Statuette of the Youthful Herakles

300–200 B.C.

Medium

Bronze

Dimensions

19.5 × 5 cm

Status

In Museum Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-207966

The lionskin draped over his arm identifies this youth as the Greek hero Herakles. Although it is now missing, Herakles once held a drinking horn or cup in his outstretched right hand. Greek mythology tells the story of a drinking contest between Herakles and Dionysos, the god of wine, and artists often portrayed the two deities relaxing and drinking. This bronze statuette depicts Herakles in an unusual fashion. Although the figure is very muscular as is fitting for the hero, neither his long, slender build nor the boyish face with small jaw and delicate features is in keeping with the standard image of Herakles. This type of slender Herakles holding a drinking vessel appears sporadically in Hellenistic art. It appears to have originated in Italy in the 200s B.C. For example, the long proportions of this statuette find parallels in those favored in the contemporary sculpture of the Greek colony of Tarentum in South Italy. The unusual and somewhat individualized facial features of this statuette have raised the possibility that it is actually a Hellenistic ruler represented in the guise of Herakles. The peaked diadem elaborated with a lotus leaf may support this interpretation.