![DEDICATION OF A SHRINE TO HERCULES, 1 JUNE 128 CE. OSPEDALE FATEBENEFRATELLI, ISOLA TIBERINA
"Sacred to Hercules of the House of Augustus, from the collection of the warehousemen of the second larger cohort and Diadumenus, slave of our Caesar, and Titus Flavius Crescens and the Galban workers; under the care of Hermes, slave of Gaius Mundicius Helpistus. Dedicated on the Kalends of June [June 1st] in the consulship of Marcus Iunius Mettius Rufus and Quintus Pomponius Maternus [128 AD]." So it seems the workers in the Horrea Galbana, the huge warehouses of Galba near the river-port of Rome in today's Testaccio district, had a nice whip round to fund a sacred space, a shrine or altar, to Hercules. The workers, imperial freedmen and slaves, were divided into three "cohorts", not military ones, but possibly corresponding to the three courtyards of the Horrea. Hercules, the human who became a god, was a natural divinity to link to Hadrian, emperor at the time. He was also connected to mercantile activity and the emergence from the bonds of slavery, which would also help to explain the devotion of the warehouse-men.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:y2ps7or6drwz3yuvelv6glai/bafkreick7csy3y4bsow5tye6wpsxoasvzdr6tm4yor65ioe3d3xbmdzkcm)
DEDICATION OF A SHRINE TO HERCULES, 1 JUNE 128 CE. OSPEDALE FATEBENEFRATELLI, ISOLA TIBERINA "Sacred to Hercules of the House of Augustus, from the collection of the warehousemen of the second larger cohort and Diadumenus, slave of our Caesar, and Titus Flavius Crescens and the Galban workers; under the care of Hermes, slave of Gaius Mundicius Helpistus. Dedicated on the Kalends of June [June 1st] in the consulship of Marcus Iunius Mettius Rufus and Quintus Pomponius Maternus [128 AD]." So it seems the workers in the Horrea Galbana, the huge warehouses of Galba near the river-port of Rome in today's Testaccio district, had a nice whip round to fund a sacred space, a shrine or altar, to Hercules. The workers, imperial freedmen and slaves, were divided into three "cohorts", not military ones, but possibly corresponding to the three courtyards of the Horrea. Hercules, the human who became a god, was a natural divinity to link to Hadrian, emperor at the time. He was also connected to mercantile activity and the emergence from the bonds of slavery, which would also help to explain the devotion of the warehouse-men.
A #dedication of a #shrine to #Hercules is the subject of this week's #EpigraphyTuesday. Made in elegant rustic capitals, we can date it precisely to June 1, 128 CE. It's now on the wall of the fishpond cloister of the #Fatebenefratelli hospital on the #Tiber Island in #Rome. #AncientBluesky 🏺
