0559ANCIENTHeraclesApples_Farnese

0559ANCIENTHeraclesApples_Farnese

Wikipedia Commons
Ovid Met. 9.190

Anonymous (inscribed with Glykon's name), 3rd Century BC, Museo Nazionale Archeologico, Naples

Heracles, physically enlarged to colossal status by a lifetime of labors, now rests pensively on his club. The secret to understanding the sculpture is obscured in his right hand, behind his back.

He holds in his right hand the Apples of the Hesperides, golden fruit from a tree Gaia had given to Hera as her wedding gift. To get the fruit, Heracles has ventured to the very edge of the world… and he has acquired something of tremendous value to Hera herself (his arch nemesis). The Apples are a symbol of immortality.

H. Goltzius' engraving, click.
The observer lower left is included to show scale.

Collage of three images: an anatomical drawing of a male figure's back, a marble statue of Hercules, and a museum visitor viewing the statue

In some early versions of the myth, Heracles retains the Apples rather than surrender them to Eurystheus. Because no mortal is allowed to possess them, Athena returns the Apples to the Garden of the Hesperides.

The work was discovered in the Renaissance (in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1546) and has been very popular ever since. The pose itself became iconic. The piece actually bears a signature “by Glykon” written in Greek, but the creator’s identity is is much disputed.

The work is named after the Farnese family that possessed it and transported it to Naples.

See Morford & Lenardon, p. 585. It’s hard to argue against their conclusion that the Farnese Hercules shows the “stance of weariness after his labors.”

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University and other contexts.
This resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.