Temple of Hercules Victor

The Temple of Hercules Victor ('Hercules 'the Conqueror') or Hercules Olivarius is an ancient edifice located in the Forum Boarium in Rome. It is is a monopteros, a round temple of Greek 'peripteral' design (surrounded by colonnades on all sides). This layout caused it to be mistaken for a temple of Vesta.

Dating from the later second century BC, and perhaps erected by L. Mummius Achaicus, conqueror of the Achaeans and destroyer of Corinth, the temple is 14.8 m in diameter and consists of a circular cella within a concentric ring of 20 x 10.66 m tall Corinthian columns resting on a tuff foundation. These elements supported an architrave and roof which have disappeared.

The original wall of the cella, built of travertine and marble blocks, and nineteen of the originally twenty columns remain but the current tile roof was added later. Palladio suggested a dome, though this was apparently erroneous. The temple is the earliest surviving marble building in Rome.