Hercules Magusanus is a Romano-Germanic deity or hero worshipped during the early first millennium AD in the Lower Rhine region among the Batavi, Marsaci,

Ubii 350px, The Ubii around AD 30 The Ubii were a Germanic tribe first encountered dwelling on the east bank of the Rhine in the time of Julius Caesar, who formed an alliance with them in 55 BC in order to launch attacks across the river. They were ...

, Cugerni, Baetasii, and probably among the Tungri.

Name

Attestations

The name is attested on votive stones, coins and arm rings principally found in Lower Germania, but also in Rome, Britain, and Dacia. It appears as ''Magusen s' in an inscription dated ca. 100 AD, found near the village of Empel. An altar from Ruimel (mid-1st c. AD), the earliest known which is devoted to Hercules Magusanus, shows the name in reverse order: '' gusa Herculi''. Additionally, two Roman coins of the Roman Emperor Postumus minted in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 261 AD, as well as four arm rings from Tongeren,

Neuss Neuss (; written ''Neuß'' until 1968; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It is primarily known for its ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and Cologne also bear his name. In 2022 a new site was discovered in nearby Herwen-Hemeling. It is a sanctuary with a Gallo-Roman temple where most altars were dedicated to Hercules Magusanus.

Etymology

The name ''Hercules Magusanus'' is a

syncretism Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various school of thought, schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or religious assimilation, assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the ...

between the Graeco-Roman divine hero ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

'' and the local deity or hero ''Magusanus''. The etymology of the name remains debated. According to Norbert Wagner, it may stem from the

Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic languages, Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from ...

name ''*Magus-naz'' ('the one with strength, the powerful one'; cf. Goth. ''mahts'', German ''Macht''). Rudolf Much has also proposed to compare it with ''Novio-magus'' (now Nijmegen), the main settlement of the Batavi, in which the centre of Magusanus' local cult seems to have been located. In 1984, Léon Fleuriot proposed an alternative connection with the Welsh personal name ''Mavohe os' ('Old Lad', or 'old neof the servant''), ultimately from

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

''*magusenos'' (''magus'' 'young lad; servant' + ''senos'' 'old'). Lauran Toorians notes that, in this view, both Celtic and Germanic etymologies are possible, with the Germanic ''*magus'' ('boy, servant') attached to the root ''*sen-'' ('old').

Origin

Magusanus

According to Lauran Toorians, it is probable that the Batavi, who entered the Rhine-Meuse delta from the east after the defeat of the Eburones, were "linguistically mixed, which might mean that they had shifted from Celtic-speaking to Germanic-speaking in recent times." Their elite language was likely Germanic, which led them to Germanicize the names of the region they took over. In this view, the Germanic name ''Magusanus'' may have arisen from the original Celtic *''Magusenus'' suggested by Fleuriot. The earliest dedications to Magusanus are found on Batavian territory and are not attested in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

region before the 2nd century AD, which may suggest a progressive diffusion of the cult from the Batavi to their neighbours in the east. Since the Roman Hercules was generally equated with the Germanic Donar/Thor via ''

interpretatio romana , or "interpretation by means of Greek odels, refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cult ...

'', Rudolf Simek has suggested that Magusanus was originally an epithet attached to the

deity *''Þunraz''.

Syncretism with Hercules

Several reasons have been proposed to explain the popularity of the Roman hero among Germanic peoples of the Lower Rhine and his

with the local god Magunasus. A reasonable explanation is that the military and sporting attributes traditionally associated with Hercules, including masculine power and courage, possibly matched those associated with the native Magunasus. This view is supported by the number of votive inscriptions to the god that were dedicated by soldiers, the practice of dropping off weapons in the sanctuary of Hercules Magusanus at Empel, and his role as the patron-deity of the Batavian young warrior bands. A second reason for his success could have been Hercules' role as the keeper of cattle, particularly adapted to the pastoral values of a Lower Rhine society essentially relying on cattle and horse raising. A third argument may be the perception of Hercules as a bridge between the Germanic and Roman cultures, Hercules being seen as the mythical forebear of "barbarian" peoples and the first explorer of the Germanic frontier.

Cult

Batavi

As evidenced by the number of votive inscriptions and a cult associated with the monumental temple complex of Empel, Hercules Magusanus was probably the main deity of the Batavian ''

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by Roman law, law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilitie ...

'' during the Roman period. He may also have played a role as a patron and protector of the Batavian ''iuventus'' ( koryos), the young male warriors involved as a class age in a public initiation ritual into adulthood. Nico Roymans argues that the cult of Herculus Magusanus played in a prominent role in the

ethnogenesis Ethnogenesis (; ) is the formation and development of an ethnic group. This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification. The term ''ethnogenesis'' was originally a mid-19th-century neologism that was later introduce ...

of the Batavi during the second part of the first century BC.

Other Lower Rhine tribes

The cult of Hercules Magusanus must have been marginalized as a principal deity in the public cult among the Ubii and the Cugerni following the foundation of the

Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium was the Roman colony in the Rhineland from which the city of Cologne, now in Germany, developed. It was usually called ''Colonia'' (colony) and was the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and ...

and Colonia Ulpia Traiana in 50–60 AD, when his role was likely taken over by the Roman god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

Outside the Lower Rhine

Dedications to Hercules Magusanus are also known from Rome, Britain or

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

. In all instances, they are related to

Germani The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

from the Lower Rhine area, most of them serving in the Roman army or to its influence. An altar to Hercules Magusanus was found near the site of a Roman fort at Mumrills (

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling ( ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.Registers of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. It borders Perthshir ...

), dedicated by Valerius Nigrinus, an officer in the Tungrian cavalry regiment.

Depiction

Although no myth associated with Hercules Magusanus has been preserved, the iconography is rather close to the Latin imagery surrounding Hercules. For instance, several Germanic figurines and statues depict him bearing a club and a lion’s skin over his shoulders, once with three-headed dog

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

, echoing foreign myths involving the Roman hero.

References

Bibliography

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