TWO STATUES OF HERCULES IN THE FORUM BOARIUM IN ROME

Summary. This paper is concerned with two statues of Hercules associated with his cult in the Forum Boarium in Rome. First, the gilded bronze in the Conservatori Museum, usually thought to have been the cult image, carried from Greece, of a late Hellenistic rotunda, is here dated to the first–second centuries AD and considered an independent dedication standing in the Forum. Second, the Julio-Claudian marble seated Hercules in the Palazzo Altemps is discussed in relation to the so-called Invictus type reproduced in the minor arts of the first to second centuries AD. In addition, we speculate on its possible inspiration from a prototype of the 430s BC in South Italy.