Benjamin Kany

Legacy Project Essay

Ancient World 9

May 15, 2015

A Tangible Representation of Strength and Courage: Bronze Herakles

Herakles, the Greek hero of superhuman strength, was the son of the Greek god
Zeus and the mortal woman Alkmene. According to Greek mythology, Zeus desired a son
who would be the guardian of both mortals and immortals. Thus, he visited Alkmene in
Thebes, where they conceived Herakles. On the day Herakles was to be born, Zeus
boasted that his son would rule over Greece. But Hera, Zeuss jealous and vengeful wife,
delayed the birth of Herakles until the day after his cousin Eurystheos was born, thus,
ensuring that Eurystheos would inherit the throne. Hera then sent two snakes to destroy
the infant Herakles as he slept in his cradle. Yet even as a baby Herakles used his strength
and saved himself strangling one serpent in each hand. This strength is displayed in the
Bronze Herakles statuette, from the last quarter of the 6th century B.C. in Mantinea,
Ancient Greece on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Bronze Herakles not
only clearly displays the eternal truth that with strength and courage, obstacles can be
overcome in the Ancient World, but continues to carry that message today in the 21st
century.
The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods, each with a distinct personality and
domain. Greek myths explain the origins of the gods and their individual relations with
mankind. Archaic art illustrates many mythological episodes, including an established
iconography of attributes that identify each god. Although the Iliad and the Odyssey of
Homer, believed to have been composed around the 8th century B.C., were powerful
influences on Greek thought, the ancient Greeks had no single guiding work of scripture

like the Jewish Torah, the Christian Bible, or the Muslim Qu'ran. Nor did they have a
strict priestly caste. According to historians at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
relationship between human beings and deities was based on the concept of exchange:
gods and goddesses were expected to give gifts. Votive offerings, which have been
excavated from sanctuaries by the thousands, were a physical expression of thanks on the
part of individual worshippers.1 Moreover, use of the Bronze Herakles statuette as the
focus of worship constituted a further votive offering. In addition, the material used to
make the Bronze Herakles directly correlates to Herakless own strength: the statuette has
remained in nearly perfect condition for more than 2,500 years due to the strength of the
bronze material.
In the statuette of Herakles, historians have come to the conclusion that,
Herakles is presented here not only as a hero of extraordinary strength and vitality but
also as a beautifully groomedand thus civilizedindividual.2 Said to be from the last
quarter of the 6th century B.C., the bronze statuette was probably made as a dedication in
a sanctuary and is said to be from Mantinea, Ancient Greece.3 Herakles is portrayed as a
hero of extraordinary strength and vitality. This aspect is emphasized in Archaic art. Only
later do episodes of his legend, such as the madness that Hera inflicted upon him, become
prominent in art. The pan-Hellenic mythological Greek hero, was famed for his great
strength and courage and celebrated as an extraordinary mortal who, through success in
seemingly impossible labors, won his place as an immortal among the Olympian gods.
1 "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Greek Gods and Religious Practices. Accessed May 3, 2015.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/grlg/hd_grlg.htm.
2 "Bronze Herakles | Greek | Archaic." Bronze Herakles. Accessed May 1, 2015,
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/252975?
rpp=90&pg=2&rndkey=20150428&ft=*&where=Greece&what=Statues&pos=118&imgno=0&tabname=onlineresources.
3 Ibid.

