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The '''Great Altar of Unconquered Hercules''' ({{lang-la|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]]. Roman tradition made the spot the site where Hercules slew [[Cacus]] and ascribed to [[Evander of Pallene]] 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> Virgil's 'Aeneid' tells of Evander relaying the original creation of the Ara Maxima to [[Potitius]] and the Pinarii. <ref> Virgil's Aeneid 8.270</ref>
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. 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.<ref>Coarelli, F. ''Il foro boario dalle origini alla fine della repubblica''. Edizioni Quasar, Rome, 1992, vol. 2:61-77.</ref><ref>Claridge, A. ''Rome''. Oxford University Press, 1998, pages 256-258.</ref>
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