Statuette of Herakles
510–500 BCE
- Medium
- bronze (solid cast)
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 21.5 cm (8 7/16 in.)
- Culture
- Greek
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Greek and Roman Art
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions nudity. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Striding forward with his left foot, this nude figure turns his torso and raises his tightly bent right arm behind his head. Despite significant damage, the statuette conveys a naturalistic sense of form and movement rarely seen in early Greek art. Its most striking feature is its powerful physique, with sharply defined, bulging muscles. Formerly called an athlete and assumed to have held a javelin or discus, the figure likely depicts the hero Herakles, revered for his strength and often shown in this smiting pose, wielding a club. Though usually bearded in this period, this representation emphasizes his youthfulness, with an idealized face and carefully arranged hair.
