Source Verification: Hercules
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
Are Heracles and Hercules the same hero?
Romans treated them as one hero, and Virgil's Salian hymn to Hercules lists the Greek labors: the serpents, the centaurs, the Nemean lion and Cerberus (Aeneid 8.285-302). What Rome added is the episode in Italy. Livy sets the Cacus story on the future site of the city (Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-15). The two are compared in Heracles vs Hercules.
Source: Virgil, Aeneid 8.285-302
Who was Cacus and why did Hercules kill him?
Cacus stole some of the cattle Hercules had taken from Geryon and hid them in a cave, dragging them backwards by the tails to hide their tracks (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-7). Livy calls him a shepherd, and Virgil a half-human monster, son of Vulcan, who breathes smoke and flame (Aeneid 8.190-199). Hercules found the cave when the stolen cattle answered the herd and killed him.
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-15
What is the Ara Maxima of Hercules?
It is the altar that Hercules consecrated after killing Cacus. Livy has Evander prophesy that the most powerful nation in the world would one day call it the Ara Maxima and honor it with Hercules's special worship (Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.10). Two families, the Potitii and the Pinarii, conducted the sacrifice, and Romulus adopted this rite from all foreign ones (Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.12-15).
Source: Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.10
Was Hercules a god or a hero in Rome?
Both. Virgil's Salii sing to him as a god who should bless his altars and people, calling him Jove's true son (Aeneid 8.285-302). Cicero, though, lists Hercules among the men raised to heaven for public service (De Natura Deorum 2.62). The distinction is old: Homer's Odysseus sees Heracles's phantom in Hades while the hero himself feasts among the gods (Odyssey 11.601-604).
Source: Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.62
How did Hercules become a god?
In Ovid, Hercules is tormented by the poisoned robe and builds his own pyre on Mount Oeta. Jupiter then tells the gods that only Hercules's mortal part will burn, and takes the rest to the stars (Metamorphoses 9.172-272). Hesiod ends the story differently and simply records that Heracles took Hebe as his wife on Olympus (Theogony 950-955).
Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.172-272
Where Accounts Differ
- what Cacus was
- whether Hercules was born a god or became one
- Livy and Virgil describe Cacus differently. Livy calls him a shepherd who presumed on his strength and was killed with a club (Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-7). Virgil makes him a half-human, fire-breathing son of Vulcan (Aeneid 8.190-199).
- Whether Hercules was a god from the start or became one is also not settled. Livy has Evander prophesy his place among the gods (Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.10), Cicero counts him among deified men (De Natura Deorum 2.62), and Homer's Odysseus sees only a phantom in Hades while the hero feasts among the gods (Odyssey 11.601-604).
Sources
- Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 1.7.3-15
- Virgil, Aeneid 8.184-279
- Virgil, Aeneid 8.285-302
- Virgil, Aeneid 8.320-369
- Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2.62
- Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.42
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.172-272
- Homer, Odyssey 11.601-604
- Hesiod, Theogony 950-955