And, as the greatest of Greek mythological heroes, he has been cast as the hero in a
multitude of adventures and exploits over the centuries which were probably originally
connected to lesser, more local figures. The mightiest son of Zeus, the King of the Gods,
and slayer of the most dangerous creatures, Herakles is the greatest of the Greek heroes.4
The goddess Athena, his guardian and counselor, was the one who brought the hero at the
end of his life to Mount Olympus, where he was ultimately accepted among the
immortals for his labors and adventures that linked him with all parts of Greece.
Given the time and the place of its creation, the Bronze Herakles statuette gives
support to the idea that with strength and courage, obstacles can be overcome. The
statuette is said to have been made in Mantinea in Ancient Greece during last quarter of
the 6th century B.C. Following a period of sporadic invasions and attacks and large
movements of people, demographic and economic changes in the eighth century B.C. led
to overseas colonization, spreading the Greek language and culture across the
Mediterranean and Black seas.5 Communities throughout the Greek world evolved into
city-states, laying the foundations for democracy. Literature, science, and the arts
flourished for several centuries, and new genres of artistic and intellectual expression
evolved. During the time in which the Bronze Herakles was produced, the nobles of
Attica, with the help of Sparta, defeated the Athenian ruler Hippias. Because of this,
many Ancient Greek citizens and officials looked to the Greek Gods and especially
Herakles, who provided the citizens with the ideal of strength and courage. Glorifying
and remembering Herakles and his representation of strength and courage provided the

4 "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Statuette of Herakles [Greek] (28.77). Accessed May 1, 2015.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/28.77.
5 "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." China, 1000 B.C.1 A.D. Accessed May 4, 2015.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=04ion=eusb#/Overview.

generation and the generations to come a sense of safety, as Herakles was portrayed as a
protector due to his strength, courage, and heroism.
A striking change appears in Greek art of the seventh century B.C., the beginning
of the Archaic period. The abstract geometric patterning that was dominant between
about 1050 and 700 B.C. is supplanted in the seventh century by a more naturalistic style
reflecting significant influence from the Near East and Egypt. According to historians at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Greek world of the seventh and sixth
centuries B.C. consisted of numerous autonomous city-states, or poleis, separated one
from the other by mountains and the sea.6 Greek settlements stretched all the way from
the coast of Asia Minor and the Aegean islands, to mainland Greece, Sicily, North Africa,
and even Spain. As the poleis grew in wealth and power. Sculptors in the Aegean islands,
notably on Naxos and Samos, carved large-scale statues in marble. Goldsmiths on
Rhodes specialized in fine jewelry, and bronzeworkers on Crete fashioned armor and
plaques decorated with superb reliefs as shown in the statuette of Herakles. Throughout
the sixth century B.C., Greek artists made increasingly naturalistic representations of the
human figure and because of the time period of which the Bronze Herakles was created
and the symbolism of strength, courage, and heroism it encapsulates, the bronze statuette
clearly demonstrates Herakless message that with strength and courage, transitions and
obstacles can be overcome.
The Bronze Herakles further embodies the eternal truth of strength and courage in
Ovids Metamorphoses, Book IX, 1-88, where Herakless astounding strength is shown.
Ovid was born in 43 B.C. After holding brief judicial posts as a young man, he turned to

6 Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History." Greek Art in the Archaic Period. Web. 11 May 2015.
<http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/argk/hd_argk.htm>.

writing poetry.7 In his work Metamorpheses however, Ovid describes the extraordinary
strength and courage of Herakles in fights with Achelos, the chief of all river gods and
the god of the Achelous River and Nessus, a centaur. Ovid writes in the voice of
Achelos, He pressed me hard, as I gasped for breath, prevented me from gathering my
strength, and gripped my neck. Then, at last, my knee touched the ground, and my mouth
tasted sand. Inferior to him in strength8 With his superior strength, Herakles easily
defeats both Achelos and Nessus, breaking the horn of the Achelos and killing the
Nessus. A second example of Herakles power is shown again in Ovids Metamorpheses
when Achelos tries to defeat Herakles with a monstrous snake. However, Achelos is
ignorant of the fact that when Herakles was a baby, Hera tried to kill him with snakes
only to find Herakles with two dead snakes in his hands when she checked to see if the
deed had been done. After being faced with a snake while fighting, Herakles responds,
My task in the cradle was to defeat snakes, and, though you are greater than other
reptiles, Achelos I overcame it, and having overcome it, I disembowelled that
monster, with branching snake-heads, that grew from their own destruction, thriving on
evil.9 In this scenario, Achelos is no match for the strength and courage of Herakles,
further proving how with strength and courage, obstacles can be overcome.
The eternal truth that with strength and courage, obstacles can be overcome is
further proved in the 21st century through commercials and music in our everyday life. In
a recently shown PowerAde commercial debuted during the 2014 World Cup, a 19-year-

7 "Ovid Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 11 May 2015.

