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altar was demolished; the temple stands; Sixtus IV according to Platner and Ashby |
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The '''Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules''' ('''''Herculis Invicti Ara Maxima'''''<ref>[[Tacitus]] and [[Satires of Juvenal|Juvenal]] both refer to the altar as ''magna'' (great") instead of ''maxima'' ("greatest")</ref>) stood in the [[Forum Boarium]] of [[ancient Rome]]. It was the earliest [[Cult (religion)|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]].<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Ara_Maxima_Herculis.html Samuel Ball Platner and Thomas Ashby, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' 1929]</ref> Roman tradition made the spot the site where Hercules slew [[Cacus]] and ascribed to [[Evander]] its erection.<ref>The exhaustive treatment of the [[foundation myth]]s surrounding the Ara Maxima is in James G. Winter, ''The Myth of Hercules at Rome'' (University of Michigan Studies '''4''') 1910.</ref> In modern Rome, the site is in the north-east corner of [[Bocca della Verità|Piazza di Bocca della Verità]], north of [[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]].
The original altar burned in the [[Great Fire of Rome]], CE64,<ref>[[Tacitus]], Annals, xv.41</ref> but was rebuilt and was still standing in the fourth century. Its exact site is
Various references, with [[Varro]] as their source, justified the exclusion of women from ceremonies here, or of partaking in the sacrificial meats.<ref>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. </ref> The rites at the Ara Maxima were unique within the cult of Hercules in that they were performed ''rito greco'', with heads uncovered.<ref>Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'', iii.6.17;</ref>
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