Forum Boarium
In Forum Boarium—Foro Boario—ancient Rome held its cattle market, the forum venalium, on level ground near the Tiber between the Capitoline, Palatine, and Aventine hills. This spot also sat beside the original docks of Rome (Portus Tiberinus) and near the Pons Aemilius, the earliest stone bridge across the river, so commerce there could get intense. Before it was purely a trading center, it functioned as a religious hub, with the Temple of Hercules Victor, the Temple of Portunus (linked to Fortuna Virilis), and the massive Ara Maxima dating to the 6th or 5th century BC. The myths tied to these altars were bold: Hercules came for Geryon’s oxen, but Cacus—living in a cave at the Aventine’s foot—stole them. After Hercules killed him, an altar was dedicated in his honor, and the tufa core of that altar is housed in Santa Maria in Cosmedin. …
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