The Links between Salt and the God Hercules in Rome, Ostia and Alba Fucens

Abstract

The scientific interest in salt has often found useful partners in researchers of the Roman economy, rather than in its symbolic relationship with the settlers. For this reason, the study aims to an­alyse the relationship between salt and Roman religion, taking the example of the cult of Hercules in Rome, Ostia and central Italy. To this end, the figure of the Italic god in its original context will be analysed first, highlighting its con­ceptual differences with the later Gre­co-Roman god and its relationship with salt and its urban cult. In a second mo­ment, the role that the god plays with the city of Ostia and its casuistry will be reviewed, in order to, finally, study the devotion of the divinity in the centre of Italy, tremendously rooted since very remote times in sanctuaries such as that of Alba Fucens.