Hercules (Heracles) holding a club
Hercules (Heracles) holding a club
3D
Published 2018-09-03T13:36:28+00:00
This sculpture depicts Hercules (Heracles) holding his famous club.
There were different ancient Greek traditions where the club was made and what it was made from; one tradition said Heracles made the club for himself at Nemea by cutting from a tree, e.g. Pseudo-Apollodorus (2. 4. 11). :“Having first learned from Eurytus the art of archery, Hercules received a sword from Hermes, a bow and arrows from Apollo, a golden breastplate from Hephaestus, and a robe from Athena; for he had himself cut a club at Nemea.”
Theocritus in his Idyll (25) on Heracles, instead of notes Heracles made the club from pulling up an olive-tree by its roots or stem, but on Mount Helicon in Boeotia; the club was therefore in this tradition an entire tree, rather than just a cut piece from it.
Another ancient tradition, however, said the club was given to Heracles by Hephaestus and was made out of brass, or bronze-tipped; the classical source for the latter is Diodorus Siculus.
| Date published | 03/09/2018 |
| Title | Heracles holding a club |
| Date | 500-480 BC |
| Period | Ancient |
| Medium | Limestone |
| Artist | Unknown artist |
| Place | Cyprus Archaeological Museum |