<http://www.biography.com/people/ovid-9430940>.
8 "Metamorphoses (Kline) 9, the Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center." Metamorphoses (Kline) 9, the
Ovid Collection, Univ. of Virginia E-Text Center. Accessed May 6, 2015.
9 Ibid.

old boy, Nico Calabria, is shown how with strength and courage, he has been able to
overcome the greatest obstacle one could imagine: being born with no right hip or leg.
Today, Nico plays soccer, wrestles in high school, practices gymnastics, and at age 13, he
raised more than $100,000 for charity by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. He made his
varsity soccer team at Concord-Carlisle High in Massachusetts, where he scored a goal
that ended up drawing nearly 2 million hits on YouTube.
Calabria says that ever since he started playing soccer at age 5, he has been
dreaming of playing in the World Cupas an able-bodied player, of course. He says he
was naive then. But it's not really naivet that has fueled Calabria. He has always had a
realistic viewhis family has made sure of that.10 His brother picked on him the same
way any older brother would. Its surreal, he says. I dont know how to describe it,
really. I never expected to be in this situation 11 His parents didnt coddle him or allow
him to make excuses. Calabrias mother, Jeanine, says that from the start, the family
made sure to focus on what he did have rather than what he didnt. Instead of saying he
had one leg, they'd say he had a left leg. This display of strength and courage is beyond
comprehensibility as Nico is faced with an obstacle most would not even imagine of
having but with strength and courage Nico Calabria, overcomes that obstacle and lives
his life as an ordinary 19 year-old boy.
John Legend and Common further show how strength and courage work to
overcome obstacles in their recently debuted song, Glory. The song is shaping up to be
one of the most inspirational movie songs in quite some time. Glory appears in the
film Selma, which chronicles the civil rights marches led by Martin Luther King and
10 "One-Legged Soccer Player Inspires Us All." Men's Fitness. Web. 14 May 2015.
<http://www.mensfitness.com/life/sports/one-legged-soccer-player-inspires-us-all>.
11 Ibid.

others in 1965. The song has an impact not only because of the important history it
documents, but also because of the recent spate of police shootings of unarmed black
men that has led to protests across the country. Connecting the past with the present,
Common raps, That's why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up/ When it go
down we woman and man up/ They say, "Stay down" and we stand up.12 Through the
lyrics of this song, we remember the message of strength and courage it took for people,
past and present, to stand up for what they thought was right.
The message of the Bronze Herakles is simple: with strength and courage,
obstacles can be overcome. This message not only proves to be true in the Ancient World,
during the context and time period, in works chronicled by Ovid, but also proves to be
true in the 21st century as the message is exposed through modern developments
undreamed of by Herakles or Ovid television commercials and rap music. The Greek
hero of superhuman strength contains a message that is passed down from generation to
generation and is held on to in difficult times. The eternal truth that with strength and
courage, obstacles can be overcome even relates to the novel, The Handmaids Tale, by
Margaret Atwood, as Offred, the protagonist, uses an enormous amount of strength and
courage to keep herself moving forward as she is put in a terrible situation in being a
handmaid. With her strength and courage, she moves forward and holds onto the hope of
possibly seeing her daughter again. Although the Bronze Herakles was created half way
across the world in Mantinea, Ancient Greece, and was made some 2,700 years ago, the

12 "John Legend Glory Lyrics." Directlyrics. Web. 12 May 2015. <http://www.directlyrics.com/john-legend-glorylyrics.html>.

statuette not only clearly proves the eternal truth that in the Ancient World, with strength
and courage, obstacles could be overcome, but further proves that eternal truth today.

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Chicago formatting by BibMe.org.

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