ProQuest Dissertations - Historia Antigua

information about the deity or the sanctuary as of yet.The third of the sanctuaries is thesuburban shrine, possibly dedicated to Hercules, in the southeastern quadrant of the city.At this location, excavators found votive terracottas and black-painted ceramic ware, insome cases painted with a letter 'H.'While examples exactly like this appear only inFregellae, the phenomenon of'H' inscribed pocula deorum are common in sanctuaries ofHercules. 49It is not surprising to find evidence of a cult of Hercules at Fregellae because thecult is common throughout central Italy and especially in Sabellic areas. 50A commonfeature of the myth of Hercules' travels throughout Italy was the friendly union betweenGreek and native as depicted through Hercules' relationships with native women as wellas through the ultimate submission of natives to the traveling Greeks. 51This is aparticularly powerful message in a colonial setting, especially for the colonists who areattempting to pacify the local populations. Moreover, since the Samnites and Paeligniwere among the native people to adopt the worship of Hercules, a cult place near thesouthern exit to the valley suggests a conceptual boundary where Hercules is mediatingCoarelli, (1998), p. 61. This is probably the same area as the one in which Colasanti found the element ofthe thesaurus, conserved on the Fiorelli farm (Colasanti (1906), pp. 101-103, Coarelli (1981), fig. 19 on p.41).48 Nicosia (1979), pp. 26-28; Crawford (1985), p. 93, fig. 2.49 Morel (1973), p. 49.50 Coarelli (1998), p. 61. Cf. Torelli (1993).51 Leigh (2000), p. 127. The Cacus myths offer a slightly more complicated pattern of interaction betweenHercules and the Italians. In the prose versions of Livy (1.7.3) and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ant. Rom.1.39), Cacus is a local thief whom Hercules overcomes before making an alliance with King Evander. Thepoetic reworks of this myth, beginning with Virgil (Aen. 8.185-275), cast Cacus as an ogre (Cf. Ovid Fast.1.543-86 and 5.643-52; Prop. 4.9.1-20). This later version perhaps reflects the influence of a satyr drama(Cf. Sutton (1977)). The ultimate conclusion of the episodes leaves Hercules in a position of power relativeto the native populations.52 Salmon (1967), pp. 170-171 and n. 1 on p. 171. There was an important Sabellic shrine to Hercules onthe border between Nola and Abella (Pulgram (1960), pp. 16-29) and a possible sanctuary to the god inPaelignian territory at Monte Morrone.163