Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
Herakles stands with feet spread, left foot forward and right hip jutting out. His right arm was upraised, holding a club behind his head; the arm has been broken off. His left arm, missing its hand, is held out from the shoulder with a stylized lion skin draped over it. Fingers and toes are only slightly indicated. The musculature of the body is more modeled and naturalistic than other Herakles statuettes in Harvard’s collection, such as 1920.44.100, 2002.60.40, and 2012.1.9. Nipples and navel are indicated by small circular punches of the same size. Herakles’ face is very angular and stylized, with triangular eyes, lacking molded lids, and pupils incised by dots. His nose is pointed, and there are simple molded lines for lips. The head is uncovered—a diadem encircles the head. Wavy hair is indicated by lines; it is particularly long in the back and around the face. A small section of hair or perhaps a fillet sticks out over the brow.
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. Leibundgut, Die römischen Bronzen der Schweiz 3: Westchweiz, Bern, und Wallis (Mainz, 1980) 181-82, no. 278; 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
