Hercules Fighting the Dragon of the Hesperides - Vienna, Austria
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 11.090 E 016° 18.760
33U E 597568 N 5337676
This sculpture is located in the lobby of Schonbrunn Palace- where tours begin.
Waymark Code: WMK9Y6
Location: Wien, Austria
Date Posted: 03/06/2014
Views: 7
Hercules is a demi-god....the son of Zeus and Alcmene, a mortal.
This is one of a pair of sculptures depicting Hercules in the lobby of the Schonbrunn Palace. The other depicts Hercules slaying the Nemean lion.
Here, Hercules, wearing a lion skin over his head straddles a winged dragon which appears to be on its back with its mouth agape.
A placard indicates that the sculptures were designed by Giovanni Giuliani and cast by Ubald Torri. They were made between 1714 and 1724. The placard also indicates that the hollow-cast sculptures served as hot air stoves and the hot air would come out of the mouth of the dragon here and the lion in the other work.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek divine hero Heracles, who was the son of Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter) and the mortal Alcmene. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Greek hero's iconography and myths for their literature and art under the name Hercules. In later Western art and literature and in popular culture, Hercules is more commonly used than Heracles as the name of the hero. Hercules was a multifaceted figure with contradictory characteristics, which enabled later artists and writers to pick and choose how to represent him. This article provides an introduction to representations of Hercules in the later tradition."