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Ancient Art
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Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
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Photo credit: Yale University Art Gallery
Herakles and the Nemean Lion
ca. A.D. 160–256
Limestone
51.8 × 34.29 × 27.94 cm (20 3/8 × 13 1/2 × 11 in.)
Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos
1938.5302
The greatest of the Greek heroes, Herakles (Hercules) appears frequently at Dura-Europos, honored alongside his father, Zeus, in temples and worshipped alone in houses. He represents courage and strength and is best known for the twelve, impossible-seeming labors that he performed. At Dura, Herakles is invariably shown wrestling the Nemean lion with either the lion itself or its skin, which he carries afterward for protection and as a sign of strength. The significance of this myth for residents of Dura-Europos stemmed from the tradition of lion hunts as an activity of heroes and kings in the ancient Near East.
Geography:
Excavated in Dura-Europos, Syria
Status:
On view
Culture:
Syrian, Dura-Europos
Period:
Roman
Classification:
Sculpture
Provenance:
Excavated by the Yale-French Excavations at Dura-Europos (block C4 8, Temple of Zeus Megistos), present-day Syria, 1928–37; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography:
Lisa R. Brody and Gail Hoffman, eds., Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity (Boston: McMullen Museum of Art, 2011), 354, no. 47, pl. 47.
Jennifer Chi and Sebastian Heath, eds., Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews, and Christians at Roman Dura-Europos, exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 2011), 114, no. 41, ill.
Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
