The Temple of Hercules Musarum () was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

dedicated to Hercules Musarum ("

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 ...

of the

Muses In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

") located near the

Circus Flaminius The Circus Flaminius was a large, circular area in ancient Rome, located in the southern end of the Campus Martius near the Tiber River. It contained a small race-track used for obscure games, and various other buildings and monuments. It was "bu ...

in the southern

Campus Martius The Campus Martius (Latin for 'Field of Mars'; Italian: ''Campo Marzio'') was a publicly owned area of ancient Rome about in extent. In the Middle Ages, it was the most populous area of Rome. The IV rione of Rome, Campo Marzio, which covers ...

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

History

The temple was built by the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Marcus Fulvius Nobilior, who conquered the

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

city of

Ambracia Ambracia (; , occasionally , ''Ampracia'') was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was founded by the Corinthians in 625 BC and was situated about from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigable river Arachthos (or ...

in It was probably completed and dedicated during his triumph in Having earned scorn for enriching himself by raiding Greek temples, Fulvius Nobilior supposedly erected a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

around an earlier temple of Hercules in the Campus Martius, most likely that of Hercules Magnus Custos ("Hercules the Great Guardian"). He donated the copies of the and statues he had taken from Ambracia, including a statue group of the Muses,

Jörg Rüpke Jörg Rüpke (born 27 December 1962 in Herford, West Germany) is a German scholar of comparative religion and classical philology, recipient of the Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize in 2008, and of the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council in ...

, ''Religion in Republican Rome,'' pp. 153–154. after which the temple became known as Hercules Musarum, a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Hercules Musagetes (, ''Hēraklḗs Mousagétēs''),

as leader of the

. The temple later became the home of the Roman poets' guild (). The Portico of Octavius () was later built around the temple. Around

Octavian Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

and his stepbrother L. Marcius Philippus refurbished the portico and temple, after which the area was known as the Portico of Philippus (). The temple has not survived but part of its floorplan is known from Fragment 33 of the 3rd century

Forma Urbis Romae The ''Forma Urbis Romae'' or Severan Marble Plan is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between AD 203 and 211. Matteo Cadario gives specific years of 205–208, noting that the map was based on ...

.Richardson, L. "Hercules Musarum and the Porticus Philippi in Rome." American Journal of Archaeology 81, no. 3 (1977): 355-61. Accessed May 2, 2021. doi:10.2307/503009.

References

External links

*http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/PLATOP*/Aedes_Herculis_Musarum.html {{coord missing, Italy Hercules Musarum 180s BC establishments 2nd-century BC establishments in Italy 2nd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic Temples of Heracles 2nd-century BC religious buildings and structures Destroyed temples Hercules Destroyed Roman temples

History

See also

References

External links