Roberto Matesanz

In this article it is argued that the representations of a monster with a human body and wolf head in the Villanovian and Etruscan art seem to be images of Cacus, the character appearing in the tenth labour of Hercules, according to the specific description made by classical authors like Virgil and Ovid. My argument is based on the analysis of reliefs from Pozo Moro monument, built around 500 B. C. to the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, where later Medieval Castilian historiography based on older sources indicates Cacus’ presence as a lord or monarch. Despite their partial preservation, these reliefs allow a myth’s narrative reconstruction truly ancient. Despite the persistence of some problems of interpretation, it is important to emphasize the value of Pozo Moro’s monument for Etruscan and Italic studies. In particular, for a better delimitation of the complex textual tradition on Cacus’ myth.

En este trabajo se analizan los relieves del friso principal del monumento ibérico de Pozo Moro (Chinchilla de Monte Aragón, Albacete, España), construido hacia 500 a. C. De dicho análisis se concluye que en ellos se narra un mito de origen indefinido que conocemos sobre todo en su versión latina: el mito del enfrentamiento entre Hércules y Caco, incluyendo su continuación en el templo de Bona Dea. Este doble episodio tiene lugar, en la versión latina que conocemos, en el romano monte Aventino, mientras Heracles retorna a Grecia desde Iberia arreando el ganado de Gerión.

The Iberian monument of Pozo Moro (Chinchilla de Montearagón, Albacete) was built (ca. 500 B. C.) close to a pit located in the nearness of the Via Heraklea. In this paper I analyze the symbolic relationship that could exist between some sculpted elements of the monument and its location in the proximity of a valuable water supply in an arid environment. This analysis takes as starting point the Pozo Moro’s principal frieze, in which it is told the myth of Hercules and Cacus. For this reason, it is examined, in comparison with its Greek models, the iconography of some artistic items originating from the Italian Peninsula, contemporaries with the construction of Pozo Moro’s monument. The analysis shows that in the second half of VI century B. C., both statues in the form of seated lions and lion heads, functioned as waterspouts in the Italian Peninsula. Sometimes these waterspouts appear together with a werewolf, both associated to a type of fountain, eventually with a great size, similar to an altar. This fact allows us to identify Cacus as the wolfman represented in the stamp of rings preserved in The J. Paul Getty Museum (Malibu) and the Musée du Louvre (Paris), just like on an amphora of La Tolfa Group preserved in the Astarita Collection of the Vatican Museums (Rome).