainly a multi-talented figure who is granted most, if not all of the attributes that a people-group and leader would wish to claim as innately their own. The earlier Greek poets had praised Herakles for his athletic prowess, setting him as an exemplar to be followed.5 In Hesiod’s Theogony, his strength and wit present him as the great civilizer, the child of Zeus who made the world safe for mortals by overcoming the evil men and beasts that threat- ened their existence. And, although Homer, speaking through Odysseus, may not accept Herakles as an ideal representative of moral excellence (Odyssey 11.601–26), that did not prevent him from becoming the quintessential model of exemplary virtue for certain philosophical schools (the Stoics and Cynics, in particular). Certainly Prodikos’ famous fifth-century BCE tale of the hero’s choice at the crossroads contributed greatly to his movement in this direction. Indeed, in the early fifth-century BCE, Pindar had already named Herakles as such (Nemean 9.32–4) because of his beneficent civilizing work through his imposed and self-chosen labours.6 Other aspects of his career lent themselves to his politicisation. Alexander the Great seems to have been the first to ‘politicise’ Herakles through his appropriation of Herakles’ epithet Kallinikos (‘Fair-Conquering’) by means of the variation Anikētos (‘Unconquered’). Perhaps not surprisingly, following his lead, several Roman generals of the second and third centuries BCE dedicated thank offerings to Hercules in gratitude for their victories.7 L. Mummius, for example, dedicated both a temple and a statue of Hercules with the epithet ‘Victor’ in his honour in 146 BCE, not at the site of his victory but on the Caelian Hill in Rome, in fulfilment of a previously made vow. Pompey, too, would later dedicate a temple to Hercules at Rome, now with an epithet which had been granted to victorious generals beginning with Scipio Africanus the 4 Except for Ovid, who locates Cacus’ cave on the Aventine, a hill lying outside of the city’s en- circling wall, the pomerium (Fasti 1.542–3). Evander, the Arcadian king residing in the nearby area of Pallatium, prepared a sacrifice in Herakles’ honour in the Greek manner, thereby instituting a commemorative ritual celebrating the hero’s preliminary contribution to the founding of the city of Rome (Aeneid 8.262–79). 5 Simonides (e.g., 10.39), Bacchylides (e.g., 33.50–92; 40.45–57) and Pindar (e.g., Olympian 10.44; Nemean 7.89–97) all held him in high esteem in their epinician poems. 6 There were however, dissenting voices: both Plutarch (Moralia 341F) and Athenaeus (Deipnosophistae 13.80) expressed some doubt over Herakles’ status as humanity’s willing helper. 7 Weinstock (1957, 222) lists the following generals: M. Minucius Rufus, T. Quinctus Flaminius, M. Acilius Glabrio, M. Fulvius Nobilior, and L. Aemilius Paullus. For the importance of Hercules Invictus to the Roman army, see Bayet 1926, 325–32; Crawford 1974, 714 n. 7..

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