A Gadibus Romam Myth and Reality of an Ancient Route

Manfred G. Schmidt

2011, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies

Abstract

The four goblets from Vicarello, which show copies of a Roman itinerary from Gades to Rome engraved on their outside (CIL XI 3281–3284), are usually interpreted as souvenirs brought to Vicarello by Spaniards as votive offerings after a long journey. In this article it is argued that these itineraries (just like the one in Metrodorus’ poem, Anth. Pal. XIV 121) are representing the legendary Via Herculis; they are to be understood as a Roman attempt to grasp the immense mythical distance by means of exact measurement. The goblets should be dated to the 4th century AD (goblet IV being the oldest, from the very beginning of the century), not to Augustan or Trajan times.

Figures (4)

western edge of the oikoumene to the centre of the Roman Empire: from the old Phoenician foundation of Gaddir/Gades to Rome, crossing the province of Baetica, passing through the interior and along the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula in the direction of the Pyrenees, crossing Provence, then climbing over the Cottian Alps, descending towards the plains of the River Po, afterwards turning south along the east coast of Italy on the Via Flaminia until it reaches Fanum Fortunae, and once again crossing a mountain range, the Appennine, until the road ends in Rome. [Figure 1]

Immediately in the year of their finding in 1852, the first three goblets were published by Padre Giuseppe Marchi under the title La stipe tributata alle divinita delle Acque apollinari;'° two years later, the treasure trove was brought to the notice of a wider scientific community by Wilhelm Henzen in Rheinisches Museum; and Bormann’s edition in the eleventh volume of the Corpus (C/L XI 3281-3284) remains the standard publication of these itineraries.

which seems wrong from the outset, because there is no agreement between the itineraries’ route and the Augustan road “* in Spain between Cordoba and Saetabis [Figure 3]. Heurgon argued that indigenous names in the section on the Cottian Alps, like Gaesao and Segusio, which are present in /tin. Vicar. J-UI, had been replaced in /tin. Vicar. IV by names that reflect Augustan propaganda (following the Roman agreement with Cottius); the latter names thus gave a ‘terminus post quem’ for this itinerary, while the former names seemed to imply a pre-Augustan date for the other three goblets.*° But the indigenous names incriminated by

From a handful of ancient authors, we do indeed know of a ‘Od0c¢ ‘HpaxAsta or via Herculis, but not in Spain.“ The only evidence for such a mythical route concerns the stretch through the Alps, where the Greek hero had paved the way for himself and his cattle. But sure enough he had come all the way from southern Spain, from the island Erytheia neat Gades, as the legend says, where in accomplishing his tenth labour he had stolen the cattle of the fearsome giant Geryon and from where he drove his herd across the Iberian peninsula. crossing the mountain range of the Alps via Mont Genévre, just as the itineraries do, then through the plain of the River Po — which in Roman times was obviously a considerable detour. His route leads him straight to the place where in historical times Rome was founded, and right in the heart of the later city he eventually meets Cacus, who tries to steal some of the cattle from him (cf., i.a., Verg. Aen. 8.185-275). The mythological tradition localizes the place on the left side of the river Tiber between Capitol, Palatine, and Aventine — which in later times was to be the Forum Boarium, where Hercules’ Ara Maxima was built and where the Temple of Hercules Victor was erected. This temple is a monopteros,