ARTWORK/ANCIENT WORLD:
Another spectacular reminder of the artistic splendours of Magna Graecia is this imposing marble statue of Hercules, c. AD 216, located in the museum of Naples, originally made for the Baths of Caracalla. Signed by Glykon of Athens, an artist otherwise unknown, it is a marble copy of the original colossal 5-meter bronze sculpture of Hercules attributed to Lysippos and dated from the 4th c. BC, which was located on the acropolis of the Lacedaemonian-founded city of Taranto.
After 209 BC, it was taken as war booty by Quintus Fabius Maximus. The bronze masterpiece was later moved to Rome, then to Constantinople in AD 325, and was melted down during the 4th Crusade in April 1204.
The hero is depicted after having accomplished his 11th labour, the penultimate trial, retrieving the immortal golden apples given to Hera by Zeus, which were guarded by the Hesperides nymphs and the dragon Ladon. Hercules, clutching the apples, appears to be sad, melancholic and weary as he pauses to rest on his club, which has the skin of the Nemean lion draped over it, perhaps contemplating his next and last labor, the capture of Cerberos.
Farnese Hercules, an early third century AD Roman copy from the original by Lysippos made for the Baths of Caracalla in Rome, Naples National Archaeological Museum. Photos from Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.com