Hercules Magusanus

Hercules Magusanus is a Romano-Germanic deity or hero worshipped during the early first millennium AD in the Lower Rhine region among the Batavi, Marsaci, Ubii, Cugerni, Baetasii, and probably among the Tungri.

[9] According to Lauran Toorians, it is probable that the Batavi, who entered the Rhine-Meuse delta from the east after the defeat of the Eburones, were "linguistically mixed, which might mean that they had shifted from Celtic-speaking to Germanic-speaking in recent times."

[11] The earliest dedications to Magusanus are found on Batavian territory and are not attested in the Rhineland region before the 2nd century AD, which may suggest a progressive diffusion of the cult from the Batavi to their neighbours in the east.

[12] Since the Roman Hercules was generally equated with the Germanic Donar/Thor via interpretatio romana, Rudolf Simek has suggested that Magusanus was originally an epithet attached to the Proto-Germanic deity *Þunraz.

[14][15] This view is supported by the number of votive inscriptions to the god that were dedicated by soldiers, the practice of dropping off weapons in the sanctuary of Hercules Magusanus at Empel, and his role as the patron-deity of the Batavian young warrior bands.

[13] As evidenced by the number of votive inscriptions and a cult associated with the monumental temple complex of Empel, Hercules Magusanus was probably the main deity of the Batavian civitas during the Roman period.

For instance, several Germanic figurines and statues depict him bearing a club and a lion’s skin over his shoulders, once with three-headed dog Cerberus, echoing foreign myths involving the Roman hero.