CULT STATUE OF HERCULES OLIVARIUS, C1 BCE (?). CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS The cult of Hercules in the Forum Boarium stretched back to before the foundation of Rome itself. His connection with the area was mythological: the giant Cacus terrorised the area from the Aventine to the Capitoline until Hercules killed him. But this place was the Cattle Market, and Hercules had another role, the protector of commerce, equivalent to the Phœnician god Melqart. His round temple was the first to be built entirely of Greek marble, around 100 BCE, in his role as patron of olive merchants. This statue, once the sacred image of the god, had to be reassuringly strong, but his phallus is canonically small, to show that his passions did not get the better of him. A close look reveals that his foreskin is the ideal length for Greek beauty standards (about 1/3 of the length of the rest). This is a statue for international commerce.

#PhallusThursday in the #CapitolineMuseums presents us with an eye-level #phallus of the splendid C1 BCE cult statue of #Hercules from the round temple in the #ForumBoarium. The god's muscular gilded bronze thighs frame his genitals in a show of strength, but not to intimidate. #AncientBluesky 🏺