<p>Sanctuary, and probably temple, in the area of the *Circus Flaminius that was dedicated to Hercules as protector of the circus (<i>Fast. Ven</i>.: HERC(VLI) MAGN(O) CVSTO(DI) for June 4th; <i>Fast. Vall</i>.: HERCVLI MAGNO CVSTODI IN CIRCO FLAMIN(IO) for August 12th, in Degrassi, <i>Inscr. Ital.</i> 13.2, 58, 149). Ovid relates that the <i>opus</i> was sanctioned by Sulla, and that it was located after consultation with the Sibylline Books in the opposite part of the Circus Flaminius from the Temple of *Bellona (<i>Fast</i>. 6.209-12): <i>altera pars Circi Custode sub Hercule tuta</i>...; La Rocca 1987, 365; Coarelli 1997, 498). Yet Sulla may have only restored a cult site originally built during the 3rd c. B.C. (Ziolkowski, Zevi 1993, Viscogliosi, Richardson). An inscription found in the Circus Flaminius area attests to the existence, already in the early Republican period, of a <i>collegium</i> in charge of the organization of games (<i>ludi</i>) in honor of Hercules (...]R MAG(ISTER) LVDOS [...HER]COLEI MAGNO [CVSTODI IN CIRCO FLAMI]NEO FECIT: <i>CIL</i> VI 335=<i>ILLRP</i> 703).</p> <p>No archaeological remains have been associated with this sanctuary, while the scant — and at times contradictory — literary evidence (e.g., competing foundation days recorded in the <i>fasti</i>) leaves its location within the *Campus Flaminius open to debate. Wiseman (17) places the temple on the SW side of the Circus Flaminius, Ziolkowski (55) at the W end near the Temple of *Mars, Richardson under the Monte de’ Cenci on the SW flank of the circus, while Zevi suggests that the Hercules sanctuary was near both the Circus and the *Tiber, though he does not offer a more specific location (1976, 1060-61). Viscogliosi favors a position towards the W end of the circus, either on the SW (following Coarelli 1968, who places the cult site under S. Maria in Monticelli), or towards the NW (in keeping with Coarelli 1997, though this text would have been unknown to him when writing). Coarelli places it on the NW side of the circus (1997, esp. fig. 54, under S. Maria in Publicolis, a notable departure from his 1968 thesis), as does La Rocca (1995, citing sculptural evidence which associates Hercules’ temple with that of Neptune); with caution, we indicate its site next to the Temple of Neptune and south of the *“Area Sacra” in Largo Argentina by an index number.</p>