Cacus

Hercules and Cacus
Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

In Roman mythology, Cacus was a fire-breathing giant monster and the son of Vulcan, killed by Hercules.

Mythology

Cacus lived in a cave in the Palatine Hill in Italy, the future site of Rome. To the horror of nearby inhabitants, Cacus lived on human flesh and would nail the heads of victims to the doors of his cave. He was eventually overcome by Hercules.

According to Evander, Hercules stopped to pasture the cattle he had stolen from Geryon near Cacus' lair. As Hercules slept, the monster took a liking to the cattle and slyly stole eight of them - four bulls and four cows - by dragging them by their tails, so as to leave a trail in the wrong direction. When Hercules awoke and made to leave, the remaining herd made plaintive noises towards the cave, and a single cow lowed in reply.

Angered, Hercules stormed towards the cave. A terrified Cacus blocked the entrance with a vast, immoveable boulder, forcing Heracles to tear at the top of the mountain to reach his adversary. Cacus attacked Heracles by spewing fire and smoke, while Heracles responded with tree branches and rocks the size of millstones. Eventually losing patience, Heracles leapt into the cave, aiming for the area where the smoke was heaviest. Hercules grabbed Cacus and strangled the monster, and was lauded throughout the land for his act. According to Virgil in Book VIII of the Aeneid, Hercules grasped Cacus so tightly that Cacus' eyes popped out and there was no blood left in his throat: "et angit inhaerens elisos oculos et siccum sanguine guttur."

Another version of the myth states that Cacus made the cattle walk backwards so they left a false trail. Hercules drove his remaining cattle past a cave, where Cacus was hiding the stolen ones, and they began calling out to each other. Alternatively, Caca, Cacus' sister, told Heracles where he was.

In the Roman tradition, Hercules founded an altar after he killed Cacus. This was the Ara Maxima, where later the Forum Boarium, the cattle market of Rome, was held. Hercules had temples in the area, including the still extant Temple of Hercules Victor. It is believed that a large stone in the nearby church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin is what is left of the Ara Maxima.

In later literature

• In the Inferno poem of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Cacus is depicted as a centaur with a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders and snakes covering his equine back. He guards over the thieves in the Thieves section of Hell's Circle of Fraud.

References

• March, J., Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology, London, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35161-X
• Coarelli, Filippo, Guida Archeologica di Roma, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milano, 1989.