Herakles

Herakles stands with his legs slightly spread; his left leg is forward, with the knee bent and foot turned outward. He extends his left arm, over which is draped a stylized, triangular version of his lion skin. In his raised right arm, he brandishes the club behind his head; the club has a rough indication of tree-like texture. The figure has defined musculature. The face has a beak-like nose; mouth and eyes are barely indicated. The rough shape of the hair on his uncovered head is clear, but there is no indication of individual locks. The back is flat and plain with no detailing. Statuettes showing Herakles in an attacking stance like this are very common in the ancient world (1). The god may have had a connection with cultivation in early Italy (2). NOTES: 1. See A.-M. Adam, Bronzes étrusques et italiques (Paris, 1984) 180-92, nos. 271-95; and A. Naso, I bronzi etruschi e italici del Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Kataloge vor- und frühgeschichtlicher Altertümer 33 (Mainz, 2003) 37-43, nos. 48-61, 63-64, and 66-67, pls. 21-24. 2. S. J. Schwarz, “Herakles/Hercle,” Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae 5.1: 196-253, esp. 197; F. van Wonterghem, “Le culte d’Hercule chez les Paeligni documents anciens et nouveaux,” L’Antiquité classique 42.1 (1973): 36-48; F. Jurgeit, Die etruskischen und italischen Bronzen sowie Gegenstände aus Eisen, Blei, und Leder im Badischen Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Terra Italia 5 (Pisa, 1999) 56-69, nos. 61-89, pls. 21-28. Jane A. Scott and Lisa M. Anderson